If this church had been built in recent times, there would have been an uproar of complaints. Screams of “Utter chaos”, “botch job”, and in my own words “a job that Barry Bucknell would be proud of”. I actually love the place.
Work started in the 12th century, with alterations and additions continuing into the 15th. It’s likely that there was a major rebuild sometime between 16th and 17th century. Than as always, the Victorians did their bit. The trouble is, the Victorians could never do just a bit, they had to do a lot. The were always happy to sweep away 700 years of past history to put their signature on everything and anything public.
It is now an eclectic mix of Romanesque, Gothic, Vernacular, Victorian architecture at its finest where nothing lines up or seems to fit but has been made to do so somehow. The essence of what it originally was, has somehow hung on in there. The whole thing tells a story where successive builders have aggrandized the church, so its sheer history has become more beautiful as time progressed. It is a place to enjoy.
David Moore 