Buckworth

12. BUCKWORTH (B.d.).

(O.S. 6 in. XVII N.W.)

Buckworth is a parish 6½ m. N.W. of Huntingdon. The church is the principal monument.

Ecclesiastical

(1). Parish Church of All Saints stands near the middle of the parish. The walls are of Weldon and Ketton rubble with some pebbles; the dressings are of Weldon, Ketton and Barnack stone; the roofs are covered with tiles and lead. There are some remains of 12th-century work in the E. angles of the Nave. The S. arcade and a S. aisle were built late in the 13th century and soon after-wards, c. 1300, the West Tower was added. Early in the 14th century the Chancel was re-built and the N. arcade and North Aisle added; a N. vestry also was probably added, but this has since been pulled down. Late in the 15th century the N. wall of the N. aisle was re-built, the South Aisle largely re-built and the South Porch and clearstorey added. The church was restored in 1862 and in 1884, and the spire was repaired in 1925.

The W. tower and spire are of considerable architectural interest.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (34 ft. by 16¼ ft.) has a modern E. window. In the N. wall is a late 15th-century window of three cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head with a moulded label; further E. is a blocked 14th-century door-way to the former vestry; it has moulded jambs and ogee two-centred head. In the S. wall is an early 14th-century window of three pointed lights with plain intersecting tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label and mask-stops; there was a second window, towards the E. end of the wall, but this has been entirely removed; the early 14th-century doorway has a two-centred arch of two moulded orders with a moulded label and head-stops; the inner order is continued down the jambs and the outer springs from round shafts with moulded capitals and bases; the E. shaft is modern. The early 14th-century chancel-arch is two-centred and of two hollow-chamfered orders; the responds are modern; the moulded label has mask-stops.

The Nave (39½ ft. by 19¼ ft.) retains the two angles of the 12th-century building; both have an attached angle-shaft with spiral fluting; the N.E. shaft has a capital carved with volutes; the S.E. shaft has been removed except for two stones. The N. arcade of c. 1300–10 is of three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders; the columns are octagonal, with moulded capitals and bases; the responds have moulded corbels supporting the inner order; the voussoirs of the E. arch are probably of the 13th century, re-used; the outer order of the two western arches is hollow-chamfered. The late 13th-century S. arcade is of three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with a moulded label and foliated stops; the circular columns have moulded capitals and bases; the responds have each a semi-octagonal attached shaft with moulded base and capital supporting the inner order of the arcade. The late 15th-century clearstorey has on each side three windows each of two cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head with moulded reveals and label.

The North Aisle (11½ ft. wide) has in the E. wall an early to mid 14th-century window of three trefoiled ogee lights with net-tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label. In the N. wall are two late 15th- or early 16th-century windows each of three cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head with moulded reveals and label; the re-set early 14th-century N. doorway has a moulded two-centred arch and label; the moulded jambs have each a round shaft with moulded capital and base. In the W. wall is an early 14th-century window of three pointed lights with plain intersecting tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label.

The South Aisle (12¾ ft. wide) has carved grotesque gargoyles. In the E. wall is a window similar to those in the N. wall of the N. aisle. In the S. wall are three similar windows; the late 15th-century S. doorway has moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label with head-stops. In the W. wall is a window similar to those in the S. wall.

