Little Stretton Church History

Information on the different areas of the church:
About The Church
The Porch of the Church
Inside the Church
Monumental Inscriptions

About The Church

Since about 1220, when Little Stretton chapel was said to be served 3 days a week from the mother church of King's Norton,. and probably from the beginning of the chapel's existence, the advowson (a right of presentation to a benefice) of the chapel has been in the hands of the patron of King's Norton, A service was held in the chapel each Sunday in 1607 but by the end of the 18th century the chapel was served only 4 times a year.

In 1344 John atte Hall of Little Stretton was licensed to alienate 40s. rent there, and in Cossington to Owston Abbey for the maintenance of a chantry (endowment for priest to celebrate masses) in the chapel.

The chapel of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST is situated on the west side of the village. It is built of ironstone with limestone dressings and consists of an aisleless nave and chancel under one roof with a west tower and south porch. It dates from the late 12th century to which period belong the west and side walls of the nave, including the north and south doorways. These both have round arches, simple abaci, and plain jambs, all of limestone. The south door has an outer order decorated with round-billet ornament; the north door is blocked, the result of an order made in 1832 and fulfilled by 1835. There are no Norman windows surviving and the whole of the north wall of the church is now without windows of any period, In the south wall there are five windows, the earliest of which, though restored, has forking tracery of c. 1300, at which time the church was enlarged by rebuilding the chancel so that its side walls were aligned with those of the nave. The remaining windows on this side are of two lights, two with reticulated tracery under pointed arches and two with cusped lights under square heads, all work of the later 14th century, The east window, of three lights with restored trefoil heads, was inserted late in the 15th century; the coping at this end retains stones in situ from an earlier more steeply-pitched roof.

The west tower is small, unbuttressed, and rises in three stages defined by limestone strings to a low-pitched pyramidal roof It was added late in the 13th century but work of this period is confined to the lowest stage which was encased about a hundred years later when the upper stages were rebuilt. The tower arch and altered lancets in the east and west walls are the remains of the earlier tower; the tower arch has a two-centred rear arch which is rebated as if to carry a door, The former lancet opening in the west wall now contains a cross-shaped loophole.

Above this in the central stage is a quatrefoil opening. The belfry stage has tall Perpendicular two-light transomed (horizontal bar of wood or stone across window or top of door) openings except on the north side where there is a single-light opening with a mutilated cinquefoiled (five cusped ornament in circle or arch) head. These window openings are a curious mixture of ironstone and limestone and the tracery appears to be badly fitted. On the east face of the tower is preserved the weathering of an earlier nave roof

The south porch has a brick front and segmental entrance arch of the early 18th century; the white wooden gate may date from 1795 when a gate was ordered to be placed in the porch to keep out children and cattle. A tablet in the nave records the re-opening of the church in 1899 after its restoration through the generosity of Miss Louisa King, Mr. and Mrs, Powys-Keck, and others. The architect for the restoration was Henry L. Goddard of Leicester. This work included the roof, which had last undergone a major alteration in 1796 when it was covered in Swithland slates in place of lead and a ceiling was inserted. The east window and many of the south side windows appear to have been partly renewed at this time by Goddard. The large brick buttresses against the north wall were probably built shortly after the blocking of the north doorway in 1832-5. Extensive traces of slate hanging on the external walls of the eastern half of the church may represent an economical means of protecting the masonry early in the 19th century.

The Porch of the Church

Inside The Church

Internally there are a few early fittings preserved of which the oldest is the octagonal stone font of c1300 which has side panels decorated with two plain blank pointed arches; the intermediate panels are slightly more elaborate with cusped arches. A side bench nearby has a bench-end with a poppy head, Other plainer bench-ends, also re-used, of late medieval appearance are preserved at the west end of the nave.

A small locker in the north wall of the chancel has a frame and door of 17th-century date. It was an 'aumbrey' for the pre-reformation practice of reserving or setting aside the bread and wine used in Holy Communion.

The communion rail has heavy turned balusters and finials and dates from the early 17th century; a similar rail with balusters now serves as the front of the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel. It may have originated from the screen that separated the chancel from the nave in 1776, when it was reported, together with other fittings, to be dilapidated. The hexagonal pulpit with fielded panels, cornice, and decorative book-rest dates from 1776-7.

The bell, presently standing close to the font, was apparently removed from the belfry during the 1890 restoration because it was weakening the structure. It is believed to be one of the original ten bells at Kings Norton. It was not possible to re-hang it after the spire there was demolished in a thunderstorm in 1850.

There are no memorials earlier than the 18th century. Mural tablets include those to John Perkins (d, 1760) and his wife Susanna (d. 1749), together with their son Bartholomew (d. 1762) and his wife Mary (d. 1763). Near to the south door are tablets to Charles Seamark (d. 1755) and his wife Dorothy (d. 1776), and Jane (d. 1798), wife of the Revd. Dr, John Walker.
There is one bell, made by Edward Arnold of St. Neots in 1781. The church plate consists of a silver cup, bearing the date 1782 but purchased by subscription about 1875, and two pewter plates. No early registers survive.