Knowle Church

The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST. LAWRENCE, AND ST. ANNE consists of a chancel, nave with aisles and north transept, and a west tower. North of the chancel are modern vestries, &c.
The building dates from not earlier than 1396, when a faculty to found a chapel on his land was obtained by Walter Cook. The church was consecrated 24 February 1402, but it took probably another 20 or 30 years before the main lines of the building, as now existing, were finished. From an examination of the fabric the sequence of the development appears to have been as follows:

1. A chancel of three bays and nave of four bays, with perhaps the lower part of the tower.

2. The north aisle with the arcade, which was constructed from re-used material of the 13th century, probably from the former chapel. 

3. The south aisle with its arcade of five bays in red sandstone, overlapping the chancel for a chantry chapel. The east wall is built against an earlier chancelbuttress. Three of the windows and the white ashlar probably came from the nave wall, the rest being made up of red sandstone (Kenilworth stone).

4. The extension of the chancel one bay eastwards, for which Kenilworth stone was also used, probably after the licence was obtained in 1416 for the college of ten priests. There was a pre-existing lower building east of the church, evidently of too much importance to be destroyed, and the new bay filled up the whole of the available space; the lower part of the present east wall was either part of the other building or was built right against it, as it is not properly faced externally. The building was askew with the chancel, so that the upper part of the east wall had to be built on a different plane. The building prevented access from the north to the south of the churchyard and, probably for processional purposes, a vaulted subway was constructed below the new addition, and consequently the sanctuary was raised to an unusually high level.

5. The clearstory, of white stone, probably followed. It served both the old chancel (where the windows are lower) and nave, where it replaced the original lower roof.

6. The north transept or chapel off the westernmost bay of the chancel and incorporating on its west side a stairway to the rood loft. The archway towards the nave is later than any others of the medieval work, and it may not have been added before the latter half of the century. The east window, with mullions and tracery more sturdy than those of the north window, may have been the east window of the aisle re-used.

7. The upper stages of the tower differ in material from the lowest stage. The completion may have been delayed for a considerable period. The bell-chamber windows are the only windows that have hood-moulds.

In 1744 the south-east buttress of the chancel was added, and it was probably then that the lower east building was removed and the subway below the sanctuary blocked, the vault being destroyed and the sanctuary floor lowered. In 1748–9 a porch was added; it was removed in 1821 when the church was restored; it was presumably then that the west doorway was made in place of the blocked side doorways. The roofs were renewed, the lead-work, which was dated 1696, being removed. Further restorations were done in 1860, when the chancel-screen was moved one bay eastward to its present position, and in 1910, when the roofs were again restored and re-leaded in place of the slates of 1821. The organ chamber and vestries north of the chancel were added in 1900. 

The chancel (about 34 ft. by 22 ft.) is of three bays, the easternmost diminishing eastwards to 19 ft. The east window is of five cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and vertical tracery in a two-centred head. The window on each side in the canted easternmost bay is of four lights, the outer pair with cinquefoiled ogee heads; the inner pair have cinquefoiled pointed heads below a horizontal bar with trefoiled piercings above, in a two-centred head. The second windows are of three lights of similar design and date. The third window, in the south wall, is a lower one of three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and vertical tracery in a four-centred head. The north wall has a modern archway in this bay, to the organ-chamber. Below the west of the middle south window is a priests' doorway with moulded jambs and segmental-pointed head: the inner splays are partly white and partly red stone; the rear-arch all red. The lower part of the east wall outside is of rough unfaced yellow-white rubble with much mortar. It contains the blocked lower part of the east window, walled up with lias and red sandstone, the wall flanking it being of rough red sandstone with good angle-dressings. The upper part of the wall, with the window, is of red sandstone ashlar and is built on a different plane, setting back nearly a foot at the north end and projecting about 6 in. at the south end, so that here it overhangs the lower face. The wall is also ashlar-faced inside, but the lower part of the wall north of the reredos and the window up to about a foot above the sill-level is recessed, not having been refaced when the upper part was built. At the angles of the red sandstone wall are small diagonal buttresses, partly overhanging on the north-east angle. At the south-east angle of the lower part is a later large diagonal buttress of ashlar. The head of the wall is a low-pitched gable with a moulded string-course and parapet; above the angles are restored pinnacles and over the middle a modern gable-cross.

