The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Gloucester (now)
Parish church
The tiny village of Shorncote lies about four and a half miles S of Cirencester. Its name derives from the Old English for ‘cottage in a mucky spot’ (Pike, 2005). The church, which is built of stone rubble with stone slate roofs, consists of a nave, a chancel, a N chapel and a S porch. It dates from the late 12thc with later modifications, including the porch and chapel, made in 14thc. The church was restored by William Butterfield in 1883 and has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since 1987. The chancel arch, the font, and the N and S nave doorways are Romanesque. There is also a blocked Norman window on the N wall of the chancel which was modified in 15thc probably to serve as an Easter sepulchre.
Parish church
The parish of Naunton lies in the Cotswolds, 12 miles E of Cheltenham and 5 miles W of Stow-on-the-Wold. ‘Naunton’ is thought to derive from Niwe Tun, the new farmstead and is now the main settlement in the parish. The village lies on the floor of the River Windrush. Although the church of St Andrew has 12th-c origins, most of the present building dates from a rebuilding of around 1500. It consists of a W tower, five-bay nave with a shorter N aisle and a S porch dated 1878, and a two-bay chancel with a 19thc vestry to the NE. A Saxon cross found under the nave during the rebuilding in 1878 has been reset in the NW wall of the nave and is described in Bryant.
A corbel reset in the E wall of the vestry is the only surviving Romanesque sculpture; however, Glynne reports that until 1878 the S door retained a rounded arch with toothed mouldings dated to the 12thc.
Parish church
English Bicknor is a village located in the Forest of Dean, close to the borders of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, and occupies an elevated position above the River Wye. The church is situated within the outer bailey of an Anglo-Norman castle, of which only the earthworks survive.
St Mary’s church comprises a chancel, aisled nave and west tower. The original 12thc. church was apparently cruciform in plan with a central tower. The nave arcades and their accompanying sculptures date from the later addition of nave aisles which probably occurred towards the end of the 12thc. The most notable 12thc. Romanesque features are the nave arcades, of which the NE arch is the most richly sculpted.
Many additions and alterations were made to the church after its original foundation. The base of the tower dates from the 13thc., and the upper stages were added at the end of the medieval period. The present-day chancel was a late medieval addition that looks to have been extensively reconstructed during the 19thc. restoration campaign.
The font may also be a product of the 12thc, but without any sculpted decoration it is impossible to be sure.
Parish church
Elkstone village is situated at one of the highest points in the Cotswolds. It is located off the A417 between Gloucester (10 miles to the north-west) and Cirencester (8 miles to the south-east). There is an abundant supply of Great Oolite and Inferior Oolite limestone in the locality, with the remains of a quarry less than 1000 metres south-west of the church (Herbert, 1981, 210).
Elkstone church is one of the Romanesque architectural jewels of the Cotswolds. It is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar, presumably quarried from the local area. The structure comprises a square-ended sanctuary, chancel, aisleless nave, west tower and south porch. 13thc additions include the chamber/dovecote above the east end and the windows in the south walls of the chancel and sanctuary. New windows were inserted into the nave and north wall of the sanctuary in the 14thc. The W tower dates from the 15thc (Herbert, 1981: 217-8).
The most important 12thc survivals are the south nave doorway, the chancel and sanctuary arches and vaults, and the corbel table. Some carved fragments have also been reused as masonry in various parts of the church, including the 13thc dovecote.
Parish church
Edgeworth is about 5 miles NW of Cirencester. The church, which is situated about 0.5 mile from the village, lies on an ancient trackway leading to a crossing of the river Frome, on a steep sided bluff overlooking that river. It is adjacent to the 17thc manor house. The church is built of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and consists of a chancel, a nave, a S porch and W tower added in the 14thc. There is evidence for a Saxon church in the blocked N doorway and some sculpture fragments described by Harold McCarter Taylor and Joan Taylor, and by Richard Bryant. The Romanesque sculpture comprises the S doorway and corbel tables on the S and N sides of the chancel.
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
The church is of limestone rubble, partly rendered with ashlar dressings. The present nave, S and N doorways, and the chancel responds date from the 12thc. The chancel was rebuilt in the early 13thc and lengthened in the 14thc, when the transept, porch and tower were added. It is now cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust.
Parish church
Duntisbourne Rous (also spelt Rouse) is a small parish about four miles NW of Cirencester. The church is built on land that falls sharply to the E. In addition to a W tower, S porch, nave and chancel, advantage was taken of the steep slope to build a small chapel underneath the chancel. The chapel was formerly connected to the nave by a flight of steps but can now only be entered by an external S doorway. The windows of the chancel and chapel are Romanesque, as is the chancel arch. The N and S doorways to the nave are Anglo-Saxon and are described by Taylor and Taylor (1965), 221. There is a measured plan of the church, including the chapel, in the Buckler manuscripts held by the British Library. Clark (1937) gives a plan of the chapel, described by him as a crypt.
Parish church
Farmcote is a small Cotswold settlement some 2 miles E of Winchcombe. The church is located in the centre of the settlement on sloping ground and now only consists of a nave. The chancel arch is blocked and there is some evidence for an apsidal chancel (Anon.). The Romanesque elements comprise the font, chancel arch and piscina. The S doorway is 15thc.; a blocked N doorway was revealed during restoration work, but has no surviving sculpture.
Parish church
Guiting Power is a Cotswold village situated on the slopes of a small valley about 5 miles NW of Bourton-on-the-Water. The church, which is built of limestone, was formerly situated in the centre of the village but due to the demolition of buildings since 1900 it is now on the S edge of the village. The building is of 12thc origins, but was extensively remodelled in the 13thc and again in the 15thc. The S transept was built in 1844 and the Romanesque S doorway was moved to its S end. The church was thoroughly restored in 1903, including rebuilding the dilapidated chancel. The Romanesque N doorway is still in its original position, but has been restored.