The West Tower (13½ ft. by 12½ ft.) with the spire (Plate 37) is of early 14th-century date; the tower is of three stages with a moulded plinth and moulded cornice with maskcorbels at the base of the spire. The two-centred tower-arch is of four orders, the two middle orders hollow-chamfered and dying on to the side walls, the inner order chamfered and springing from moulded corbels with maskterminals and the outer order hollow-chamfered and continued down the responds; the moulded label has mask-stops and on the wall above are the marks of an earlier high-pitched roof of the nave before the clearstorey was added. The N. and S. walls have each a window of one pointed light with a moulded label. The W. window is uniform with those in the side walls; the W. doorway has a two-centred and richly moulded arch, of three orders, with a moulded label and mask-stops; the moulded jambs have each three shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The second stage has, in the E. wall, a square-headed opening to the roof. The N. and S. walls have each a round panel with continuous moulded reveals and label and trefoiled cusping; in the W. wall is a round window of similar design to the panels. The bell-chamber is undivided internally from the stage below and has on each wall an external wall-arcade (Plate 35) of three bays with moulded two-centred arches and labels with beast and head-stops; the shafted jambs have moulded capitals and bases; the middle bay in each wall is pierced by a transomed window of two pointed lights with a plain spandrel; the side bays on the E. wall have cinque-foiled heads with foliated points in one bay and with three carved heads in the cusps of the other bay; the side bays on the N. wall have trefoiled heads with foliated points; those on the S. wall have cinque-foiled heads with carved heads and foliage in the cusps; the side bays on the W. wall have trefoiled heads with foliated points and one carved head in each. The spire is ashlar-faced and has broaches at the base with a marked entasis and the stumps of pinnacles at the angles. There are three tiers each of four spire-lights set in the cardinal faces of the spire; the windows of the lowest tier are each of two tall transomed and pointed lights with pierced spandrels in a two-centred head under a gable; the shafted jambs have moulded capitals and bases; the windows of the second tier are each of two pointed lights with a quatrefoil in a gabled head; the windows of the top tier are each of one trefoiled light in a gabled head.

The South Porch is of late 15th-century date and has a two-centred outer archway of two moulded orders, the outer continous and the inner resting on attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; the moulded label has head-stops. The side walls have each a window of two cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head with moulded reveals and label and set in an internal recess, with a four-centred head.

The Roof of the nave is dated 1862 but rests on 15th-century stone corbels carved with angels holding shields; the four bosses, under the tie-beams, may also be old but are now painted.

Fittings—Bells: five; 2nd and 3rd by Edward Newcombe, the former dated 15(3?)5; 5th by Robert Oldfield, early 16th-century and inscribed "Celorum Xpe placeat tibi Rex sonus iste." Bracket: In chancel—on S. wall, carved with figure holding a book (?), mediæval. Coffin-lid: under N.E. buttress of N. aisle—two fragments with remains of cross, 13th- or early 14th-century. Door: In S. doorway—of ridged and overlapping battens, nail-studded and with strap-hinges, early 16th-century. Monuments: In S. aisle—on E. wall, (1) to William Stevenson, 1711, stone tablet with entablature, broken pediment and enriched apron. In churchyard—S.E. of chancel, (2) to Thomas Turner, 1706, head-stone; S. of porch, (3) to George Robinson, 1683–4, head-stone; loose against tower, (5) to Phillip Ostler, 1656(?), head-stone. Piscina: In chancel—recess with re-set moulded head, quatre-foiled drain and wooden shelf, 14th-century. Scratchings: on outer arch-way of S. porch, masons' marks, late 15th-century. Sundials: On S.W. buttress of S. aisle, scratched dial. On S. buttress of tower, round dial. Miscellanea: In tower—piece of 15th-century window-tracery.

Condition—Good.

Secular

(2). Fox and Hounds Inn and tenement, 100 yards N.N.E. of the church, is of two storeys, timber-framed and plastered; the roofs are thatched. The northern of the two houses was built early in the 17th century and has a projecting wing on the E. added c. 1700; the southern house was built in the 17th century. Some of the timber-framing of the N. house is exposed and the central chimney-stack has four square attached shafts on a square base with a tile capping. Inside the same building is an original moulded ceiling-beam. The southern house has chamfered ceiling-beams.

Condition—Fairly good.

(3). House, on S.W. side of the road, 180 yards S. of the church, is of two storeys, timber-framed and plastered; the roofs are tiled. It was built c. 1700 and has some original chamfered ceiling-beams.

Condition—Fairly good.