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St Augustine

Droitwich Spa

Worcestershire

Cruciform parish church of C1200 (nave and south transept demolished in C17) with C14 chancel, south tower 1708, north transept rebuilt C19, restored 1890 by L. Sheppard.

Architectural Features

MATERIALS: Dressed sandstone, hand-moulded brick to transept and chancel north wall, machine-moulded brick to meeting room, tile roofs.

The meeting room is in low-key Tudor-Gothic style.

On the outer north-west side is a blocked Tudor-headed doorway and blocked window above it, presumably to a rood-loft stair.

The tower arch, set just south of the crossing arch, looks C13 rather than 1708, with one order of continuous chamfer and 2 orders dying into the imposts.

The floor has C19 tiles with richer tiles in the chancel.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The octagonal font, with foliage panels, foliage on the undersides, and stem with attached shafts, is by H.H. Martyn & Co.

The round pulpit, with fine wrought-ironwork by Letheren & Sons of Cheltenham, is on a stone base.

Fragments of old glass are in the east window of the transept.

A chancel south window shows the risen Christ, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes and in the north transept the 1914-18 war-memorial window showing SS George and Martin is by Pearce & Cutler of Birmingham HISTORY: A hilltop church on the site of a Roman fort.

It had a cruciform plan by the early C13, of which the crossing and some fabric of the north transept have survived.

The chancel was enlarged in the C14.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Augustine, Dodderhill, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * For its complex history, and much altered form, reflecting the impact of English Civil War damage and subsequent re-configuration. * It has substantial and well-preserved crossing arches of c1200. * For the substantial C14 fabric of the chancel, including sedilia. * It has an impressive Gothic-survival tower of 1708, which is said to incorporate re-used materials.