Prees
Shropshire
Late C14 on pre-Conquest site with large C15 porch, tower of 1758 and chancel largely of 1864, when whole church was restored.
plain tile roofs with coped verges.
embattled parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles and weathervanes, gargoyles to moulded cornice on north, south and west sides.
small window with cusped head in rectangular projection to right of east window, formerly connected with rood screen.
Pointed double-chamfered C14 doorway in west bay has hoodmould and head-stops.
Stone to left of doorway has inscription, now partly illegible, to Hugh Lowes, died 1643.
Windowless north wall retains some medieval stonework to lower courses.
Stone above second window from east has a carving of a pick-like object of indeterminate date.
Late C15 porch in west bay has stepped gable, moulded cornice and empty statue niches flanking richly moulded pointed doorway with head-stops
Plain C19 pointed south doorway has encaustic tile above recording 're-edifying' of church in 1864.
Interior: collar beam roofs to nave, chancel and north aisle with arch bracing to nave, 2 tiers of circular windbraces and richly carved wooden corbels
dated 1602 with Sandford family coat- of-arms to east collar beam in north aisle.
Stone corbels at west end of aisle probably survive from medieval roof.
Mid-C14 four-bay arcade separates nave from aisle
At the junction between nave and chancel the wall has been shaved off for former rood screen with position of doorways to loft visible
Restored C14 choir stalls against south wall of chancel have plain misericords except that to west, which has carved male head and leaf decoration
C19 pews in nave and aisle incorporate reused C17 and C18 panelling.
Jacobean communion table, carved with birds and floral decoration, currently in north aisle and 2 oak chests probably C18.
the nail-studded door is probably late medieval but has been completely re-planked on external side.
Octagonal font of 1849 replaced that now outside church (q.v.).
Stained glass: fragments of C15 glass brought from Battlefield reassembled in north-east window of north aisle
also good collection of mid- to late C19 glass throughout church, most notably the south-west nave window by David and Charles Evans of Shrewsbury, the east window of the north aisle with Minton tiles beneath and the engraved glass in the north-west window of the north aisle.
Monuments: C19 wall tablets to members of Sandford family in north aisle chapel and to Hill family in chancel, outstanding amongst which is the memorial by Thomas Carline depicting the burial of Sir John Hill Small brass to Robert Hand fixed to wall by north door.
3 benefactors' boards in tower, earliest dated 1696.
A priest is mentioned here in Domesday and the large size of the parish suggests that the church, which was collegiate until the late C13, may originally have been a minster.
D. H. S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 8 , pp.712-16.