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Looking
Down The Aisle
© Pete Lorimer
Matthew Flinders
Gift Aid 2008
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The church
is mainly late Decorated and Perpendicular (1300-1400) in
style, but traces of Norman (1100) and early English (1200)
masonry can be found in its walls.
The Chancel
walls, built of irregular rubble masonry, incorporate some
of the oldest parts of the building. The oldest known part
of the church is the east wall where two doorways, one each
side of the holy table and now walled up, see to indicate
that a chapel for relics once existed. The large 15th century
window above the altar was enriched with stained glass in
1884 and shows the Ascension of Christ. Below the window and
behind the altar is a beautiful Victorian-Gothic reredos which
shows the four Evangelists in marble mosaic. On the north
wall, near its eastern end, masonry in the form of steps,
suggest that there was once a room above the relic room before
the large east window was erected in the 15th century. The
south wall has two stained glass windows and a fine memorial
tablet to the Rev John Wilson (Vicar of Donington for 54 years,
1796-1850).
The nave
dates from the 14th and early 15th centuries, Its general
appearance is lofty, some 30 to 40 feet to its apex, and has
plain clerestory windows above a colonnade of seven arches
each side. The fine chancel arch now clear and open originally
had a rood screen and a gallery, still indicated by the stone
bracket on which it rested. Hollow-curved-faced octagonal
pillars support the arches on each side of the nave, five
pillars on each side have capitals with battlement ornaments,
while the two west ones have plain mouldings because of a
previous gallery. The beautiful west window shows the ‘Resurrection
of the Just’ and was glazed in1884 in memory of Donington
builder Enoch Millson.
The
north Aisle has two stained glass windows, one of which is
in memory of the men who fell in the Great War (World War
1 1914-1918). The other is the Matthew Flinders Memorial Window,
which along with photographs and memorabilia form the Flinders
Corner, dedicated to Donington’s most famous son who
was responsible for charting much of the Australian coastline,
The south
Aisle contains the font, which is a fourteenth century masterpiece,
octagonal in form, the sides ornamented with sunken panels
divided by buttresses. The font bowl is a modern copy of the
medieval one, which was damage many years ago and now stands
at the back of the church near the west door. The south wall
has two stained glass windows dedicated to two Donington families,
the Drinkalls and the Gleeds. The east window of this aisle,
which contains eight subjects, is of exceptional quality both
in the window itself and the tracery above.
The Furniture
includes some interesting items. The pews are of stained deal
and replaced the huge six feet high box pews that were removed
in 1868. By the west door can be seen, what at first glance
looks like an old sentry box, it is in fact a hude and was
placed at the head of a open grave to shelter the Vicar from
bad weather during a burial.
The
porch, which forms the lower part of the 14th century tower
and spire (140 feet high), has an open arch that forms a handsome
entrance leading in to the church. Above the doorway is a
figure of Our Lord pointing to a wound on his side, and the
floor is covered with plain and patterned tiles with an inscription
around the outside in memory of members of the Gleed family.
Just visible on the outside wall, to the right of the entrance,
are the remains of two scratch dials. Near to the top of the
inside of the tower hang the eight bells of Donington. The
first mention of a bell was in 1529 and the oldest of the
present bells was hung in1743 and finally in 1953 two new
trebles were added making a complete octave. Also of note,
on the outside of the porch, to the west, is an unusual carving
of men in a boat sailing towards the Market Place.
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