Basford St LeodegariusArchaeology
The chancel from
the south-east |
Early English
priest's door |
The earliest fabric appears to be of c1180-1200, and the chancel walls which still lean
outwards are from that time, complete with tall lancet windows. The east end
originally had three trefoil windows and the oval vesica was added in 1901.
The Early English priest’s doorway can now only be seen from inside the
vestry, also added in 1901. The east shaft has a square capital with stiff
leaf carving. By the side of this door is a two-light, square-headed window
now closed off. Is this the one Glynne refers to as lychnoscopic? There is
a piscina on the south wall near the altar, re-discovered after the fire of
1900, and the sill of the north window has been cut down for a credence table.
In the fire falling stones smashed most of the floor slabs which are now covered
by new paving throughout the church. Harry Gill thought these would have borne
memorials to county families such as Baseford, Eland, Langford, Strelley and
Annesley.
South arcade |
Carving of a bishop
with hand upraised
in blessing |
Carving of man's
head with longhair |
The church in 1831 |
The clerestory is constructed of coursed square stonework surmounted with
a parapet with dentil course and pierced with trefoil headed lancets. It dates
from the restoration in 1859 and replaces an earlier clerestory possibly of
the 15th century. The arcading to the nave consists of five bays to north and
south, the piers of magnesian limestone but the arches of Basford stone. It
consists of slender quatrefoil piers, keel mouldings, stiff leaf decoration
to the capitals and sharply pointed arches. The capital at the east end of
the south aisle also has a fine carving of a bishop with hand upraised in blessing,
and another head with long hair. A third head appears to have been hacked off.
Other heads can be seen between the arches and on the south end of the arch
between nave and chancel. The two stone corbels to support the rood beam can
be seen high above this arch. A painting dated 1831 clearly shows the outline
on the east end of the tower of an earlier steeply pitched roof. It also shows
the lancet windows of the chancel and one lancet in the tower under the line
of the old nave roof.
The south aisle was re-built in the mid-to-late 14th century. The outer walls
are of regular courses of Mansfield stone, very different from the random walling
of the chancel. The east end of this aisle became a Lady Chapel, the piscina
remaining today. It was again converted into a side chapel in the 1960's. The
buttresses to the east of the porch are original but the diagonal buttress
to the west dates from the restoration in 1858-59.
The south porch |
The Pax Stone |
The south porch is largely
14th century, with a two-light square-headed traceried window to the east and
a small lancet window to the west. The open pointed arch is plain chamfered
with a hood moulding. The inner doorway is probably early 13th century (Train). The Pax
stone, three and a half inches square and said to be of porphyry, is fitted
into the east door jamb, and close by is the base of a holy water stoup. The
porch contains old stone benches and once had a stone roof supported by corbels
which remain between heads probably from inside the church.
The north aisle of coursed square stone with narrow lancet windows was built
in 1858-59, replacing a narrower aisle, and projected east to form an organ
chamber to the north side of the chancel. Two-stage buttresses stand between
the windows with angle buttress to the corners. The walling is surmounted with
a plain stone parapet. In 1868 Glynne said that on the north side was a doorway
of semi-Norman character. But the porch was part of the re-build in 1858-59.
The tower from
the south-west |
The tower, at the west end of the church, is mainly from 1860 although the
lower west wall, containing the belfry arch, is 13th century and survives from
the earlier tower collapse in 1859. That must have been Norman because there
was a Norman arch between tower and nave (Train). The present tower consists
of three stages of coursed squared stonework with angle buttress, and lighter
dressed stonework for details and quoins. The upper stage has two-traceried
belfry openings to each face, an ornamental corbel table, parapet string, carved
gargoyles and a pierced parapet with four large corner pinnacles and four smaller
intermediate ones. The stone spiral staircase is on the exterior north west
corner and rises to the ringing chamber. The latter is lit by three trefoil
headed lancet windows, one to each face, with a fourth facing into the nave.
The belfry is constructed of coursed stonework with dressed stonework to the
openings.
The centre of the tower roof consists of a lead covered pyramid. The nave,
chancel and north and south aisle roofs are all covered with grey welsh slates,
dating from either 1858-59 or 1901.
Technical Summary
Timbers and roofs
|
NAVE |
CHANCEL |
TOWER |
Main |

Curved and moulded braces onto moulded wall plates, posts, and brackets: largely 1859-60 probably with some work of c.1900. |

Simple panelled sections pitched 4-ways, timbers painted red: all c.1900 |
King post roof with major N-S and E-W cross ties. Queen posts/struts to principal rafters, and raking rafters below. All c.1860. |
S.Aisle |
Lean-to with principal rafters, central purlin, and curved braces: largely 1859-60 probably with some work of c.1900. |
Plain, flat boards concealing roof above: c.1900 |
|
N.Aisle |
Lean-to with principal rafters, central purlin, and curved braces: largely 1859-60 probably with some work of c.1900. |
Lean-to vestry/organ chamber, c.1900 |
|
Other principal |
|
|
|
Other timbers |
Porches have simple pitched roofs with principal rafters, side, and ridge purlins: all 1859-60. |
|
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Bellframe
Cast iron frame, low-sided, Elphick 'Z' type, Pickford Group 8.3.A, by Taylors of Loughborough, 1921
Not scheduled for preservation. Grade 4. Walls
|
NAVE |
CHANCEL |
TOWER |
Plaster covering & date |
Plastered and painted probably 1859 and later |
Plastered and painted probably 1900-1 |
Painted and ringing chamber painted over stonework |
Potential for wall paintings |
Existed in 1905 - high |
Painting existed in 1905 - high |
None |
Excavations and potential for survival of below-ground archaeology
No recorded archaeological excavations have been undertaken.
The fabric of the building dates from the early C13th with much of the tower, aisles, and porches from a rebuilding of 1859-60, and the chancel was heavily restored c.1900. However the core of the building remains medieval. It is expected that below-ground stratigraphy will be very heavily disturbed throughout, although it is expected that medieval and post-medieval deposits may remain at varying levels. Much of the upstanding fabric is mid-Victorian except for the aisle arcades and the chancel walls.
The churchyard is rectangular with the church offset to the west. There are marked burials on all sides. The building fronts roads on the west and north sides and a railway line on the east.
The overall potential for the survival of below-ground archaeology in the churchyard, is considered to be MODERATE-HIGH, comprising burials and much evidence of rebuilding in the C19th and early C20th. Below the present interior floors of the nave, aisles, and tower it is considered to be MODERATE, and below the chancel MODERATE-HIGH. The standing fabric of the church is a mixture of medieval and mid-C19th rebuilding and the overall potential for upstanding archaeology is considered to be MODERATE-HIGH.
Exterior: Burial numbers expected to be average with early burials around the south side.
Interior: Stratigraphy under the church is likely to be very heavily disturbed mid-C19th building layers but with the possibility of some survival of medieval deposits beneath especially in the chancel.
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