church tour

The nave

Before 1856 the nave would have presented a very different picture. The rubble or rough stonework was plastered and, with the ashlar or dressed stonework, was lime-washed, the roof timbers concealed behind lath and plaster and the windows filled with clear glass. The Victorian ‘scrapers’ changed all this and in doing so revealed its history.

Above the west tower arch can now be seen the housing of the roof of the original nave. In the respond pier to the north is the springing and lower curve of an arch leading to an early chapel whilst to the south, above a more recent opening, is a blocked window, formerly in the south wall of the first nave. This is the only remaining clear evidence of the style of the first church and is plainly Norman.

The north aisle and porch, in the Decorated style, date from c. 1360. This was the start of the rebuilding of the nave but building work ceased, probably as a result of the Black Death which ravaged the country from 1348. Not until the sixteenth century did the population of Solihull return to its earlier level of 930. To meet their needs, and in spite of the prevailing religious confusion, the great nave and south aisle were built in 1535. The Churchwardens' Accounts detail the donors of timber for the roof. One of them was Richard Greswold who died in 1537 and was buried beneath the stone slab which now stands, totally defaced, in the south-west corner of the nave.

The impressive roof is described as an arched trussed rafter roof and merits a mention in the most authoritative History of Architecture by Sir Banister Fletcher. The outward pressure of this roof together with inadequate foundations on the underlying clay has led to an outward spread of the arcades. In 1948 arches and buttresses were built to prevent further movement.