St Arild's Church is a historic
Anglican church near the village of
Oldbury-on-the-Hill
Oldbury-on-the-Hill is a small village and former civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, ninety-three miles west of London and less than north of the village of Didmarton.
History
Oldbury-on-the-Hill has been inhabited since prehistoric t ...
,
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 under the care of
The Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
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 ...
,
The church is
dedicated to
Arilda, a female saint who was a virgin and a martyr. This is one of only two churches dedicated to her, the other being nearby at
Oldbury-on-Severn
Oldbury-on-Severn is a small village near the mouth of the River Severn in the South Gloucestershire district of the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England. The parish, which includes the village of Cowhill had a population at the 2011 ...
.
Access to the church is across fields or through a farmyard.
[
]
History
The church originated in the 13th century,[ although most of its fabric dates from the late 15th or early 16th century.][ Repairs were carried out in the 18th century.][
]
Architecture
St Arild's is constructed in stone with a stone slate roof.[ Its style is ]Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
.[ The plan consists of a ]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 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.
Ov ...
, with a small north porch, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages divided by string courses, with diagonal stepped buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es in the lowest stage. Also in the lowest stage is a two-light arched west window. The middle stage has a small lancet window on the west side, and on all sides in the highest stage are two-light louvred bell openings. At the top of the tower is a battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...
ed parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
. The north porch is gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d, and in the north wall is a three-light ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...
-headed window. On the south side of the nave are four windows of different types. The east window in the chancel has a three-light window containing Decorated (geometrical) tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
.[
Internally there is a tall pointed tower arch. The ceiling is plain and plastered. Some 18th-century ]box pew
A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries.
History in England
Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...
s are still present on the south side of the church, and there is also a two-tier pulpit.[
]
See also
*
References
External links
Photographs from rootsweb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldbury-on-the-Hill, St Arild's Church
Grade II* listed churches in Gloucestershire
Church of England church buildings in Gloucestershire
13th-century church buildings in England
English Gothic architecture in Gloucestershire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust