St Luke’s church at Cold Higham is a C13 building with a Norman saddleback roof tower. Currently on the “Heritage At Risk Register” which states that “structural movement to the east end has occurred leaving the masonry vulnerable to water ingress and there is erosion of all ironstone; this is a particular concern at high level on the tower.” On the outside wall on the south side of of the chancel is a C14 tomb recess.

The church yard contains a number of C17 and C18 grave stones.

The three light curvilinear east window dates from the early C14, and the south wall has a leper squint into the south chapel, which is now blocked by the tomb monument to Sir John de Patteshall (d1349). See also Radstone. The nave is of 4 bays.

The tomb consists of an effigy of a cross legged knight made from oak, with the knights feet resting on a lion.

There are two windows containing victorian stained glass a 1-light window of Matha and Mary with Jesus, and a 2-light window depicing Mattew and Mark.

Tags: effigy, leper, luke, medieval, norman, stained glass, tower

The church of St. Peter at Aston Flamville retains in C13 chancel and a Norman window in the nowth wall. The rest of the church was rebuilt in the 1873/4.

Tags: medieval, norman, peter, tower, victorian

Early C14 parish church of St Mary at Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire. The roof of the nave has collapsed leaving just a two bay chancel. The windows have curvilinear tracery, the east window of five lights, and the chancel windows two lights.

Tags: decorated, mary, medieval, tower

The Twycross parish chuch of St James, dates from the 14th century with a 15th century tower. The church was restored in 1840 and presented with a number of stained glass panels that had originally come from Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, Saint-Denis near Paris, Le Mans cathederal, and Saint-Julien-du-Sault in Burgundy.

The church was restored in the 1840s and contains architectural memorials to Lord Howe who sponsored the restoration, and early Victorian armourial stained glass, by Thomas Willement, showing the arms of Queen Adelaide with the 21 German States, and on the south side is a large window with a the arms of the Curzon family as a central piece.

The stained glass in the East window is early French and was originally presented to King William IV who then gave to Lord Howe.

Following the French Revolution French churches lost a lot of their original stained glass. Some of it was smashed, whilst other bits were sold off. The two panels above were original in Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, which lost a third of its glass.

Tags: french, medieval, stained glass, tower