Tattenhoe

205. TATTENHOE.

(O.S. 6 in. xiv. S.E.)

Ecclesiastical

(1). Church of St. Giles, in a field near the N. boundary of the parish, is built of stone rubble with some flint, and is partly covered with plaster. The roof is tiled. The church was re-built in 1540, but has some re-used detail of earlier date, said to be from the ruins of Snelshall Priory; it was restored early in the 17th century, and again in the 19th century.

Architectural Description—The Chancel and Nave (43½ ft. by 14 ft.) have no structural division. The Chancel has a 16th-century E. window of three uncusped lights with tracery in a four-centred head, which has a moulded external label. In the N. wall is a 16th-century window of three cinque-foiled lights under a four-centred head with a moulded external label. In the S. wall is a window of the same date and design as that in the N. wall. The Nave has, in the N. wall, two windows; the eastern is probably of the 16th century, and is of three trefoiled lights under a square head with a moulded external label; the western window is probably of the 15th century, and is of two trefoiled lights under a square head; the moulded external label is of the 16th century: between the windows, inside, blocked flush with the wall, is a flat two-centred rear arch, with jambs, apparently too low to have been that of a doorway. In the S. wall are two windows similar to the corresponding windows in the N. wall, and between them is the S. doorway, of late 14th-century date, with continuously moulded jambs and two-centred head. The W. window, high up in the wall, is of three rectangular lights, of 16th-century or later date. A small wooden bell-turret, over the W. end of the nave, is weather-boarded on the E. and W. sides and has louvres in the N. and S. sides. The Roof of the chancel is ceiled at the level of the wall-plates, and that of the nave is ceiled under the rafters and collar-beams.

Fittings—Bell: inscribed in small Lombardic capitals 'Petrus deveston me fecit', (Peter of Weston, d. 1347). Brackets: In chancel—one on each side of E. window, below the sill-level, semi-octagonal, moulded, probably 15th-century, re-set. Communion Table: with turned legs, moulded top rail, 17th-century, now painted and grained. Font: stem with four attached shafts having moulded capitals and bases, apparently 13th-century, now painted, bowl modern. Glass: In chancel—in upper part of two lights of E. window, fragments, including part of canopy, drapery and inscription, probably 14th-century, and shield, set upside down, charged with a cheveron between three roses probably 16th-century. Plate: includes cup and stand paten, of 1662. Miscellanea: Chancel— incised on W. jamb of S. window, two sundials, circular, one within square outline partly effaced. Nave—incised on S.W. angle buttress, another sundial.

Condition—Poor.

Secular

(2). Homestead Moat, N. of the church, with traces of outworks on the N. and S.

Unclassified

(3). Mound, possibly the site of a windmill, about ²/3 mile S.E. of the church, was opened in 1910 and found to contain fragments of mediæval pottery. It is about 100 ft. in diameter and 3½ ft. high.

Condition—Almost obliterated by the plough.