Buttresses divide the side-walls into three bays. The easternmost canted bays are of fine-jointed red ashlar and show outside the blocked four-centred archways, 6 ft. 9 in. wide, that gave entry to the former subway under the sanctuary; they have ogee-moulded jambs and heads. The middle south bay, with the buttresses flanking it, is of cream-white and fine-jointed Arden sandstone up to the sill of the window, and has no plinth. Above the sill-level the wall is of red ashlar, also including the buttresses. The west bay is of the Arden stone, coarsely jointed, up to about a foot above the head of the window, and has a chamfered plinth merging into the buttress east of it. The top of the wall is of red stone and has an embattled parapet with diagonal pinnacles above the buttresses, having gabled and crocketed finials. The north wall is covered by the modern vestry, but is otherwise similar, except that the parapet is not embattled.
The interior faces of the west bay are plastered, up to the clearstory; the remainder is red-ashlar faced. There is no chancel arch.

In the eastern bay and partly the middle bay are the piscina and sedilia, now high in the wall because of the lowering of the sanctuary floor; the piscina basin, now mutilated, is 6 ft. 5 in. above the floor. The recess has a trefoiled ogee-head with crockets and finial between panelled pilasters with pinnacles; at half height is a shelf. The lower seat of the three sedilia is 5 ft. above the floor. These have depressed ogee-heads with bratticing above; the easternmost seat and head are higher than the other two. In the western bay, mostly covered by the stalls, are remains of the former piscina and three sedilia, now forming shallow recesses: the head of the piscina (only part visible) was ogee trefoiled, now hacked away, in white stone. The three sedilia had ogee-heads; they are cut back, but the top cornice or string-course remains and has on its lower side the stumps of the former hood-moulds and pilasters.

The nave (about 64 ft. by 22 ft.) has on the north side an archway to the transept and west of it an arcade of four bays. The first has semi-octagonal responds of white stone with simply moulded capitals and bases and a very depressed four-centred arch, of 12 ft. 9 in. span. A 2-ft. length of wall divides it from the arcade, which has octagonal pillars (with responds to match). They have rather crude capitals, differing from those of the east arch and 2½ ft. lower: the bases are hollowsplayed; the courses are narrow. The arches, of about 9-ft. span, are acutely pointed, and of two chamfered orders with small and medium-sized voussoirs: the wall is only 2 ft. thick. The material is white stone, and the wall is plastered above, up to the clearstory. The south arcade is of five approximately equal bays in red sandstone; the pillars are octagonal with moulded capitals and tall bases and mostly in large courses: the arches are two-centred and of two chamfered orders. The wall above is of red ashlar up to the clearstory.

The clearstory includes the western bay of the chancel as well as the nave, and is of white stone. The two eastern windows on the north side, one over the organ archway, the other over the transept arch, lighted the original chancel and are each of three trefoiled lights under a four-centred head. The other four, central with the nave arches, are set higher and are each of three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and vertical tracery in a four-centred head. The south windows are similar, but the sill of the second is raised to the same level as those west of it. There are traces of a rough string-course at the base of the clearstory inside.
The parapets are embattled on the south side and plain on the north and are of red stone. They have diagonal pinnacles carried on corbels carved as winged monsters at the string-course and having restored gablets and crocketed finials; the north pinnacles are missing. Apart from the corbels most of the parapet string-courses are of white stone. The low-pitched roof appears to be modern, but may have a few old timbers re-used. It is divided into eight bays by chamfered main beams which are reinforced by short pieces under the ends and supported by curved braces on wood corbels.

