Slimbridge is a scattered settlement about 7 miles W of Stroud, near the Severn and internationally known for the Wildfowl Centre. The church has a long chancel with N vestry, aisled nave, W tower and S porch (plan in Boon 2009). There is a lead font of the 17^th century, but the church is known as an example of ‘EE’ craftsmanship. Slight memories of the twelfth-century may be detected in the capitals of the nave arcades, built c.1200 according to Verey, 1976-9, 339.

The advowson was granted to the Benedictine priory at Stanley St Leonard in 1146 (Boon, 3).

St John’s is ‘probably the best example in the county of the Early Gothic style of the C13… early C13 foliage carvings of the highest quality and great beauty’ (Pevsner, Verey and Brooks, 2002). Verey (1976-79) suggests c.1200.

The attributed date makes a visit necessary for the purposes of the Corpus, but there are only a few general reminiscences of Romanesque work, such as the use of foliage, the variety of the capitals throughout the arcades, and the retention of a round-head for the S doorway, as against later technical superiority, standardisation and repetition.

The lack of necking is linked to the Wells workshop, and is a great contribution to a distinct new style.

Comments on N arcade, individual capitals:

E respond the capitals have something of a scallop, or a shield without its cone.

Pier 1 Here the development is of cone and shield, probably via the trumpet scallop capitals seen in this part of the country. The stiff leaf foliage demonstrates the facility of the craftsmen, but it is still foliage.

Piers 2 and 3 have a trefoil foliage motif: the abstract pattern on pier 3 might have developed from a pattern used by Cluny, of cusping ending in small discs.

W respond Nothing recalls the 12^th century, except perhaps the little bunch of fruit.

Comments on capitals S arcade

E respond and Piers 1, 2 and 3 have nothing for us.

The intermittent small knobby motifs on the W respond recall some late 12^th c work at, for example, Goodmanham and Hayton in the Yorkshire, East Riding. 940

The guide, Boon, p. 5, mentions an annual charity in a will of 1794 to be given on St Thomas’ day, and suggests that might have some relevance to the dedication of the church, but that is unlikely – the donor’s name might have been Thomas, for example. The feast of St Thomas the Apostle is on 21^st December - mid-winter and just before Christmas, so a good time to give bread to poor widows.

The loose stones found during a mid 19th-century restoration 'under the Chancel floor bearing evident marks of Norman and Semi-Norman work' (Boon 2009, 3) were not known to the incumbent at the time of writing.