History
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Braunston had its own church since Norman times. However, the only surviving part of the first church on the site is the restored Norman font with worn rope-moulding around the top. A second church, built in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century, served the parish for nearly five centuries before it was demolished in 1848. The old material was used in building the present church, the third on the site, and two of the chancel arches were retained. A section of the old vestry with a doorway and traceried window was rebuilt in the Rectory garden. The church now standing is substantially the early Victorian building erected in 1848/9 as a result of the effort of the Rector, the Rev. A B Clough, Fellow of Jesus College Oxford. The College has held patronage of the living since 1728. The design was the work of Mr R C Hussey, a Birmingham architect, who had already been employed on a new church at Orlingbury, Northants. He used golden-brown Duston stone around the base of the new church, contrasting with the deep red sandstone from the old fabric and the silver-grey Weldon stone used for the tracery and the spire of the tower. In outline the new church was similar to its mediaeval predecessor in having no north chancel. It also preserved some architectural features, e.g. the piscina in the present vestry. This was probably used in connection with one of the mediaeval side-alters. The body of the church was made much wider in order to provide accomodation for the enlarged population which had followed the coming of the canals. Proportionately the height of each roof was increased and the church was no longer dwarfed by the imposing tower. This was rebuilt to its original height of 150 feet. Instead of battlements, the southern walls were crowned with a parapet. The tracery in this matched the 'flamboyant' detail of the tall east windows. The gable at the east end of the nave supported a bellcote, though it no longer contained the sanctus bell which in Catholic times signalled the Elevation of the Host. The Interior of the Church The tall octagonal pillars of the arcades and the clear glass windows created lofty well-lighted surroundings for the congregation seated in rows in the nave and south chancel. The wooden pulpit and reading desk stood in front of the seats on the north side of the middle aisle. The organ was placed on the first floor of the tower and the choir sat there or at the back of the church. So the view of the raised chancel and sanctuary was uninterrupted and unobstructed by box pews, choirstalls or old monuments. The Ten Commandments written on boards on either side of the east window were clearly visible. A modest plaque in the chancel recalled the brother of a former Rector, Dr. Corbet Hue, and one stained glass window by R Wailes commemorated Robert and Susanna Marriot, of an old Braunston family, supporters of the church for many years. Alterations in the chancel, 1874-1880 Thechurch which the Rev. A B Clough had brought into being in order to spread the knowledge of Christianity more widely was perhaps too austere for his successor, the Rev. Lewis Gilbertson. He was a member of the Oxford Movement who wished to emphasise the community of his congregation, joining together in worship as well as listening to his exhortations. He wanted music to enhance the church services. So two rows of benches were provided for the surpliced choir and seats for the clergy in the chancel. The organ was moved from the tower and placed at the east end of the south chancel to be near to them. Later the organ was moved to its present position in order to give more space in thevestry. The greatest change, however, was in the appearance of the chancel itself which was transformed by the redecoration. This was the work of the leading High Church designer, William Butterfield, architect of the Rugby School. He covered the timber roof supports in the chancel with carved and painted boarding in brown and silver. The floor was paved with red Minton tiles with various geometrical and heraldic patterns in yellow. The east window was raised in order to make room for a tiled stone reredos surmounted by a painted cross which is now hidden by oak panels. Painted stone figures of saints flanked the east window on both sides. The painting of the shafts on either side of the chancel arch gives some idea of the boldness of his colour schemes which would have stood out in a well-lighted chancel of his day. The introduction of stained glass windows, though colourful in themselves, has made the chancel darker. The whole of the north wall was painted with a stencilled design which can just be seen through the vents in the more recent oak panels. The Ten Commandments were painted in black letters on a tympanum fixed in the apex of the chancel arch. Alterations in the nave 1879 - 1880 The body of the church was also completely refurnished. The aisles were repaved with grey stone slabs bordered by red Minton tiles that led the eyes towards the the tiled floor of the chancel. The pews were replaced by new uniform seating in pitch pine and deal. The old wooden pulpit and reading desk that had survived the rebuilding was now removed. A new pulpit in pink Derbyshire marble and white alabaster was erected by the north chancel arch. A new font in Derbyshire and Devon marble with white Scicilian marble inlays was placed by the crossing at the back of the church. Twentieth century alterations and additions Butterfield's designs were too bold for the more restrained tastes of later generations. First to go in 1907 was then tympanum displaying the Ten Commandments. This was removed to the west wall of the belfry where it is rather obscured by the screeen on the opposite side. In 1928 a new oak reredos was placed in front of Butterfield's stone one and oak panelling concealed his decoration of the north wall of the chancel. Similar panelling was used in St Giles' chapel in the north aisle. The carving on the reredos in the chapel and on the lecturn is by a local artist, Trevor Cox, who lived in Braunston. The oak community table was given as a memorial to the Rev. H.E. Ruddy, Rector 1940 - 1959 Relics from former churches Besides the Norman font there is the head of the churchyard cross. This shows the Crucufixion, the Virgin Mary, a robed priest and an armed warrior, and is possibly of fourteenth century date. The most notable monument in the church is the stone effigy of a man in armour, described by Pevsner in Buildings of Britain : Northamptonshire as 'an excessively cross-legged knight.' His head rests on a pillow flanked by angels and his feet upon two beasts trampling upon a priest. Between the feet is a rosette, the emblem of the de Ros family. The spurs indicates a date around 1400, or later as fashions in armour spreade slowly. This suggests that it was possibly a memorial to William de Ros who died while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1352. Nearby is the old parish chest which once housed the parish records, now deposited in the Diocesan Record Office at Delapre Abbey, Northampton. It has three sperate locks and the keys were held by the Rector and the two churchwardens. All three had to be present to open the chest as a safeguard against the loss of important documents such as Wills, indentures, settlement certificates and justices' orders which were kept together with the parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. Thanks to Rector Binckes whom copied the early loose sheets into a book, Braunston has a complete set of these dating back to 1538 |
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