St Oswald's Church was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the village of

Lassington Highnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on the way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. It is connected by Segregated Bicycle Paths via Over ...

and the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Highnam Highnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on the way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. It is connected by Segregated Bicycle Paths via Over ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. Only the tower survived to the present day, and it is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The tower is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

Construction of the tower began in the late 11th century. The church was initially a chapel of St Oswald's Priory in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and south porch of the church were in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

style, and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was Early English. A third stage was added to the tower in the 14th century. In 1678 a south chapel was demolished, and the following year the south wall of the chancel was rebuilt and two new windows were added. A major restoration was carried out in 1875 by Medland and Son. This consisted of demolishing all the church except for the tower, rebuilding it on its original footings, and adding an organ chamber and

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

on the north side of the chancel. The fabric of the building deteriorated during the 20th century, and by 1970 there were holes in the roof. It was declared redundant in 1972, and the body of the church was demolished in 1975, leaving only the tower. The tower was restored the following year. It had been

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Churches Conservation Trust on 6 September 1974.

Architecture

The tower is constructed in

lias Lias may refer to: Geology * Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France *Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe * Early Jurassic, an epoch People * Godfrey Lias, British author * Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...

rubble with a stone slate roof. It is in three stages, and it has a pyramidal roof with an iron cross on its apex. In the bottom stage is a round-headed doorway on the east side and a narrow round-headed

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

on the west. The middle stage has a lancet window on the south face. In the top stage are wider trefoil-headed bell openings containing stone louvres.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lassington, Saint Oswald Grade II* listed churches in Gloucestershire English churches with Norman architecture 11th-century church buildings in England Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust

History

Architecture

See also

References