Bridleway
4 (Hatley St George)
Direction:
N – S Distance: c. 1,450 m. Back to map
Bridleway 4, also known as Baulk Lane, starts
on Hatley Road about 250 metres west of the Post Office. A baulk was an
unploughed strip of land in the medieval farming system of ridge and furrow. It
allowed farmers and agricultural labourers access to the fields. The route is
generally flat, rising gently towards the northeast. It runs north between
arable fields for about 400 metres when it crosses a footbridge over Millbridge
Brook and meets Footpath 7 (TL 282514) which runs roughly east to west
alongside the brook. Bridleway 4 then veers north-northeast across the arable
fields for about 600 metres when it crosses another footbridge (TL 284519) and
meets Bridleway 3 which joins it from the northwest. The path then turns
northeast and follows the stream for a further 400 metres until it crosses
another footbridge (TL 286522) and then turns east-northeast for a further 200
metres until it meets Bridleway 5 (TL 288522). This bridleway takes you north
to Hayley Wood and south towards East Hatley.
On the south side of the road, close to the start of Bridleway 4 is the church of St George. According to the Royal Commission of Historic Monuments
(2) PARISH CHURCH OF ST GEORGE, Hatley St George,
straddles the N. and S. oblong churchyard which is bounded by a bank on the N.,
towards the road, and by a substantial ditch on the other sides, except at the
N. end of the E. side where the churchyard has been enlarged. The fabric
consists of a chancel with N. and S. adjuncts, rebuilt 1873-8; aisleless and
porchless Nave; and West Tower, with N. vestry also of 1873-8. The walls of the
nave and tower, which are plastered, are probably of field stones and rubble as
are those of the rebuilt chancel; dressings where original are of clunch; the
roofs are tiled.
The Lysons (Cambridgeshire 210) say the church was
built in 1352, but without citing authority; the earliest identifiable
features, the N. and S. doors of the nave, look somewhat later. The church, or
what now remains of it, was refenestrated (new windows put in) in the 15th
century. The top stage of the tower was extensively repaired in red brick in
1625.
Architectural Description – The tall and narrow
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders
(grooved, fluted vertical pillars), the outer continuous, the inner with modern
or restored moulded caps and bases, and may be of 14th century
origin.
The Nave (39 ¾ ft. by 20 ½ ft.) has two 15th
century windows in each side wall, all of three cinquefoil lights (five
openings in the shape of leaves) with vertical tracery in a four-centred head,
restored, those on the S. side more or less completely. The N. doorway, of the
second half of the 14th century, has restored moulded stops; the S.
doorway has continuously moulded jambs (vertical post or column) and is coeval
(from the same period). The S. nave buttresses have been restored in the 17th
or 18th centuries; those on the N., more recently.
The West Tower (8 ft. by 8 ft.), late-14th
or 15th century, is divided by strings into three stages, with
three-tier diagonal W. buttresses and N. and S. angle buttresses of similar
style at the E. corners, reaching to the base of the top stage. The W. window
is of two cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head. The
second stage has a decayed trefoil-headed lancet (three sharp-pointed openings)
in each free face (wall). The top stage, much of which has been repaired in
brick, has large blocked arched windows in each face with a smaller two-light
window in each blocking; the embattled parapet (like the battlements on a
castle wall), also of brick, has original gargoyles to N. W. and S. The date
‘1625’ incised in the plaster rendering of the blocking of the N. belfry window
is now scarcely legible. The tower arch is of three continuous orders to the
E., the middle order being moulded, the others chamfered; to the W. it is of a
single chamfered order.
The roofs are modern but that of the nave rises off
eight 14th or 15th century moulded part-octagonal corbels
(eight-sided projecting stones) with supporting carved heads or half figures.
Fittings – Bells: two; 1st dated 1682; 2nd,
1662; both by Toble Norris, with shields of arms of Cotton quartering Bruce and
inscriptions recording gift respectively by Sir Robert and Sir Thomas Cotton.
On wheel spokes of the 1st are inscribed the initials ‘SL’ and GL’;
on those of the second are ‘IS CW’, ‘1798’. Bell frame: with pits for two,
perhaps 18th century. Books: two copies of book of Common Prayer by
John Baskett, London, 1715, contemporary leather bindings, gilt-stamped with
arms of Trefusis. Brass: of Baldwin St George, 1425, male figure in plate
armour with part of sword missing; below is a black-letter inscription and
shield (unidentified 11); the slab is modern and either side of the figure are
two modern blank shields. Brass indent: in nave, much worn, for the above
figure and three shields. Monuments and Floor slab. Monuments: In organ chamber
– on W. wall (1) of John Thory, 1725, stone tablet. In nave – on N. wall (2) of
Elizabeth Quintin, 1801, and John Whitby Quintin, 1833, white marble tablet
with fluted side pilasters and apron; (3) of Best Pearse 1796, and his wife
Sarah, 1808, ‘three children who died in infancy’, and of Edward Enfield, 1818,
and Augusta Elizabeth Enfield, daughter of Best Pearse, 1837; white marble
tablet in grey marble surround. On E. wall (4) of Thomas Quintin, 1806, white
marble sarcophagus signed ‘E. GAFFIN’, regent St., London’. Floor slab:
formerly under the altar (Palmer, Inscriptions and Arms from Cambs., 78) and
now in the churchyard near to the door of the organ chamber, of Thomas Thory,
1709, and Elizabeth his wife, 1712. Painting: The Annunciation, oil on canvas,
Venetian 16th century, was sold at Christie’s in 1963. Piscina: in
nave, in E. and S. wall, with molded jambs and cinquefoiled head; square drain,
cut back; 14th or 15th century. Plate: includes a cup,
paten, flagon, and two dishes, all London 1722, with inscriptions recording
gift by Margaret trefusis in 1723; the cup, paten and flagon have in addition
shields of arms. Stoup: (font) in nave, with moulded jambs and trefoiled head,
front of bowl repaired; 14th century. Weathervane: finial and
wrought-iron standard on roof of tower; 17th or 18th
century. Miscellaneous: 28 loose shields, presumably of wood, hung at the heads
of the side walls of the nave and over the tower arch; each is painted with a
shield of arms and a descriptive legend. (It was the tradition for the hearse
carrying the coffin of the deceased dignitary to carry their shield with their
coat of arms on the side and for it to be hung in the church afterwards.) The
shields fall into two groups; one, of 15 shields, mostly squarish in shape,
appears from their content to have been painted for Sir Henry St George the
elder c. 1627; the other, of 13, for the most part heater shaped, relates to
the Cottons and appear to have been executed at various times in the later 17th
century. There has been some repainting; in particular two Cotton shields mask
alliances of the Argentines with whom the St Georges had earlier connections.
Another building on Hatley Road was The George public
house which has been converted into a dwelling. Details of its architecture
were also included in the RCHM:
(5) THE GEORGE, beer house, two-storeyed, of red-brick
with white brick dressings and tiled roof, is designed as a main range with
N.W. cross wing. The main range has a slightly projecting chimney S.W. to the
street with stone panel having the initials and date ‘TSQ 1850’ (Thomas St Quintin?)
on a shield; either side of the stack on the ground floor are small tiled
oriels (A bay window projecting
from an upper floor, supported from below with a corbel or bracket.) rising off
moulded corbels; the gable of the cross wing has an ornamental barge board and
beneath is a third oriel.