The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Mary (now), Gloucester (now), "Dymock"
Parish church
Dymock is in the wooded Vale of Leadon in the NW of the county, 12 miles NW of Gloucester and less than two miles from the Herefordshire border. The village stands on the S bank of the river Leadon, on the Roman road that runs NW from Gloucester to Leominster, and the church is separated from the main road through the village by a large green (Wintours Green). St Mary’s presents its long S elevation to Wintours Green, and is much larger than might be expected for a village of this size. The church consists of a 15thc W tower with a short octagonal pyramid spire; a very long 12thc nave with a S porch, a S chapel immediately E of it, and a N chapel not facing the S but further to the W. E of the nave is a 12thc bay that was originally the lower storey of a crossing tower, with signs of blocked arches on its N and S walls, and to the E of this is the 12thc chancel. This originally terminated in a polygonal apse, but was extended c.1300 to form a straight-ended presbytery. The N and S elevations of the church are articulated with narrow pilaster buttresses, but overall the exterior masonry of the church is much disturbed. Romanesque sculpture remains in the jambs of the apse arch and those of the chancel arch (the latter given a new head c.1300), the S nave doorway, one S nave window, blind arcading on the S exterior wall of the chancel, and sections of stringcourse inside and out. Among the loose stones on the S window sill of the chancel is a 12thc base. All of this work (except perhaps the loose base) is the work of the famous Dymock School of sculptors, discussed in more detail in the Comments/Opinions section.
Parish church
Kempley is a village in the N of the county, 13 miles NW of Gloucester and only half a mile from the Herefordshire border. The church has a short, barrel-vaulted chancel with and aisleless nave, both 12thc, a S porch and a 13thc W tower with a pyramid roof. A good deal of painted decoration survives on the interior odf the entire building from a height of approximately four feet upwards. This is 12thc in origin, and was whitewashed, probably at the Reformation, and rediscovered in 1872. The stone sculpture is a key monument of the Dymock School of sculpture, with work by the school on the W nave doorway, the chancel arch and E chancel window, and the S nave doorway. Dymock is just 2 miles away to the NE.