Church Heritage Record 1252

Northop is known in Welsh as Llaneurgain after it was settled by St Eurgain – a nice of St Asaph, some time in the mid C6.  This early church is claimed to have been a clas site. A church was recorded in the Norwich Taxation  of 1254 and in the Lincoln Taxation of 1291. The C13 church was probably a single chamber which was extended eastwards in the mid C14 when a small crypt was constructed below the new sanctuary. Under the patronage of the Stanleys the church was enlarged in C15 when a new nave was added to the south side and a new arcade inserted into the south wall of the earlier church. A gargoyle bearing the date 1571 suggests that this was the time of the completion of the tower. In 1729  the vicar reported that the church was in a poor state of repair  although acceptable the interior needed whitening, flagstone used to cover the floor (rather than rushes) By 1792-3 the architect Sillitoe described the church as being in a perilous state, the floors were reflagged smoothly and the position if the pews to be reassessed. A report of 1806 described the roof timbers as decaying and the ruinous condition of the main body of the church contrasted with the fine tower. W. Turner an architect from Whitchurch suggested repairs in 1810 but his proposals were turned down.  Despite further deterioration it was not until 1837 that John Welch of Holywell recommended employing local craftsmen to make the roof safe and a year later plans by the Chester architect, Thomas Jones, were adopted. Rebuilding work stated in 1839 and the church re-opened in 1840. A memorial window was erected in the east window in 1850 and the entire wall was rebuilt to the design of William Butterfield, this resulted in the loss of the Decalogue which had been painted in the stucco so in 1856 a new set with zinc framed was painted by Morris of Chester. The interior was refurbished in 1876*1877 when there was reroofing, the box pews were removed, the west gallery was removed and a new prayer desk, lectern, pulpit and altar rails were introduced, all to the designs of John Douglas of Chester. The tower was restored in 1914 to plans by Prothero, Philpott and Barnard of Cheltenham.  The organ was overhauled in 1949 and an electric blower was added. ‘The church was listed grade1 as an exceptionally fine Perpendicular church.  The tower along with those at Wrexham, Gresford and Mold form the most significant group of late medieval church towers in Wales.’

Reference

Buildings of Wales– Clwyd 2003

Cadw Listing Notice 321
CPAT Flintshire Historic Churches Survey

The church was built in the Perpendicular style with a  double nave, west tower with the chancel in the end of the northern nave.  It was built with medium to large linear blocks of buff-brown sandstone ashlar, regularly coursed and in other parts orange-brown sandstone well-dressed but less regularly course while inner walls have random rubble lime stone and some areas of the walls have a mix of limestone and fine grey sandstone.  The roofs are of slate with cross finials at the east end of the north aisle and the chancel.  The five stage tower  in the bluff-brown sandstone ids C15/C16, the walls have four decorated quatrefoil bands and string courses which do not correlate with the tower stages. Gargoyles are to be found on the seventh stage with a quatrefoil freeze below.  The final stage has a parapet with gargoyles on all sides and the one in the south-west angle ha the date 1571.  The battlement parapet has eight crocketed pinnacles and flag pole rises form the top

Reference

Buildings of Wales – Clwyd 2003

Cadw Listing Notice 321
CPAT Flintshire Historic Churches Survey

The tower has stone flagged floors and a vaulted ceiling of 1839 springs from stone corbels in the angles, each of a different design.  In the ground floor is a baptistry. The north aisle has stone flagged floors and a roof of 12-bays of sloping wooden panels resting on C`19 stone corbels.  The east end is panelled off to form a vestry, on the east wall are two large stone Decalogues.  Along the south wall is the 5-bay arcade, the arches are two-centred and of two orders in dressed grey sandstone and supported on octagonal stone piers with moulded capitals and bases.  At the extreme east end is C14 style arch lower than the others. Along the west wall is C19 traceried panelling.  The nave is carpeted along the central aisle.  Above is a panelled camber beam roof perhaps C15 or C16, it has 6-bays and extends into the chancel. It rests on short wall posts and wooden corbels with intermediate trusses, all along with the purlins and cornices are moulded.  The most westerly on the north side is a corbel with a man’s head while another is an eagle or mythological beast with a man’s head. At the west end of the nave is a moulded four-centred arch to the tower. A single step leads into the chancel with a low stone and marble screen to either side with a camber beam overhead.   The chancel floor is tiled including some encaustic ones, the roof of two and a half bays is as in the nave but the ribs and purlins and wood panels have been painted, red, white, black and bluff.  The reredos is painted and there are painted inscriptions on the stones of the window arch.  The north wall of the sanctuary is plastered and painted with a biblical scene with floral designs. In the north all of the chancel is a parclose screen set in the arcade bay to the vestry.  There is a polished red granite circular font with round-arched motifs sitting on clustered circular shafts. The stained glass: ‘The Crucifixion and Resurrection with the Four Evangelists’, Michael O’Connor, 1850; ‘Angels Adoring the Trinity with the New Jerusalem’, Michael and Arthur O’Connor, 1867; ‘Scenes from the Book of Ezekiel’, Charles Clutterbuck, c1856; ‘Christ the King and Virgin and Child’, James Powell & Sons – designed by Frank Mann, 1905; ‘Christ Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain and the Entombment’, Saunders & Co, 1878; ‘St John and St Paul’, John Hardman & Co, c1881; ‘Christ with St Martha and St Mary Magdalene’, John Hardman & Co, c1880; ‘The Annunciation to the Shepherds and Ascension’, Ballantine & Allan, c1856; ‘The Presentation of Christ in the Temple’, James Powell & Sons – designer Ernest Penwarden, 1899; ‘Elijah Challenges the People of Israel and the Judgement of Solomon’, James Powell & Sons – Gerald P Hutchinson, 1909; ‘Scenes with Christ, St Martha and St Mary Magdalene’ Charles Clutterbuck, c1856.  The church has a ring of eight bells, all cast by Mears & Stainbank, two in 1895 and six in 1891. A brass plate on the south wall of the inner tower records the recasting of three early bells in 1891 and the addition of three new bells and that two treble bells were added in 1895.

Reference

Buildings of Wales – Clwyd 2003
Cadw Listing Notice 321
CPAT Flintshire Historic Churches Survey
Stained Glass in Wales
A National Bell Register - George Dawson's Website - Homestead