St Mary's and All Saints' Church is an
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the village of
Checkley
Checkley is a village and civil parish in the district of Staffordshire Moorlands in the English county of Staffordshire.OS Explorer Map 259: Derby, Ashbourne and Cheadle: (1:25 000) :[listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...]
. The oldest parts of the building are
12th-century
The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar.
In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of th ...
, with later medieval and 17th-century work.
Description
The lower storey of the tower is 12th-century, the later upper part being in
Perpendicular
In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟠...
style. The south door, protected by a porch, is of about 1300.
[St Mary, Checkley, Staffordshire]
CRSBI. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
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-type ...
has four bays, and the
clerestory
A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, a ''clerestory' ...
windows above are 17th-century. The north arcade is 13th-century, and the round-arched north aisle windows are 17th-century. The south arcade is taller than the north arcade; although parts are of the 12th century, it was later remodelled. The pointed chancel arch is early 13th-century.
[
The ]chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
, of four bays, is late 13th-century; the pointed five-light east window and three-light side windows have intersecting tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...
. The glass in the chancel is 14th-century.[
The chancel, showing the east and north windows
The font is a cylindrical bowl on a shaft, both 12th-century. The bowl is decorated with low relief carvings: there is a ]Lamb of God
Lamb of God (; , ) is a Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#1:29, John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, " ...
on an altar, with panels around the bowl containing irregular patterns of triangles.[
]
Anglo-Scandinavian stone crosses
In the churchyard, south of the church, are three early medieval stone crosses; they are close together and are thought to be standing in or near their original positions. There is a tradition that the crosses were erected in memory of three bishops killed in a battle near the village. They are regarded as among the finest Anglo-Scandinavian
Anglo-Scandinavian is an academic term referring to the hybridisation between Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures in Britain during the early medieval period. It remains a term and concept often used by historians and archaeologists, and in linguist ...
crosses in Staffordshire.[
]
See also
* Grade I listed churches in Staffordshire
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Checkley, St Mary's and All Saints' Church
Church of England church buildings in Staffordshire
Grade I listed churches in Staffordshire
Diocese of Lichfield