The Church of the Holy Cross is the Grade I listed Anglican parish church in the village of Sherston, Wiltshire, England. It has Norman origins and contains many interesting religious items, including remains of Norman wall decoration, and a crucifix donated to the church by Italian soldiers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

History, architecture and fittings

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 recorded a church at Sherston and the present church is probably on the same site, in the centre of the village beyond the north end of the High Street. It has a chancel, a nave with aisles, a

crossing tower A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform (cross-shaped) church. In a typically oriented church (especially of Romanesque and Gothic styles), the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, ...

, north transept and south porch.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

writes: "An impressive church with a crossing tower, almost too high for the rest." The oldest part of the building is the 12th-century north arcade. The crossing and north transept (with a group of three lancet windows) are early 13th-century, and on the outside of the north transept a number of 12th-century corbels were reused. There is also a standing figure of a saint, from the mid to late 12th century, above the east side of the later south porch. Pevsner describes the crossing arches as "partly resting on big and excellently carved heads". The chancel is late 13th century. In the 15th century most of the windows were renewed, and the two-storey south porch was added. The tower was rebuilt in 1733 in the

Gothic Survival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style to designs of Thomas Sumsion of

Colerne Colerne is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. The village is about west of the town of Corsham and northeast of the city of Bath. It has an elevated and exposed position, above sea level, and overlooks the Box valley to ...

. Julian Orbach, updating Pevsner, likens the two upper stages to Sumsion's work at Colerne and

Dursley Dursley is a market town and civil parish in southern Gloucestershire, England, almost equidistant from the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe Hill, and about southeast of the River Severn. The t ...

, and links the openwork battlements and square pinnacles to Gloucester Cathedral.

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

was carried out in 1876–7 by T.H. Wyatt, and there was further work by

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

later in that century, particularly in the chancel which Pevsner called "drastically restored"; the east window is by Christian. The restored 13th-century font is a plain octagon on five shafts; the hexagonal pulpit is 17th-century. In the north wall of the north transept is a tomb recess from the mid 13th century, containing an lying effigy of a civilian; another recess in the north aisle is 14th-century. Monuments include in the south aisle a fine 1715 portrayal of Joyce Hitchings as a praying woman, and in the chancel for Anne Hodges (1676) and Thomas Estcourt Cresswell (1788), said by Pevsner to be "an elegant work". The six bells include two of c.1660 by an unknown maker, and two from the 18th century by

Rudhall of Gloucester Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells. History There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...

; there is also a sanctus bell dated 1632. The church was designated as Grade I listed in 1959, and in 1986 the 17th-century

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

(with pair of 18th-century gates) was listed at Grade II.

Parish

The benefice was united with that of the small neighbouring parish of

Easton Grey Easton Grey is a small village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, on the county boundary with Gloucestershire. The village lies just south of the B4040 road between Malmesbury and Sherston, about west of Malmesbury. The Church of En ...

in 1954. Today the parish is at the centre of the Gauzebrook group of churches, alongside the parishes of eight surrounding villages.

References

External links

*
High resolution image of the nave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherston, Church Of The Holy Cross Church of England church buildings in Wiltshire Grade I listed churches in Wiltshire Ewan Christian buildings