England's 1000 Best Churches
Berkswell Church is included in the new book by Simon Jenkins. Simon Jenkins writes 'These churches were and still are glorious. I regard them as a collective museum of vernacular art without equal anywhere in the world.
|
|
Berkswell St John*** Norman Crypt, Thompson woodwork The setting is
immaculate: lane, old wall, roses, fir trees and the Dutch gable of the
old rectory. The church presents a pink Norman chancel to the Toad, like a
jolly face freshly shaved. Midlands sandstone is a relief for travellers
from the cold limestone of the north Cotswolds. The picture is completed
by a half-timbered south porch with a cottagey chamber above. This used to
be the village school, a pleasant place in which to learn. The interior is darkened by the presence of a big south gallery and by Victorian scraping. But Berkswell is full of surprises. A series of steps rises from the west end towards the sanctuary, lending it much mystery. The north arcade and the chancel are Norman. The chancel is pure and unspoilt, with a charming arrangement of small cast windows. The screens are Perpendicular but much of the woodwork was inserted by that ubiquitous carver, Robert Thompson Kilburn (in North Yorkshire), between 1926 and 1946. He made stalls, pulpit, north aisle altar and the font. There are nine examples of his famous mouse signature, fun for children to find scattered about the church
|
A door in the north aisle leads down to the crypt, one of the most remarkable in any Midlands parish church and ranking with those of Repton (Derbys) and Lastingham (Yorks, N). It has a unique octagonal antechamber and both spaces are rib vaulted. The crypt is late Norman, c.1150, and was reputedly the burial place of St Mildred, Bishop of Worcester, or of a quite different St Mildred (no relation). It was later a burial vault for the Eardley Wilmots, lords of the manor, and forms a serene contrast with the rich furnishings above. The church is well endowed with hatchments and charity boards. The latter are apparently still active, with trustees administering to the poor of the parish as their 18th century forebears were bidden to do. In the churchyard is an old baptismal immersion tank. |
Simon Jenkin's book England's Thousand Best Churches is published by Penguin, ISBN 0713992816, and costs £25.00.