Listed Building record MDR5955 - Church of St John The Baptist, Ault Hucknall Lane, Ault Hucknall

Church of St John The Baptist, Ault Hucknall Lane, Ault Hucknall, originally an 11th century building. 'Hault Hucknall is not mentioned in Domesday (there is mention, though, of the hamlets comprising the parish), but there are sufficient Norman remains to justify the belief that a church was built here soon after the Survey. Two semi-circular Norman arches separate nave and north aisle. The west window of the north aisle is about 2 ft. by 6 in., round-headed and deeply splayed on the inside. The other windows of this aisle are much later. The east end nave opening under the tower is a fine Norman archway. The base of the tower appears to be of the old building. A high narrow archway with rounded top into the chancel has been said to be Saxon. A built-up doorway at the west end of the nave has a Norman tympanum, with quaintly carved, mythological figures (cf. tympana at Hognaston and Parwich). The three-light pointed west window above, three arches separating nave and south aisle, and the roofs of nave and chancel are of the Decorated period. The nave roof closely resembles the recently-exposed roof of the nave of North Wingfield Church. The church was considerably changed during the Perpendicular period. The south porch, square-headed windows of south aisle and south chapel, east window of chancel, roofs of the aisle, upper storey of tower with embattled parapet and crocketted pinnacles, and the battlements and pinnacles of the south side and the chancel, are all of the last style of Gothic architecture. Dedicated to St. John the Baptist.' (1) 'Architect account, reference to the chancel arch, which has some chevron work and sculptured heads of humans, animals and birds. Illustration of Norman tympanum. See AO/59/284/5.' (2) 'There is a reference to a dispute in 1216 between Newstead and Croxton as to the patronage of the church.' (3) 'Granted to the Abbey of Croxton Kerrial, Leic., before his death in 1159, by William, Count of Boulogne and Mortain, Ault Hucknall Church was lost to the abbey in the early 13th century.' (4) 'The arch between choir and sanctuary, the font and the west door are described as Saxon. The remainder of the fabric is as described by Authority 1. A rare feature, in a small church, is the central tower. The church was restored in 1879.' (5) 'The church is in use for public worship [1959]. The supposed Saxon features are early Norman.' (6) 'St John the Baptist's Church. The crossing tower rests on a west arch towards the nave and an east arch towards the chancel. The former is obviously Norman, the latter is more likely to be pre-Norman. A window in the north aisle also appears Saxon in character.' (8) 'The masonry of Ault Hucknall Church includes fine Norman work in the nave and decorated archway under the tower crossing. Detailed analysis of the stonework has revealed at least six building phases in the west wall. (Not mentioned in H M & J Taylor's A S Architecture).' (9) Ault Hucknall church appears to have surviving pre-Conquest fabric in the west wall of the nave which is thicker than the walls of the rest of the church and on a different orientation. The blocked door in the west wall is also likely to be pre-Conquest, given that the later alterations to it are from the Norman period. A re-assembled pre-Conquest window is also present in the west wall of the north aisle, which appears to have been built largely from reused material from elsewhere. The plan of the nave is noticeably long and narrow which, although its surviving architectural components are Norman and later, is indicative of a pre-Conquest building. However, without further intrusive investigation, this must remain speculative. The misalignment of the building to a true liturgical axis also suggest some antiquity. Of particular interest is the building stone used in the construction of the church, which is chiefly Coal Measures sandstone even though the building stands on Magnesian Limestone. More interesting is the use of large Millstone Grit blocks, especially in the older part of the church, suggesting that Roman material may have been reused from the fort at Chesterfield to construct much, or all, of the original pre-Conquest church. This is further supported by the carved window-head in the west wall of the north aisle which displays typical broaching of the Roman period. Other carved stones have also been reused in the west wall of the nave and