Last weekend D and I visited the Christmas Tree Festival at St Cuthbert's Shustoke. The church is normally locked so this was a good opportunity to look round as the church seems open each weekend in December for the festival.
The exterior of the church is mainly early 14th century and the church is built of red sandstone.
The chancel and south porch were rebuilt at Preedy's restoration in 1872/3 and the church was re-modelled by Bodley and Garner in 1886/87 after a fire left the chancel and nave roofless. The present church roof dates from this time.
The oldest complete part of the church is the tower. The two lower parts are 14th century and the top of tower and spire were added in the `15th century. (Note for Rustic Pumpkin - the spire definitely looks stuck on here!).
The spire was damaged by lightning in 1777 and 1811 and was twice repaired by John Cheshire. Shustoke church has connections with William Dugdale (1605-1686) who was an early English antiquary who wrote "Antiquities of Warwickshire". He was born in the rectory, baptised in the church and is buried in a chest tomb in the chancel. I completely forgot to look for the tomb although it may well have been obscured by Christmas Trees. I did take a poor photo of a memorial on the wall to a Dugdale but the photo isn't good so I can't make out the date to see if it is for this particular William Dugdale.
The tower clock was installed as a memorial to the dead of the 1914-1918 war.
The gargoyles are 15th century.
Timothy came too this time :)
South Door
The Christmas Trees which were all real looked lovely - I didn't take photos of them all this time as it was quite dark in the church. In fact,next year if I visit any Christmas Tree Festivals I must remember to check if the camera has a starburst effect as it might look good with the tree photos.
The 1887 font is a copy of the original Norman font which was destroyed by fire caused by a lightning strike in 1886.
Medieval stained glass fragments?
Double piscina
Memorial to one of the Dugdales (mentioned above).
The stained glass is by Burlison and Grylls 1875 - 95
East Window
Timothy photobombing the trees
I was very good and didn't have any tea or cake but D had both including a large slice of Christmas cake!
I had a quick look round the churchyard before I left.
Priest's Door
I can't find any information on this carving but I suspect it may be fairly modern?
Grotesques
View from churchyard
The church of St Leonard's at Over Whitacre in the distance. This is a church I have never actually visited although I suspect it will be locked but one day I will stop off as I often drive past and get a few pictures of the exterior and churchyard.
Remains of a 15th century cross on an octagonal stump and plain square base.
As usual I missed items! The William Dugdale tomb, a scratched mass dial on the SE buttress and inside the church a dug-out old parish chest.
I did visit this church a few years ago to look round the churchyard and learned then of a raised mound to the south of the church - the age of the mound is not known although it could be Anglo Saxon or earlier - I think it is called The Shawbury Mound. I did try, without success, to research it at the time to see if I could find out more but it is something I will continue to do.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
D left his camera at home
Reference: Website - William Dargue "A History of Birmingham Churches from A to Y" Shustoke Warwickshire St Cuthbert
Book - Pevsner "The Buildings of England Warwickshire"
Having been rather left out lately, I think Timothy is quite justified in a little photobombing! Is there a competition for a winner with the trees, or is it more about trees and light? You have been very lucky with the weather, haven't you? Lovely sunny days, or so it appears.
ReplyDeleteRustic Pumpkin Thanks so much. lol re: Timothy. I think again like Curdworth it is more about a display but tbh I didn't think again to ask. Photos are deceptive - we have had a lot of rain over the last few months but I tend to only go out when it is dry and there have been a few sunny days interspersed with days of rain and gloom!
ReplyDeleteI do love seeing all the different trees and in such a nice setting too :)
ReplyDeleteGlad Timothy got to see the trees. It looks an interesting church and the trees are lovely. I like the gargoyles,grotesques and carvings although the painted ones look strange to our modern eye like old sepia photographs hand tinted. Churches were far more colourful than we are used to now. We visited the tree festial at Lichfield yesterday, I'lll probably write a post about it over the weekend:)
ReplyDeletePam - Thanks so much - glad you enjoyed seeing the trees :)
ReplyDeleteRosie - Thanks so much. I agree about the carvings in the church as to me they looked strange and I assume the paint is fairly modern but as you say churches in medieval times were so much more colourful than they are today.
Ooh goody re: Lichfield. Hope you get chance to write a post I would love to see the trees there. I still haven't got round to going back! Someone recommended I go to the light show they have there at Christmas time and I wish now I had booked tickets as I've seen some photos on Twitter and it looks amazing. Perhaps next year..........
Hello Caroline, I just wanted to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful 2020. My very best wishes to you.
ReplyDeleteToffeeapple - Thank you so very much. I hope you have a very Happy Christmas and a good 2020 too.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting church and lovely trees too. Tam and I had planned to go to see the Christmas Trees in the wee church at Cusop (Hay) but ran out of time.
ReplyDeleteBovey Belle - Thank you. What a shame your ran out of time for the trees at Cusop. Hoping next year to finally visit Hay myself :)
ReplyDelete