The north transept (about 21 ft. deep by 13½ ft. wide) has a modern east archway, to the organ-chamber, and north of it a window of three trefoiled pointed lights and vertical tracery in a two-centred head. The north window is of three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and vertical tracery in a four-centred head. The mullions and tracery are thinner than those of the east window. Against the west side of the transept is a straight stair to the former rood loft: it is closed off, the bottom of it being now a cupboard entered by a four-centred doorway at the north end of the wall. The blocked upper doorway appears in the aisle opposite the 2-ft. pier between the transept arch and the arcade, but there are no visible traces of the way through into the nave, except perhaps cracks in the piaster. The walls are of grey-white ashlar with lias repair at the top. The plinth has a moulded top member and a hollowchamfered lower member. The north wall has original buttresses at the angles, and a low-pitched gable. The staircase projects on the west side and has the same plinth; the top of the wall slopes with the stair.
The roof is of two bays, and has three cambered tiebeams, with hollow-chamfered mouldings, supported by wall-posts and curved braces. The bays are divided into four by two compartments by moulded ribs with carved bosses at the intersections; the rafters are wide and flat.

The north bay is fitted as a chapel for a memorial of the Great War of 1914–18 and has a modern screen: the roof timbers of this bay are painted and gilded.
The north aisle (12½ ft. wide) is divided by the old north buttresses into four bays; the easternmost, second, and fourth have windows, each of three trefoiled twocentred lights and vertical tracery in a four-centred head. In the third bay is a blocked four-centred doorway. The west wall has a small rectangular piercing, high up.

The north wall, cemented inside, is of coursed ashlar in grey-white stone and has a chamfered plinth and an oversailing chamfered course below the eaves gutter. The west wall, although faced inside with coursed square rough ashlar of one period, is of more variable treatment externally: it meets the north-west angle of the nave with a rough vertical seam. Above the plinth are four courses of grey-white rough ashlar right across. Above these is another vertical seam approximating with the inner face of the north wall, and between the two the masonry is of roughly squared lias rubble, containing the small light, and probably of 16th- or 17th-century repair and perhaps indicating a former window. The short length of nave wall is of roughly squared large stones; the west end of the clearstory above sets back from it.

The roof is ancient; it has chamfered beams dividing it into four bays, and a middle purlin; the rafters are wide, laid flatwise.

The south aisle (14 ft. wide) has an east window of three lights, the outer two cinquefoiled pointed, the middle trefoiled ogee-headed, with vertical tracery in a two-centred head: the jambs are of white stone, the head of red. North of it is a round-headed doorway of the 17th or 18th century, walled up with red sandstone. The south wall is divided by the buttresses into five bays, with a window in each. The easternmost resembles the east window, and the next three are like those in the north aisle. The westernmost, similar to the east window, is modern: below it are the outlines of the jambs of a blocked doorway and in the plinth are notches where the former timber porch met the wall. The west window is of three cinquefoiled ogeeheaded lights and vertical tracery in a four-centred head: the wall below it thickens 3 in. inside.

The walls are of grey-white ashlar patched, especially in the upper parts, with red sandstone, and have chamfered plinths except in the west, where is merely a square footing. The buttresses, diagonal at the angles and square between, are of two stages and carry pinnacles like those of the clearstory with winged monsters at the parapet string-course, all of red stone with the embattled parapets. The east wall is flush with the side of an original chancel-buttress of white stone, with which it makes a straight joint; the blocked doorway cuts half into it. The west wall also meets the original south-west buttress of the nave which projects beyond it. It is of rough-tooled white ashlar and has at the top an oversailing course, above which is a (reset?) stone with three trefoiled gabled faces. Two small sundials are scratched on south buttresses; one, well developed, is on the east face, evidently a re-used stone from the former south wall of the nave. Below the south-east window is a plain four-centred piscina with a round basin, and west of it a plain rectangular locker. The roof resembles that of the north aisle, but the chamfered rafters may be mostly modern.

The west tower (about 10½ ft. square) is of three stages. The lowest is built of cream-white (Arden sandstone) ashlar in fairly large courses, the upper two are of grey-white ashlar. The plinth has a moulded upper course nearly like that of the north transept, mostly cut away on the west side. At the west angles are diagonal buttresses of six stages reaching nearly to the parapet string-course. The south-east stair-vice projects on the south side and is built of the cream stone to about seven or eight courses higher than the remainder; above that it is of the grey-white stone to the base of the bell-chamber, where it has a sloping stone roof: the entrance is modern, the original entrance inside the tower being blocked. The parapet is embattled and has the stumps of former pinnacles; the moulded string-course has carved gargoyles.

