Church of St Kenelm Enstone, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

ENSTONE CHURCH STREET SP3625-3725 (North side) Church Enstone 14/42 Church of St. Kenelm 27/08/57

GV II*

Church. Late C12, late C13 and C15; tower and alterations early/mid C16; restored 1856 by G.E. Street. Limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and limestone ashlar; copper and lead roofs. Chancel, nave, north and south aisles (overlapping the chancel), south-west porch and west tower. Chancel is probably C13 but has a C19 triple-lancet east window, and 2- and 3-light C16 side windows with uncusped arched lights; the small arched doorway to north probably served a vanished sacristy. Broad south aisle has two C15/early C16 windows to east and 4 windows to south, 3 with elaborate Perpendicular drop tracery, 4-centred arches and deep casement mouldings; the aisle has numerous buttresses and incorporates earlier work, including the 2-storey porch at its west end, with a C13/C14 entrance arch of 2 chamfered orders and a small 2-light C15 first-floor window. Late-C12 south doorway has an elaborate arch of 3 orders, decorated with roll, spool and chevron ornament, and has small attached jamb shafts; octopartite porch vault has head corbels and a small central boss of 8 heads. A narrower section of the aisle, projecting to west of the porch, has a square-headed 3-light window with ogee tracery, and a single-light C16 window facing west. Narrow north aisle has a simple round-headed late-C12 doorway, and a C13 lancet west window which may have been reused when the tower was built; a 3-light C15 window and a 2-light C16 window both have square heads. Wider section of aisle adjoining chancel has further square-headed windows. Chancel and aisles have plain parapets. Nave clerestory has plain 2-light windows. 3-stage ashlar tower, with high moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses, and crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles, has a 3-light west window, with uncusped tracery, above a moulded 4-centre-arched doorway; 2-light bell-chamber openings with cusped lights may be earlier work re-used. Interior: chancel has, to north, a simple C13 arch and a C14/C15 doorway with continuous mouldings; to south is a wide splayed 4-centred arch with panelled soffit formerly serving a narrow chantry chapel, Chancel arch of 2 continuous chamfered orders in probably C13/C14 and to south of it is a small C12 capital. Easternmost bays of nave arcades have wide 4-centred arches, possibly replacing a former central tower. Remaining 4 bays of south arcade have late-C12 pointed arches with angle rolls, circular columns with square knob-volute and waterleaf capitals, and square bases with corner spurs; corresponding bays of late-C13 north arcade have alternating circular and fluted octagonal columns, with moulded capitals and bases, supporting arches of 2 hollow-chamfered orders. Tall early-C16 tower arch has splayed jambs and an arch of 2 chamfered orders. 2 adjoining C15 windows of south aisle are divided by a tall shaft and served a chapel of which the small piscina survives. A further chapel at the east end of the aisle retains 2 C15 brackets supported by carved heads (possibly re-set) and a small early piscina. The narrow chantry between it and the chancel has similar brackets supporting the springing of a former vaulted roof, and has a panelled reredos below the 3-light window, which also includes canopied image niches in the wide casement moulding. Roofs of nave, north aisle and chancel are plain and may be partly C17/C18. Moulded south aisle roof, with arched braces rising from tie beams to ridge, is C19. Stained glass includes 3 panels which may be C17/C18, three C19 windows and an early-C20 window, possibly by Morris and Co. Monuments include a medieval stone coffin; the memorial to Stevens Wisdom (d.1633) with a kneeling figure within an arched recess flanked by Ionic columns on an inscribed panelled base; a wall monument to Benjamin Marten (d.1716) of Baroque drapery and cherubs in white marble; and a series of black marble ledgers