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St Mary, Edgeworth, Gloucestershire

Location
(51°45′6″N, 2°4′41″W)
Edgeworth
SO 947 059
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Gloucestershire
now Gloucestershire
medieval Worcester
now Gloucester
medieval St Mary
now St Mary
  • John Wand
31 July 2015

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Feature Sets
Description

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.

History

The Domesday Survey states that in 1066 the manor was held by Alwin and Earl Hugh of Chester. In 1086 Roger de Lacy held 1½ hide at Edgeworth. Roger's lands were forfeited at his banishment in 1096 and granted to his brother Hugh de Lacy (d. by 1115). The overlordship of the manor subsequently passed to the lords of Painswick through a series of marriages.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Exterior Decoration

Corbel tables, corbels
Comments/Opinions

Although the Historic England Listing, Harold McCarter Taylor and Joan Taylor, and David Verey consider the Saxon nave to have been shorter than the present nave, close examination of the fabric suggests that this is not the case and that the nave is its original length.

In the 1870 the rector, George Shaw, and the lord of the manor, Henry Sperling, promoted the extensive restoration of the building.

Bibliography

Historic England Listed Building 127201.

R. Bryant, The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol X; The Western Midlands. London 2012, 108-110, 155-61.

H. M. Taylor and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture. Cambridge 1965, vol. I, 227-228.

Victoria County History of Gloucestershire, vol. XI, 45-46.

D. Verey and A. Brooks, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds. London 1999, 3rd edition, 354-355.