Fishlake Church as seen by Arthur Mee in 1941
Built by the Normans and refashioned in three medieval centuries the church has splendid fifteenth century work to show in the high tower with strange gargoyles looking down and a
statue of St Cuthbert over the west window, and in the fine clerestory of the nave and chancel, adorned with heads of men and women, a king and a bishop by the windows. The chancel has 14th century
windows and a Norman one; and the cast window has seven lights. There are a few fragments of old glass, the rest of the windows allowing the light to stream through unhindered. From the 13th century
come the nave arcades, with pointed arches on round pillars, and the pointed chancel arch with rich mouldings.
The lofty tower arch reaches the nave roof, one of the simple old roofs remaining everywhere here. There are 15th century screens, a 14th century font with eight canopied statues
and a Jacobean cover with a dove, an old chest, and part of a pew made in the year Shakespeare died. A curious notice in the belfry forbids anyone to ring the bells (one of the finest peals for miles
round) in hat or spurs.
There are 17th century gravestones, and an inscription to Thomas Simpson of 1740 in a frame with foliage, cross-bones, a chalice, a skull, a face, and a dove. The figure brasses
are gone from the tomb of Robert Marshal, a vicar who died in 1505, but its sides are enriched with inscriptions and symbols, among them a chalice and paten, bells, books, skulls, and a balance.
There are two old porches. The south porch (with a modern front) shelters the architectural glory of this place, a Norman door- way projecting from the wall in great splendour. Its
arch is of four orders, resting on, shafts at each side with capitals of foliage in which we see dragons fighting, knights tilting, a monk rowing, a griffin, an angel, and a demon. The inner side of
the arch has formal carving, including honeysuckle pattern, which comes again in the second order with an array of 35 grotesque heads and two figures. Then come a hunting scene, men carrying a
coffin, a demon with a rake, and a canopied figure holding a staff. On the outside of the arch are many roundels with figures in scenes almost worn away. The door for which all this is so beautiful a
frame has worn carving of stars and leaves and band-work, and looks old enough to be Norman too. We understand that it was brought from Roche Abbey.
