'Clepinges' is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was held by Almensches Abbey (a convent in Normandy). In the late 12thc. or early 13thc., Ralph, archdeacon of Hereford, held the church from Almeneches for four marks a year, maintaining two nuns there. The S transept, with its tower, was probably added to an older buildingc.1180. It may have been the first phase in the comprehensive rebuilding programme which followed in the early 13thc.
The tower doorway and windows have certainly been restored, although a representation of the church from the SW, dated 1804, offers evidence that the essential designs are original. Photographs of 1858 (by E Hopkins, NMR DD76/189 and BB84/13) shows the jambs of the doorway in poor condition: only five original courses, including the capital, survived on the right (the rest had been replaced by chamfered blocks); the column, capital and chevron on the left were completely worn and the inner order seems to have been coated in a pale substance and etched with masonry joints. The same photographs show the W window blocked, and with chevron on the jambs and sill but not on the head. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt during the restorations of 1874-75 by G M Hills. A photograph of 1888 (by Professor F M Reynolds, NMR BB48/884) shows that the head of the W window had been renewed.
