Architectural Features
tower c1374 that was raised in C15.
Various phases of additions, alterations and restoration in C17, C18, and C19
EXTERIOR: the C12 west front has stone rubble to the lower part and coursed limestone ashlar above.
the lower one has a blind arcade of intersecting arches pierced by three C12 round-headed windows
The narrower, C12 inner bay has a round-headed window on jamb shafts and scalloped capitals with a quatrefoil above
The C12 monastic church originally extended further east.
The lower part of the east wall which is hidden by a late-C20 flat-roofed, single-storey extension is considered to retain the remains of a C12 low partition screen across the nave.
The south aisle, which was widened in the C14
partly rebuilt and refurbished in the C17, is of five bays.
There are four C17 windows of four lights with trefoil heads in plate tracery under four-centred arched heads, separated by narrow buttresses.
The window in the eastern bay is shorter and is set above a doorway with roll-moulded arched head and square-headed hoodmould with delicately-carved foliate design to the spandrels.
11 are of C12 date and the rest are C19.
Part of a C12 corbelled eaves course also survives.
The arcade is interrupted after every fifth bay by a C12 recessed, single-light window, except for a C19 restored window set within a blocked C17 pulpit window.
Despite the church's ancient roots, this pulpit was made in the mid nineteenth century. It has a richly-carved pulpit on a composite base of four polished granite shafts.
The four-stage, unbuttressed tower is square on plan, rising to a c1900 crenellated parapet with gargoyles and crocketted corner finials.
The embattled, two-storey, south-west porch of 1802 has a south doorway with two-centred arched head and moulded surround with carvings of fruit and leaves to the spandrels.
The west end of the south aisle has a C17 two-centred arched headed window of three lights.
Beneath is a sill of a probable C12 single-light window.
The C12 arcade has composite piers, though the second pier from the east on the south side is more elaborate.
the triple window above has jamb shafts with carved capitals and an interlaced lozenge pattern to the arches.
The arch-braced wagon roof to the nave has been dated to between 1411 and 1436
chancel roof, which has arch-braced, common-rafter trusses, has been dated 1327-52.
The roof timbers rise from carved limestone corbels.
The north aisle is two bays wide, comprising the narrow C12 inner aisle and a C19 outer aisle, and the two are divided by an arcade which probably follows the line of the outer wall of the former.
It is carried on piers of polished granite with shaft rings of unpolished marble, and richly-carved limestone capitals.
The south aisle has a mid-C19 kingpost tie-beam roof carried on painted limestone corbels carved as grotesque heads which remain from an earlier roof.
Towards the east end of the aisle, within a niche in the south wall, is a stone effigy of a recumbent male, reputedly Robert, Earl of Gloucester, d. 1147
it is now considered to be C13 and to be that of another man.
The former vestry of 1864 incorporates some C12
C14 fabric, including a narrow archway which may represent the entrance from the cloister into a passage which would have given the monks access to both the west and east parts of the priory church.
FITTINGS: within the nave is a richly-carved pulpit on a composite base of four polished granite shafts and pews with doors hung on elaborate H hinges
its stem and base may incorporate C12 fabric.
MEMORIALS: late-C19 and early-C20 stained glass memorial windows to north and south aisles, including some by Bell of Bristol.
Among them, the west end of the north aisle has a monument to Sir Charles Somerset , former owner of part of the priory site.
It has a two-tier base with kneeling figures of Somerset, his wife and their daughter at prayer above, flanked by Corinthian columns supporting a frieze surmounted by a cartouche and corner obelisks.
At the west end of the nave, the marble memorial to Henry Dighton and family members has a broken pedimented top with a shield and winged cupids above
adjacent monument to Sir James Russell , first governor of Nevis, has a marble aedicule with Corinthian columns, apron and side panels with military motifs, cannon on top and a central heraldic cartouche.
Memorials in the south aisle include marble wall tablet to Isaac Baugh and his wife, in the form of a sarcophagus on animal feet with a bowed tablet above and surmounted by a swagged urn, set on a slate backing
memorial to Thomas Edwards by Michael Sidnell, has a Corinthian aedicule on brackets with broken pediment and cartouche
and memorial to Martha Noble and her husband, has a panel on brackets bearing a sarcophagus with a skull, an open pediment with a crown and open book above.
Marble memorial to Joan Wood and family members, has brackets to a Corinthian aedicule with scrolled brackets supporting the sides and moulded cornice
In the south porch are two First World War memorials