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St Michael, Cropthorne, Worcestershire

Location
(52°6′18″N, 1°59′59″W)
Cropthorne
SP 001 452
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Worcestershire
now Worcestershire
medieval Worcester
now Worcester
  • G. L. Pearson

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Feature Sets
Description

Largely built of rubble with dressed quoins and partly rough-cast, the church comprises a W tower, with an arch to the nave bearing nail head on its label, probably 13thc., a 12thc. aisled nave with plain arcades, a S porch and a chancel. Romanesque sculpture is found in the chancel arch.

History

In 1086, Cropthorne, with Netherton, was held by the church of Worcester; land at Charlton under Cropthorne was held by Robert le Despenser, brother of Urse the sheriff. In 1148, Bishop Simpon confirmed the manor to the prior and convent. There was a priest at Cropthorne in 1086. The prior and convent of Worcester were the patrons until the Dissolution.

Features

Interior Features

Arches

Chancel arch/Apse arches
Comments/Opinions

It is not known why Netherton, a chapel of ease, should bear some of the most sumptuous sculpture in Worcestershire, while that at Cropthorne is so simple.

Bibliography
The Victoria History of the Counties of England. Worcestershire, vol.III (London 1913), 324-29.
C. J. Bond, 'Church and Parish in Norman Worcestershire' in J. Blair (ed.) Minsters and Parish Churches: The Local Church in Transition 950-1200. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 17. Oxford 1988, 119-58, 133-34, 141, 150.
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Worcestershire (Harmondsworth 1968), 128–129.