The Church of St Paul in
Kewstoke,
Somerset, England dates from the 12th century with the tower being built in 1395.
It has been designated as a Grade I
listed building.
The tower is in two stages, with rendered, diagonal buttresses with setbacks which rise through parapet as corner pinnacles. A polygonal stair turret at the south east corner rises to a pyramidal cap. The first stage has two 2-light perpendicular west window under a plain drip mould, and similar but smaller window with carved stops to the south. The second stage has one 2-light perpendicular window under a drip mould with carved stops on each side; all louvres except the west which is blank. A
quatrefoil
A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
pierced parapet has
gargoyles at the corner.
The tower has a peel of 6 bells.
In 1849 a
reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
was found in St Paul's Church that was believed to have come originally from the priory and to contain the blood of
Thomas Becket. It is believed that it was moved to St Paul's for safe keeping at the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries and is now in the
Museum of Somerset in
Taunton.
The
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
dates from the 14th century, but has been re-cut, with the bowl being much older than the base.
See also
*
Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or c ...
*
List of Somerset towers
The Somerset towers, church towers built in the 14th to 16th centuries, have been described as among England's finest contributions to medieval art. The paragraphs and descriptions below describe features of some of these towers. The organization ...
*
List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kewstoke, Saint Paul
Church of England church buildings in North Somerset
Grade I listed churches in Somerset
12th-century church buildings in England
Towers completed in the 14th century
Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset