Description

BARROW

823/14/1 CHURCH OF ST GILES
24-OCT-50

I
Rural church primarily developed between the C8 and c1100, with some C17 and C19 rebuilding. Anglo-Saxon chancel, possibly C8; early Norman or late Anglo-Saxon nave; early Norman west tower with C19 or C20 upper stage; North transept said to be medieval in origin, documented as rebuilt in 1688, heavily restored in the C19; 1705 classical south porch. The church is built of stone rubble with freestone dressings and tiled roofs.
EXTERIOR: On the north side, the chancel has a high-set Anglo-Saxon window with a double splay and there is evidence of a hacked-back pilaster strip. To the right of this is a window with a rectangular chamfered frame. On the south side of the chancel is a C12 round-headed doorway which cuts into an earlier window. The nave has opposed high-set small early Norman windows, deeply splayed inside, with a second similar window on the north side. There are also two-light square-headed windows with cusped lights. The unbuttressed three-stage west tower has a low pyramidal roof and a belfry stage in brick, laid in English garden wall bond. It has a round-headed west doorway with a hoodmould and plain imposts. The south side has small round-headed windows, one unglazed. The north transept has a C19 plate-traceried north window.
The porch is early C18 and constructed of brick with rusticated freestone quoins. It has a round-headed outer doorway with keyblock and keyed occuli in the north and south sides, the keystones carrying the date 1705. There is an illegible inscription panel in the gable flanked by scroll brackets. The south doorway to nave has plain imposts and a massive lintel under a blind round-headed arch. There is a pillar piscina outside the south porch.
INTERIOR: The very plain, low, round-headed chancel arch has plain responds and a square section hoodmould and the squints on either side have C19 trefoil-headed frames. The tower arch, formerly the west door of the nave, is tall and narrow with a large flat lintel within a blind-round-headed arch. The west face has a tympanum with three tiers of geometrical patterned carving and a recessed square section moulding over. The chancel has a C19 common rafter roof, each couple with straight braces, boarded behind with the wallplate carved with nailhead decoration. The nave has a substantial C19 arch braced tie beam roof with two tiers of purlins and a brattished wallplate. The arch into the north transept is of C19 date. The walls are unplastered.
FITTINGS: Plain tub font, probably C12, on a cylindrical stem. Timber drum pulpit with traceried panels. The choir stalls have ends with round finials; the nave benches have convex shouldered ends. There are numerous wall monuments of the C17, C18 and C19. The timber poor box is of c.1690 on a C19 or C20 stem.
SOURCES: Pevsner, Shropshire, 1958, 68
Peltor, Rev. L F., The Parishes of Willey and Barrow, Shropshire, 1966.

Summary of importance: A very significant early medieval church primarily developed between the C8 and c.1100. St Giles is of outstanding interest for its extensive surviving Anglo Saxon and early Norman fabric and features.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Giles' Church, Barrow at Wikipedia
• St Giles' Church, Barrow official website
• Wikidata Q7593259

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)