Building record 5167/1/1 - Church of St Peter, Weston Favell

Church 11th-12th century, partly rebuilt after 1225. Restored 1851, 1869, 1881, 1925. North extension of 1969-71 by Marshman, Warren and Taylor. The medieval fabric is of iron stone rubble, the 19th century work is coursed Duston stone alternating with rubble, and the vestry is of coursed stone blocks. Slate roofs. Nave stripped internally, chancel is plastered and painted. Nave with West tower, North aisle and North and South porches. Chancel with North chapel and North vestry and parish office complex. The chancel and tower at a slightly South-south-east angle to the nave.

{1} II* Church C11-C12, partly rebuilt after 1225. Restored 1851, 1869, 1881, 1925. N extension of 1969-71 by Marshman, Warren and Taylor.

MATERIALS The medieval fabric is of iron stone rubble, the C19 work is coursed Duston stone alternating with rubble, and the vestry is of coursed stone blocks. Slate roofs. Nave stripped internally, chancel is plastered and painted. PLAN Nave with W tower, N aisle and N and S porches. Chancel with N chapel and N vestry and parish office complex. The chancel and tower at a slightly SSE angle to the nave.

EXTERIOR A small church with a spireless tower, extensively restored in the C19 and extended in the C20. The chancel has a restored triple lancet in its E wall and stepped lancets in the S wall. The early C12 S chancel door is round-headed and has two plain unchamfered orders. The transverse N chancel chapel was added in 1881, but has in its E wall a lancet from the former N wall of the nave. The N parish rooms and vestry complex were built in 1972 to replace a C19 boiler house. The N aisle was built in 1881 on the site of the former medieval aisle, demolished in the C18, and has pointed lancet windows with hood moulds connected to form a string course. The N door was assembled in 1881 from C12 fragments and has one order of shafts with scalloped capitals. The N porch was built in 1892. The S wall of the nave has pairs of lancets of 1881, but the rest of the fabric is of indeterminate date and may be late or post medieval. The S porch was added in the post-medieval period, probably in the C17, and was restored in the C19. It has a straight-headed outer opening and a sundial in the gable. The S door has a depressed, four-centred arch, probably C17, and the door itself is also C17. The 3-stage W tower has large, added buttresses to N and S. There is a blocked round-headed doorway in the W face, probably of the C11 and possibly pre-Conquest. There is a double lancet above the door, and the belfy has paired lights of the early C13 under a continuous hood mould. The parapet has a corbel table, and a pyramidal roof replaces a spire that fell in 1725. The extension is in a contrastingly austere style, but executed also in ironstone.

INTERIOR In its present form the interior is largely a product of C19 restorations and alterations. The three bay N arcade was built in 1881 and has round shafts with moulded capitals in a C13 style. The high, wide, round-headed chancel arch of two chamfered orders on moulded capitals was rebuilt in 1869. The E window has C13 jamb shafts. The N vestry and parish rooms complex open from the chancel through two C19 arches. Tower arch of three chamfered orders with a hood mould on jambs of two orders; the tower arch retains traces of decorative painting. To the N of the tower arch is a straight-headed opening with a timber lintel. The scar of an earlier nave roof is visible on the E face of the tower, above the tower arch. The roofs are C19. PRINCIPAL FIXTURES C13 straight headed aumbry in the chancel E wall and C13 trefoiled piscina in the chancel S wall. C15 font with an octagonal panelled bowl. C17 oak pulpit on a modern base, retaining the original hour-glass stand. Royal arms of George III. In the vestry is a needlework panel of 1698 representing the Last Supper. Screen in the tower arch by A A J Marshman of 1971. Some C17 and C18 monuments, including brass floor plates to Elizabeth, wife of Francis Hervey (d. 1642), and Mary, wife of William Hervey (d. 1645) and some C18 wall tablets. The floor slab formerly marking the burial place of James Hervey d.1758 has been placed upright in the chancel. The S door is C17.

HISTORY The earliest fabric is the probably C11 base of the tower, and the western part of the chancel is early C12, indicating that the nave was also its present length by the early C12. Fragments of round column shafts found when the N aisle was built in 1881 suggest that the medieval N aisle was built in the late C12 or early C13. The upper part of the tower was also built in the C13, and the spire that fell in the C18 was probably added in the C14. Fragments of C15 window tracery also found in 1881 suggest that the church was remodelled at that date. The N aisle was demolished and the N nave wall rebuilt after the fall of the spire in 1725, and the S nave was also rebuilt at some time in post-medieval period, perhaps in the C17, the date of the S door, or in the early C18. The pyramidal cap on the tower is also early C18, as the spire was never rebuilt. The church was refurnished in 1844, when galleries were removed, chancel was restored in 1851, and the nave was reroofed, the chancel arch rebuilt and the S porch restored in 1869. Further C19 work included the N aisle of 1881 to designs of Matthew Henry Holding and the N porch of 1892. The church was again restored in 1925, and the N vestry was added in 1969-71 to designs by A A J Marshman of Marshman, Warren and Taylor. In the C17 and C18, the rectory was held almost exclusively by members of the Hervey, later the Hervey Knight, family. The most famous was James Hervey (d.1758), whose devotional work Meditations Amongst the Tombs (1747) was widely read in the C18 and C19.

{11} Development - The earliest part of the fabric is the base of the tower which dates from the 11th century, perhaps from before the Conquest. The Romanesque S. doorway of the chancel, apparently in situ and the thickness of the chancel walls indicate that the chancel is of Romanesque origin and thus, taken in conjuction with the early date of the tower, that the length of the nave was established in the Romanesque period. The line of an earlier nave roof crease shows that the S. nave wall has been rebuilt to the N. of its original line. The proportions of the nave were orignally a double square. Fragments of round column shafts found in 1881 when the former N. wall of the nave was demolished suggest that a N. aisle was added c. 1250 (Holding to Dryden 11 Nov 1881, NPL, Dryden Collection). The belfry stage was added to the tower in the 13th century and a spire probably in the 14th century. In the late medieval or post-Reformation period the S. wall of the nave was considerably rebuilt. In 1725 the spire and the N. aisle was removed. In 1851 the chancel was restored, and in 1869 the nave was re-roofed, and the S. porch restored. In 1881 the N. wall of the nave was demolished, a new N. aisle formed and the windows of the S. altered, under the supervision of M H Holding.

History - The Domesday connection between Weston Favell and Kingsthorpe suggests a possible origin for a Billing/Weston estate within the parochia of St Peter's though the place-name evidence implies the initial dependance of Weston on Billing. There is no historical evidence to support the early architecture context at Weston. [Detailed description and plan];

{12} Romanesque features include the chancel south doorway, nave north doorway and tower west doorway. Trefoil scallop capitals, as seen on the north doorway, are not common in the county. Probably 12th century;

{13} Photo dated 1990;

{18} Copy of letter re refurbishment of church, notes, plan with measurements, lithograph;

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<14> Thorn F.; Thorn C., 1979, Domesday Book: A Survey of The Counties of England, f.219d, 223a (Series). SNN1170.

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<16> Historic England, Undated, St Peter's Church, Weston Favell, Northampton, BF107437 (Archive). SNN115623.

<17> Lee M., 2004, Henry Penn, Bellfounder, 1685-1729, p.41-53 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109357.

<18> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/297/1-4 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Dec 17 2024 11:10AM