The archway from the nave has jambs and twocentred head of two chamfered orders. Above it is a line made by the earlier and lower low-pitched roof of the nave, and a blocked square-headed doorway which opened on to it.

The west window is of three trefoiled lights and vertical tracery in a two-centred head; the sill has been raised to clear a modern doorway. On the south side is a two-light square-headed window below the upper string-course.

There are no windows in the second stage. The bell-chamber has windows, each of two cinquefoiled pointed lights and foiled spandrel in a two-centred head with a hood-mould, having stops carved as crawling beasts.

The communion table is a modern remodelling of an Elizabethan table. It was about 4 ft. 2 in. long and was lengthened to 7 ft. 7 in. by bringing the sides to the front and remaking the back. The legs are of the typical carved bulbous form, and the top-rail carved with scroll ornament.

The font, of the 15th century, is octagonal with moulded lower edges to the bowl, plain stem, and moulded base; the sides of the bowl have quatrefoiled square panels and cement repairs where the former staples existed.

The chancel-screen is of late-15th-century date with some modern repairs. It has a middle opening with two bays of foiled ogee arches with rosette cusp-points, and tracery. On each side of it are four bays with similar tracery-heads but uncusped arches. They have upper and lower moulded middle rails with tracery-panelled faces and between the rails a frieze variously traceried in each bay. The close panels below them have a pair of traceried heads to each bay. The moulded posts had sloping chases or mortices cut in the sides immediately above the rail, probably for book boards. The head, canopied on the west side, has applied modern tracery to the soffit, but at the tops of the posts are the basepieces of the moulded ribs to the former fan-vault below the loft. The moulded west cornice is modern, but the top rail towards the east is old.

East of the screen are the collegiate stalls, reset from farther west. There are six on the north side and five on the south: they are divided by moulded standards shaped for elbows. These have shafts with moulded caps on the front edges below the elbows, and moulded top-rails or cappings rounded on plan for the seats. On the front edge of a south standard is carved a sprig or plant below the capping. The cuttings and joints in the seats show that they were originally with three stalls backing the screen and facing east, the standards being mitred where they met the side-stalls. The seats are hinged and have misericords on the undersides. The easternmost on the north side is carved with a lion and foliage on the bracket and a hart and unicorn at the sides. The opposite south bracket is carved with an ape in a monk's hood and with beasts resembling bears at the sides. Four of the others have foliage on the brackets and leaves at the sides and the remaining five have uncarved brackets between side leaves.

There are two dug-out chests; one, 7 ft. 7 in. long, has a curved lid with four out of the original five straphinges and three locks. The other, 5 ft. 1 in. long, has a curved lid with four strap-hinges and one lock.

In the floor of the nave before the chancel-screen (and therefore originally in the chancel) is a circular slab, 4 ft. 2 in. diameter, of grey marble with the indent of a figure and inscription, a scroll from his mouth, probably a Trinity above, a shield on either side and perhaps a circular marginal inscription, all rather badly worn. The slab is reputed to be the gravestone of Walter Cook, Canon of Lincoln, &c., who died in 1423 and desired to be buried in the chancel of Knowle before the image of St. Anne.
Another slab has the indents of a man and two wives, children and shields. 

On the pulpit is an hour-glass of oak with three spiral supports; the sand runs for 20 minutes. On the top is a silver plate inscribed: 'This hour-glass was made by W. Needler in 1673 and was given back to Knowle Church by A. D. Melson of Lapworth in 1929.' 

In the tower are refixed two ornamental wrought iron brackets, with shelves inscribed 'Ex dono Antonii Holbeche, 1717'. On these are carved figures of a lion and unicorn.

Loose in the nave is a sheet of lead from the nave roof, dated 1696, and in the south aisle is a piece of a moulded string-course of a parapet with a monster gargoyle.

The communion plate is modern, except for a silver gilt paten, on a circular foot, made by Anthony Nalme and bearing the date 1703.

There are six bells of 1897 by James Barwell, and two others (the treble and second) by Taylor of Loughborough added in 1931, when the seventh was recast. 

The registers date from 1682, and there are churchwardens' accounts from 1673.