St Peter's Church, Deene
Encyclopedia
St Peter's Church, Deene, is a redundant
Anglican
church in the village of Deene
, Northamptonshire
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
and East Northamptonshire Council.
in 1514. In 1869 the widow of James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
commissioned T. H. Wyatt
to rebuild much of the church. The result of this has been described as "austere". In 1890 G. F. Bodley
furnished and decorated the chancel
in a "sumptuous" manner.
with roofs covered partly in lead and partly in Collyweston stone slate
. Its plan consists of a nave
with a clerestory
, north and south aisle
s, north and south chapels, a chancel, a south transept
, a south porch, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, with corner buttress
es and a stair turret
in the southwest corner. The lowest stage contains a west door, above which is a lancet window
. In the middle stage are lancet windows on the north and west faces. The top stage has two-light bell openings on each side. Above these is a corbel
table, and a plain parapet
. On the tower is a broach spire
with two tiers of lucarne
s. The large east window of the chancel has five lights, and there is a circular opening above it. The transept has a three-light south window. Along the south aisle are three two- and three-light windows. The south chapel has a three-light east window, and in the west wall of the south aisle is a two-light window. Above the outer doorway of the porch is a plaque carved with cross keys. The porch is gable
d with a finial
. On the sides of the porch are two-light square-headed windows. Along the north aisle and north chapel are seven windows and a priest's door. The north aisle has a three-light east window. Along the clerestory are four square-headed windows.
arcade
in the nave, and a two-bay arcade n the chancel. The chancel walls have stencil
decorations by Bodley. To the right of the altar is a piscina
and a triple sedilia
with trefoil
heads and crocket
ted gables, and there is a similar niche
to the left of the altar. The chancel floor is tiled. The stained glass in the east window is by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake
, dating from about 1868, and there is more 19th-century stained glass elsewhere in the church. The octagonal font
and the pink marble
pulpit
also date from the 19th century. In the south chapel is a reredos
dating from about 1635.
The south aisle, south chapel and transept contain monuments to the Brudenell family. The monument to Sir Robert Brudenell, who died in 1531, and his two wives, consists of three recumbent alabaster
effigies
on a sarcophagus
. There are brasses
to Edmund Brudenell who died in 1585, Sir Thomas Brudenell, who died in 1549, John Brudenell, who died in 1606, Edmund Brudenell, who died in 1652 and Robert Brudenell who died in 1549. Thomas Brudenell, who died in 1664, has a chest tomb. In the west wall of the transept is a memorial to Anne, Duchess of Richmond, who died in 1722. A wall tablet by Sievier
is to the memory of the Countess of Cardigan, who died in 1826. The memorial to James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who died in 1868, and his wife, was designed by J. E. Boehm
. This consists of recumbent effigies on a sarcophagus, with bronze sea horses at the bottom corners. The 7th Earl of Cardigan was the leader of the Charge of the Light Brigade
in 1854.
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
church in the village of Deene
Deene
Deene is a small village and civil parish near Deenethorpe and Bulwick in East Northamptonshire. It has a village hall....
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
and East Northamptonshire Council.
History
The church dates from the 13th century. Since the 16th century it has been the estate church of the Brudenell family, who bought Deene ParkDeene Park
Deene Park, the seat of the Brudenell family since 1514, is a country manor located 5 miles north-east of Corby in the county of Northamptonshire, England. The manor of Deene belonged to Westminster Abbey; annual rent of £18 was paid until 1970...
in 1514. In 1869 the widow of James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB , was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War...
commissioned T. H. Wyatt
Thomas Henry Wyatt
Thomas Henry Wyatt was an Irish British architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870-73 and awarded their Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1873...
to rebuild much of the church. The result of this has been described as "austere". In 1890 G. F. Bodley
George Frederick Bodley
George Frederick Bodley was an English architect working in the Gothic revival style.-Personal life:Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, M.D. of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston upon Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton, Sussex, England....
furnished and decorated the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
in a "sumptuous" manner.
