St Botolph's Church, Wardley is a redundant Anglican church in the small village of Wardley,

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

History

The

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

was granted to Launde Priory by Richard Basset in the early 12th century. The church was built in the 12th century with the tower and spire built in the 14th century and

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper ...

being added in the 15th. A

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proce ...

in the 1870s included the rebuilding of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

. Wardley's parish church was dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon Saint Botolph, patron saint of travellers. It stands on its raised churchyard above this hamlet in Rutland, south of the A47 and close to the border with Leicestershire. St Peter's Church in Allexton, the nearest village in Leicestershire, is also in the care of the CCT. An inspection of the fabric of the building in 2000 identified serious defects in parts of the stonework. Public fundraising enabled work to be carried out and the church was rededicated in 2004. The church was closed for regular worship in June 2010 and vested into the care of the

in April 2016. The CCT undertook a significant programme of conservation work, including the re-roofing of the chancel with

Collyweston slate The Collyweston Slater pub in Collyweston with a Collyweston slate roof Collyweston stone slate is a traditional roofing material found in central England. It is not a proper slate but a limestone found in narrow beds. It is considerably heav ...

s, timber repairs and re-glazing. The church re-opened in December 2017.

Architecture

The church consists of a nave (without aisles), a chancel, a west tower with spire and a south porch. The oldest features of the church are the doorways, with the moulded south doorway with

waterleaf In botany, waterleaf can mean: * Any plant of the genus ''Hydrophyllum'' * Any plant which is a member of the waterleaf family, Hydrophylloideae * ''Talinum fruticosum'', a leaf vegetable of the family Talinaceae In architecture, waterleaf means: ...

carving on its capitals, dating c.1175 and enclosed in a 14th-century porch. The tower and broach spire date from the 14th century, while the chancel was rebuilt in 1871. Inside are clear glazing and whitewashed walls. The pointed tower arch to the west, with its carved mask corbels, is likely to be 14th century, while the simple oak nave roof is 15th century. Stone flags in the nave give way to Victorian encaustic tiles in the chancel. The three-stage tower is supported by

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es and contains two bells. Inside the church it retains a 19th-century barrel organ made by Bates of Ludgate Hill in London. The octagonal

font In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "Sort (typesetting), sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of ...

is dated 1797. A parish chest contains parish documents from 1743 until the 20th century. The

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

is from the 13th century.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardley, Saint Botolph Grade II* listed churches in Rutland 13th-century church buildings in England English Gothic architecture in Rutland Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust Church of England church buildings in Rutland Former Church of England church buildings

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links