St John the Baptist, Harringworth

     A came over and after High Mass at St Mary's in Stamford we headed off on a very short jaunt to Harringworth on the Northamptonshire side of the Welland valley - another absurdly attractive stone-belt village.  Very sleepy under this summer's unrelenting sun.  Quintessentially an English scene.  At first glance quite a conventional church, with west tower and spire, aisled nave and unaisled chancel, but things are always more interesting, more individual than that.  And that's what makes visiting an old church like Harringworth worthwhile.

     The oldest part of the structure is the tower - Transitional, built of limestone and richly coloured ironstone.  The spire is later, and oddly has carved heads above the broaches.  The rest of the exterior is Decorated and Perp.  One thing I noticed quickly was the difference in size between the north clerestory and the much smaller south.
     The interior is spacious, perhaps even a little uninspiring - not really a place of mystery but still beautiful.  Another chance however to compare and contrast the two mismatched clerestories - I think the north is Late Medieval except for the west bay which appears to have been rebuilt sometime after the Reformation; I think it is either Elizabethan or Jacobean.  The tower arch has very beautiful Transitional capitals.  The chancel screen is Medieval, and there are a couple of grand benefaction boards either side of the s door and the east window is rather fine; however the notable thing about the interior is the family vault that occupies the eastern half of the north aisle.  "Like something out of a M R James ghost story", I said, gazing down through the railings to the sealed door.

   Next to the church is the Manor House, an house of the late 17th century. And well worth inclusion in this post.