Exterior
St Peter's is constructed in limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
with roofs covered partly in lead and partly in Collyweston stone slate
Collyweston stone slate
Collyweston stone slate is a traditional roofing material found in England.It is not a proper slate but a limestone found in narrow beds. The slates are quarried near the village of Collyweston in Northamptonshire, near Stamford and close to the borders of Lincolnshire and Rutland. It is...
. Its plan consists of a nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
with a clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
, north and south aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s, north and south chapels, a chancel, a south transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
, a south porch, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, with corner buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es and a stair turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
in the southwest corner. The lowest stage contains a west door, above which is a lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
. In the middle stage are lancet windows on the north and west faces. The top stage has two-light bell openings on each side. Above these is a corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
table, and a plain parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. On the tower is a broach spire
Broach spire
A broach spire is a type of spire, a tall pyramidal or conical structure usually on the top of a tower or a turret. A broach spire starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces....
with two tiers of lucarne
Lucarne
A lucarne is a small dormer window that is built on a spire or roof during the Gothic and Romanesque time period....
s. The large east window of the chancel has five lights, and there is a circular opening above it. The transept has a three-light south window. Along the south aisle are three two- and three-light windows. The south chapel has a three-light east window, and in the west wall of the south aisle is a two-light window. Above the outer doorway of the porch is a plaque carved with cross keys. The porch is gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d with a finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
. On the sides of the porch are two-light square-headed windows. Along the north aisle and north chapel are seven windows and a priest's door. The north aisle has a three-light east window. Along the clerestory are four square-headed windows.
Interior
Inside the church is a four-bayBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
in the nave, and a two-bay arcade n the chancel. The chancel walls have stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
decorations by Bodley. To the right of the altar is a piscina
Piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...
and a triple sedilia
Sedilia
Sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, is the term used to describe stone seats, usually to be found on the south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for the use of the officiating priests...
with trefoil
Trefoil
Trefoil is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism...
heads and crocket
Crocket
A crocket is a hook-shaped decorative element common in Gothic architecture. It is in the form of a stylised carving of curled leaves, buds or flowers which is used at regular intervals to decorate the sloping edges of spires, finials, pinnacles, and wimpergs....
ted gables, and there is a similar niche
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
to the left of the altar. The chancel floor is tiled. The stained glass in the east window is by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake
Lavers, Barraud and Westlake
Lavers, Barraud and Westlake were an English firm that produced stained glass windows from 1855 until 1921. They were part of the Gothic Revival movement that affected English church architecture in the 19th century.-History:...
, dating from about 1868, and there is more 19th-century stained glass elsewhere in the church. The octagonal font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
and the pink marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
also date from the 19th century. In the south chapel is a reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
dating from about 1635.
The south aisle, south chapel and transept contain monuments to the Brudenell family. The monument to Sir Robert Brudenell, who died in 1531, and his two wives, consists of three recumbent alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
effigies
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
on a sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
. There are brasses
Monumental brass
Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...
to Edmund Brudenell who died in 1585, Sir Thomas Brudenell, who died in 1549, John Brudenell, who died in 1606, Edmund Brudenell, who died in 1652 and Robert Brudenell who died in 1549. Thomas Brudenell, who died in 1664, has a chest tomb. In the west wall of the transept is a memorial to Anne, Duchess of Richmond, who died in 1722. A wall tablet by Sievier
Robert William Sievier
Robert William Sievier FRS was a notable English engraver, sculptor and later inventor of the 19th century.-Engraver and sculptor:...
is to the memory of the Countess of Cardigan, who died in 1826. The memorial to James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who died in 1868, and his wife, was designed by J. E. Boehm
Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, RA was a medallist and sculptor, best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner.-Biography:...
. This consists of recumbent effigies on a sarcophagus, with bronze sea horses at the bottom corners. The 7th Earl of Cardigan was the leader of the Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
in 1854.