St Peter, Catcott, Somerset

St Peter, Catcott, Somerset
Originally uploaded by ChurchCrawler

The interior is a delight, seemingly unrestored, long and low with a plastered ceiling to the nave, a strange almost featureless chancel arch and a fine C15 panelled wagon roof to the chancel having carved wall plates with fleurons, ribs and bosses (although most of these restored). The clue was the small windows at the west end of the nave for a west gallery, although the present one seems to be more of a reinstatement of what was once here rather than original C17 work which the listing information says (and Pevsner offers early C19). It is accessed by a pull down ladder on small wheels, and you can closely inspect the Royal Arms dated 1792. Much of the woodwork is C17, there is extra seating available by pulling out sliding benches. Painted texts on the wall too, including one "The aged women...... shall teach the young women to be sober, to be chaste, keepers at home, to love their husbands." The north transept is subdivided and has a glazed screen to the two sections beyond (locked). The only jarring features, clearly seen in my view, the electronic sixties/seventies-styled organ behind the C13 font and the prominently displayed fire extinguisher! The village stocks are preserved in the porch, presumably for among others those young women who did not heed the advice inside!