St Edmund's Church is a church in

Egleton Egleton is a small village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is situated south east of Oakham, and is close to the western shore of Rutland Water Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England ...

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 ...

. It is a

Grade I listed 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 Ire ...

building.

History

The church is essentially Norman with good examples of Norman carving in the

chancel arch 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. Over ...

and the south door. Patterned columns support the doorway. The church says the south doorway dates from the 12th century and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

describes its style as Saxo-Norman. A carved tympanum, showing, what is thought to be, either a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

or a dragon facing each other from each side of a six-armed wheel, can be seen. The 12th-century

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 ...

features rosettes and crosses. The south-facing part has a geometric shape with six leaves similar to the one on the tympanum. A rood screen dating from the 15th century can be seen at the western end of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

. The medieval pews are decorated with poppyheads. Situated above the chancel arch is a coat of arms probably belonging to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. In the 14th century the tower, south porch,

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 ...

, arcade and north aisle were all added. The chancel had to be rebuilt in the 15th century. The north aisle has been demolished and the arcade in-filled.

References

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