Clifton

18 CLIFTON (D.b.)

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)III, S.E., ^(b)IV, S.W., ^(c)VII, N.E., ^(d)VIII, N.W.)

Clifton is a parish and village 10 m. N.W. of Appleby. The church and Clifton Hall are the principal monuments.

Ecclesiastical

(1). Parish Church of St. Cuthbert stands in the N.W. part of the parish. The walls are of local limestone rubble with dressings of the same material; the roofs are slate-covered. The Nave was built in the 12th century. The chancel was re-built and lengthened in the first half of the 13th century and the North Aisle was added probably in the 14th century. The South Porch is of uncertain date. The church was restored in 1846, when the Chancel was re-built with the re-use of old material.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (29¾ ft. by 14 ft.) is modern but incorporates some old features. In the E. wall are three graduated 13th-century lancetwindows. In the S. wall are two similar windows and farther W. a 13th-century doorway with chamfered jambs, shouldered head and modern lintel.

The Nave (34 ft. by 17¾ ft.) has, in the N. wall, a wide opening into the N. aisle. In the S. wall is a 17th-century window of two square-headed lights with a moulded label; the 12th-century S. doorway has square jambs and re-cut chamfered imposts, on which rest a round arch and a plain tympanum almost flush with the wall-face. In the W. wall is a modern window and on the W. gable is a plain gabled bell-cote.

The North Aisle (8 ft. wide) has a 16th or 17th-century E. window of two square-headed lights. In the N. wall is a 14th-century doorway with hollow-chamfered jambs and segmental head; it is now blocked. In the W. wall is a window similar to the E. window but of one light.

The South Porch has an outer archway with plain jambs, segmental head and hollow-chamfered imposts.

Fittings—Brackets: In N. aisle—on E. wall, two chamfered stone brackets, mediæval. Churchyard Cross: S.E. of porch—rough square base and square to octagonal shaft, mediæval, later sundial on top. Coffin-lid: In chancel—slab with traces of cross and sword, probably 13th-century. Communion Table: with turned legs and moulded rails, 17th-century. Font: octagonal bowl, cylindrical stem and moulded base, probably all modern, but parts perhaps re-cut. Glass: In W. window of N. aisle—figure of virginsaint, 15th-century; shield-of-arms of Wybergh impaling Engayne, perhaps c. 1700. Locker: In chancel—in N. wall, recess with trefoiled head and hook for former door, 13th-century, re-set. Monument: In N. aisle—on N. wall, slab recording the marriage of William de Wybergh and Elianor (Engayne) 38th Edward III, with achievement-of-arms, 18th-century. Panelling: In chancel—on S. wall, three 17th-century panels; on N. choir-stalls, small panel with the initials and date I.B.D. 1683. Piscina: In chancel—recess with chamfered jambs, pointed head, foliage-stops and round drain, cut back, 13th-century, re-set. Plate: includes a cup of 1709. Pulpit: incorporated in modern framing, pilasters with allegorical figures and cherub-heads, plain panels and panels carved with the Adoration of the Magi, the last perhaps 16th-century, the rest 17th-century. Stoup: In nave—in S. wall, modern recess with round bowl of uncertain date, re-set.

Condition—Good.

Secular

^a(2). Clifton Hall (Plate 90), 150 yards N.W. of the church, consists now only of a three-storeyed tower; the rest of the house adjoined it on the S. but has been demolished. The walls are of rubble and the roof is slate-covered. The manor passed to the Wyberghs in the 14th century, and one of that family presumably built the existing tower late in the 15th or early in the 16th century. It seems probable that it formed the semi-fortified tower-wing of a house of the mediæval form common in the county and of which the hall block and S. cross-wing have been destroyed. The tower has an embattled parapet and an embattled turret at the S.W. angle in which the staircase is carried up to the roof. The S. wall shows the marks of the roof and side walls of the former hall-block and on the ground floor are three original doorways with chamfered jambs; one retains its four-centred head, but the other two have later heads. In the W. wall, the ground floor has a 16th-century window of four lights and on the floor above is an original window with a three-centred head and sunk spandrels; it has lost its mullions. In the N. wall is a blocked original doorway and there is another in the N.E. angle. The windows on the E. side are modern. Inside the building are some original chamfered and moulded ceiling-beams. Each floor has an original fireplace with a flat four-centred head, and the ground floor has an early 18th-century fireplace with a moulded surround in addition. The top floor has some original shaped roof-corbels.

Incorporated in the walls of the modern farmhouse is a stone carved with three blank shields and in the N. wall is a Roman slab (Plate 3) with carved figures and inscription. In the back wall of the Rectory garage is a re-set 15th-century window of two trefoiled lights with blank shields in the spandrels. It is said to have come from the Hall.

Condition—Fairly good, structurally, but disused.

^d(3). Bridge End Farm, house, 250 yards S.S.E. of the church, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. It was built probably in the second half of the 17th century and retains some of its original stone-mullioned windows. Inside the building are two early 18th-century fireplaces with corbelled heads.

Condition—Good.

^d(4). Bainbridge Gate, house, 1¼ m. S.S.E. of the church, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. It was built probably c. 1709, the date on a stone in the E. wall, and retains two original stone windows of four and five lights respectively. The barn adjoining the house is probably of the 17th century and is of six bays with looplights.

Condition—Good.

Unclassified

^b(5). Mound, 650 yards E. of the church, is of roughly rectangular form with a flat top. It is about 30 yards by 25 yards and rises about 4 ft. above the surrounding ground.

Condition—Fairly good.

^c(6). Megaliths (called Cromlech on the O.S.), 1,230 yards S. of the church, consist of two stones about 9 ft. apart. The larger is about 6 ft. by 3 ft. by 5¾ ft. high and the smaller 4 ft. by 2¾ ft. by 2¾ ft. high. Neither appears to have been worked.

Condition—Good.