Early C14 in the Perpendicular style also with Perpendicular C14 tower and a Decorated style C15 North chapel. The building is made of coursed ironstone and ironstone ashlar.

The east window is an unusual composition featuring the Annunciation and Crucifixion by Burlison & Grylls of London. Two of the windows in the South aisle “Faith Hope & Charity” and “Jesus walking on the Water” are probably by Heaton Butler & Bayne.

In the north chapel is a brass monument to Thomas Wylmer (d1580). This is a standing monument with Ionic columns, metope frieze framing brass plate with kneeling figures.

The west wall of the nave has a large grotesque carving of head with tongue sticking out c1300. Corbel heads from the same period are on the columns of the south aisle bays.

Tags: brass, burlison grylls, elizabethan, heaton butler baynes, mary, monument, stained glass, tower

The parish church of St. Andrew stands next to the Bede House which in 1602 housed 12 bedesmen (those employed to pray for the soul of their benefactor) and two women, all free of lunacy, leprosy or the French pox. The house itself is C15 and a former Palace of the Bishops of Lincoln.

St. Andrew is C14 and was rebuilt in C15 . Stylisticly it is Perpendicular with a Decorated tower.

Inside the west door there are two medieval stone coffin covers. The curch also has some rare acoustic jar made of clay that are inserted high up in the wall of the chancel.

The floor of the chancel has two brass monuments. The earliest is a 2ft 7in memorial to Helyn Hardy (d1486). She wears a veiled head-dress, mitten sleeves, belt and cordon, which was the habit of a widow who has taken vows of chastity.

Next to it is a memorial with two 3ft figures dedicated to Edward Watson (d1520) and his wife. Edward Watson was Surveyor-General to the Bishops of Lincoln, and his descendants became owners of Rockingham Castle.

Following the Reformations churches were permitted to place the altar at the east end of the church or, as the puritans preferred, in the centre of the chancel or nave.

In 1633 Archbishop Laud decreed that the altar should be at the east end and railed off from the chancel.

The altar rails at St Andrew are dated 1635 and surround the altar on all four sides – a compromise between the two factions.

The south wall of the chancel has a three seat sedilia and piscina. The C15 wooden chancel screen has painted flowers and traces of painted saints on lower panels.

The east window is dated 1870 and is a memorial to John and Elizabeth Clarke. The central four panels have representations of the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The lower panels are from the old testament.

The square font is made from the local ironstone and sits on a modern base. The font covering is Jacobean and early C17.

Tags: brass, rood screen, stained glass, tower

The parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Leodegarius dates from 1100, but is mostly an C14-C15 construction. Saint Leodegarius was a French Benedictine Bishop who became abbot of St. Maxentius in 653.

The gabled south porch and most of the pews in the nave are early 14th century.

The crucifix above the rood screen was designed and made by Liz Holden from Long Buckby in 1995. The rood screen itself dates from 1500 and was installed by George Catesby as a thanks offering for the return of the Estate to the family two years earlier in 1498. The estate had been confiscated in 1485 following the execution of William Catesby, a principle councilor to Richard III, who had been captured by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth (22 August 1485).

The Catesby’s next came to prominence when Robert Catesby (1573 – November 8, 1605), became the originator of the plot to blow up James I and Parliament in 1605.

The triple level Jacobean pulpit and box pews behind it are early 17th century. The pews in front are medieval, the lower level rests were for elbows, as the congregation would not have had books. The clerk would sit in the lower part of the pulpit, whilst the vicar conducted the service from the middle tier and the preacher at the top. The chancel was extensively remodeled during the C18 and C19.

The south wall contains a fresco of 1325 depicting the flagellation of St. Margaret. The west wall has a 16th century fresco commemorating the Black Death. The figure of Death holds a spade and pick. The north wall has a large 15th century fresco of St. Christopher.

Above the chancel arch are medieval wall paintings depicting "The Passion" these frescos are 14th and 15th century. They were uncovered during restoration work in 1927 and are the most extensive cycles in the UK. The section on the south wall depicts the crucifixion and the Marys at the tomb, that on the north wall the entry into Jerusalem.
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The plain font is Norman with a medieval wooden cover. The C19 chancel window has scenes showing the nativity, Risen Christ, and three Mary’s at the tomb. In the north aisle is a full length brass figure of Sir Richard Catesby 1553, wearing tabard with Catesby Arms.

The rood screen has 4 traceried openings, coving with fan vaulting, and dado with blind tracery and original painted decoration.

Tags: brass, fresco, leodegarius, pulpit, rood screen, tower

Due to the small population of the parish St. Peter’s has been closed and reopened a number of times during the last 150 years. It finally ceased to hold any regular services in the 1950s.

Nowadays it is owned by the Churches Conservation Trust, and remains a consecrated building, although services are only held here once a year.

The church originally served the nearby medieval village which was abandoned some time during the 14th century. The church continued to serve the villages of Flecknoe, Sawbridge, and Nethercote. However, a smaller church was built in the late 19th century in the village of Flecknoe which is about 2-3 miles away as the crow files. The building was paid for by the railway company in 1891 as compensation for the disruption caused at Wolfhampcote. The railway itself was closed to passengers in 1952 but carried freight until 1963.

The pews in the foreground are medieval as can be seen by the low shelf which is for resting elbows, not books. The date of these pews is thought to be 14th century but there is some evidence for an earlier 11th century date. The font is Anglo-Saxon. The octagonal pulpit with inlaid panels is dated 1790.

The chancel contains a modern pointed traceried five-light window, and the altar rails are also modern. The floor is paved with a number of memorial slabs from the 18th century, and the walls contain 19th century memorials to the Tibbits family.

On either side of the chancel arch are half-round moulded corbels. The steep-pitched king-post roof in the chancel consisting of three trusses, and is probably 14th century.

A C14 ogee-headed piscina with circular basin is inset into the south wall of the north chapel, indicating that an altar was once there. The north aisle has a memorial cross to John Truslove who died aged 16.

The sanctuary contains memorial slabs and a brass memorial to Frances Benyon wife of parish minister (died 1687).

Tags: brass, font, peter, pews, pulpit, tower