north aisle which, again, could be reused Roman components. (11) 'Church bells are of historical significance, as one dates from 1590 and another is a good example of the founder, G I Oldfield of Nottingham, dating from 1664.' (12) From the National Heritage List for England: 'SK 46 NE 7/19 PARISH OF AULT HUCKNALL HODMIRE LANE (north side) Church of St John the Baptist 08.07.66 GV I Parish church. C11, C14, C15. Restored 1885-88 by William Butterfield. Coursed rubble sandstone with sandstone dressings and quoins. Welsh-slate roof with stone coped gables. Chamfered plinth and moulded embattled parapets. Nave and aisles, south porch, crossing tower, chancel with south chapel and north vestry. The lean-to south aisle has an embattled parapet with one crocketted finial. Four bays divided by buttresses with three set-offs. Flat-arched west window of four round-arched lights. Deep gabled porch has battlemented parapet with crocketted pinnacles. Diagonal buttresses. Moulded four-centred arched entrance. To the right are three flat-arched windows of four round-arched lights. Plainly chamfered four-centred arched priests doorway. The chancel chapel continues similar but lower, and has one similar window. Angle buttresses with a crocketted pinnacle. Similar window to the gabled east elevation. The main east window is of three lights with bar tracery. C19 lean-to north vestry with plain mullioned windows. The tower has flat-arched two-light recessed and chamfered mullion bell-openings in each direction. To the north is an external flight of stone steps, ascending to a doorway with segmental pointed arch and rectangular window above. Lean-to north aisle has a small rectangular window and two pairs of trefoiled lancets dating from the C19 restoration. Norman lancet to the west, its round-arched head with zigzag decoration. Clerestory has two small two-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows. Blocked C11 west doorway has an incised lintel with a scene of St George and the Dragon. The tympanum above is incised with a centaur (which may be St Margaret emerging from the body of the devil) on the left, and the lamb and cross on the right. The interior of the porch has a pointed tunnel vault on four chamfered ribs, and stone seats. Plain four-centred arched doorway and pair of C19 doors. INTERIOR: two-bay C11 north arcade of plain unmoulded round arches and with chamfered impost bands. South arcade of two plus one bays. The two bays have double-chamfered arches on a central octagonal pier with bell capital, the responds on corbels. Further arch to the east is similar and with moulded corbels on semi-octagonal responds. Depressed round-arched east tower arch with re-assembled chevron and beakhead. Double-chamfered arch to the south east chapel, its outer order dying into the imposts, the inner order on corbels. Low doorway-like chancel arch, plain and round-arched. Double-chamfered arch from the tower space to the chapel, the inner order on corbels. Chancel decoration by Butterfield. Tiled sanctuary, altar rails with bold cusped circular motifs. Stone reredos, tripartite, with coloured marbles and Hopton Wood stone centre panel. Pillar piscina on a circular colonette. Monument in the chapel to Anne Keighley, wife of the first Earl of Devonshire, dated 1627. Below the window. Big base with inscription and exquisite foliage decoration. Cornice and a top like a hipped roof. On corbels rising from below the cornice, five free-standing allegorical figures. On the floor in front of the monument is a black slab inscribed to Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher, a protege of the Cavendishes, who died at Hardwick in 1679. Aumbry recess. Medieval stained glass dated 1527 in the chapel east window, depicting the Crucifixion. Plain robust pews, pulpit, choir stalls, readers desk etc., probably by Butterfield. Screen between the south aisle and chapel, of intersecting round arches. Wooden eagle lectern. C14 nave roof, with big tie beams and coarse trefoil tracery above. Sandstone and Hopton Wood stone font, given in 1887 and by Butterfield, with inlaid circular motifs. Next to it is a plain circular font bowl. At the west end of the nave are two benefaction boards. In the south aisle is a painted coat of arms and charity board. Two C18 monuments in the north aisle, one a cartouche with date of death 1703. In the aisle several C19 stained glass windows, and one in the north aisle of 1933 by HHB of Nottingham. Listing NGR: SK4674165233.' (13)