September 2014:
HARPSWELL, St Chad's.
Our
September 2014 visit was to St Chad's Church, Harpswell,which is
mentioned in Domesday Book. It has an Anglo-Saxon west tower and
the arch towards the nave is probably 14th century in date and there
is a late 13th century south arcade of three bays. There are also one
circular and one octagonal pier with double-chamfered arches. A fine
west window in the aisle with late 13th century plate tracery with
trefoiled lights and three trefoils over also exists. The south
windows of the aisle have flowing tracery and straight heads. One has
two diagonally-placed pointed quatrefoils (or interlocked pointed
figures-of-eight) as its tracery which is an interesting pattern. The
church underwent restoration in 1891 to 1892. A transitional,
drum-shaped font, with blank arcading and straight sided arches is
present and a possible bench end panel has a shield displaying the
wounds of christ. Small bits of stained glass in the west window are
mostly 14th century and originally were no doubt from the south
aisle.
Monuments include an incised slab to John Gere, Rector in c.1300; immediately to the east in the south aisle is an effigy of William Harrington, Rector in c.1350 with, at his feet, a corbel with a green man's face. There are brasses to a Knight and a Lady, dating c.1480 and the figures are two feet long.
Stained glass in this church dates to the late 13th to early 14th centuries. JRK
I am grateful to Phil Stanyon for photographs.
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