St Botolph, Shepshed

St Botolph’s is a Grade I Church of England parish church on Church Side, Shepshed, Leicestershire, in the Diocese of Leicester.

Overview

Historic England records a thirteenth-century west tower and broach spire, a fifteenth-century nave with clerestory and aisles, and a fifteenth-century chancel, with a nineteenth-century north porch and south vestry and a south transept of 1935 by Albert Herbert. The fabric is Charnwood granite rubble with ashlar dressings and Swithland slate roofs. Nave and chancel have Perpendicular tracery. The three-stage tower is lit by lancets, its angles clasped by buttresses, with two-light bell openings; the broach spire has two-light lucarnes with Y-tracery.

The three-bay nave has cruciform piers on tall bases. The nave roof is dated 1636 and 1652 and was renovated in 1912; the north aisle roof was replaced in 1952 and the chancel roof in 1880. Fixtures include medieval benches with carved heads and poppyheads, a fourteenth-century font, a piscina in the south aisle, and a pulpit by Richard Norman Shaw. The chancel has a piscina, an eighteenth-century communion rail and a series of monuments to the Phillipps family of Garendon. The churchyard contains finely carved Swithland slate headstones. Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register has recorded the building in poor condition.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1236177
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Botolph, Shepshed
• Shepshed and Oaks parish