St Columba

The N aisle and all or part of the S aisle were added in the later C12

The chancel was extended eastwards and the aisles apparently rebuilt in the C14, at which time new fittings including the chancel sedilia and the font were also installed

There was further remodelling in the C15, when the tower and clerestory were added and the E window replaced

EXTERIOR: Three stage, C15 embattled W tower with very high, moulded plinth, the stages separated by strings

Blocked 4-centred W door with continuous moulded arch, square hood mould and carved spandrels

There is a blocked late C12 doorway in the N (the VCH suggests this led to a former chapel or sacristy, though this need not have been the case and it may have been simply a priest's door) and to the right of it a round-headed recess, probably for a tomb, and perhaps also dating to the late C12

The chancel S windows are both heavily renewed, but are C14 Decorated in style

The masonry is too heavily renewed for any building break between the C12 and C14 work to be visible

There is a single C19 lancet with a trefoiled head in each arch, but these are set within blocked openings, the westernmost rounded headed and probably a former Georgian or churchwarden¿s gothic style window of 1808, the other two four-centred and probably reused C15 windows removed in the C19

Tall, pointed tower arch the full width of the tower, with three chamfered dying orders of C15 form

The nave has a very shallow, plain roof probably of the C15, much restored in the C20

Both N and S arcades appear to have been built in the late C12 and altered in the C14

The E respond and 1st pier of each arcade has a square, C12 capital, while the other capitals on each side are moulded

The arches are of 2 hollow chamfered orders with a hood mould on the nave side and date to the C14, perhaps suggesting that 2 bay C12 chapels were lengthened to aisles in the C14, retaining the E responds and 1st piers, but rebuilding the rest including new arches

Tall, C15, pointed chancel arch of two hollow chamfered orders, with a hood mould to the nave side

The blocked C12 door or opening to a former chapel is visible in the S wall of the chancel, and in the S chancel wall there is a blocked rectangular opening, apparently a former squint

C19 doorway to the vestry and arch to the organ chamber on the N. The chancel has a 3-seat, C14 sedilia and an aumbry, but no piscina

Very fine, though very worn, early C14 font

The rounded bowl has a king's head in the style of Edward I, a winged figure, a monster and one unrecognisable motif on its lower corners

Three seat early C14 sedilia in the chancel, each niche with a trefoiled ogee head and the seats level

There is a hood mould with head stops and finials over each arch, and the niches are divided by moulded shafts very similar to the outer shafts on the font, suggesting a similar date for the font and sedilia

C19 encaustic tiles in chancel

Polygonal C19 timber pulpit with traceried sides

Unusual late C19 or early C20 brass lectern with a winged female figure supporting the bookrest

A brass to Horatio Woodhouse (d.1679), rector for almost 37 years, in the chancel and some C19 wall slabs

This arrangement was altered, and advowson of Collingtree fully separated from that of Milton Malzors, in the mid C15

The late C12 aisles at Collingtree are the earliest evidence for a church there, but Collingtree itself existed at the time of Domesday and the aisles were probably added to an early C12 church comprising an aisleless nave and square chancel

The chancel was extended and the aisles remodelled in the C14, and other features of this period, including the font and the sedilia, suggest a fairly comprehensive reworking of the church

The tower dates to the C15

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Columba, Collingtree, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * Excellent medieval fabric, including a restored C15 roof. * The surviving medieval fittings, notably sedilia and font, are very fine