The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Blockley Blockley is a village, Civil parish#United Kingdom, civil parish and Parish, ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an Encl ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England. The church is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. In addition to being an active Anglican parish church, it appears in the television series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective. He is featured in 53 short stories by English author G. K. Chesterton, published between 1910 and 1936. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and ...

'' as the village's Roman Catholic church.

History

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St. Peter and St. Paul is late

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 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

,Verey, 1970, page 121 built in about 1180.''

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

'', 1913, pages 265-276 The

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

is of three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

but only one of the six Norman

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s, that at the east end of the north wall, survives unaltered. At the end of the 13th century a two-storey extension was added on the north side of the chancel.Verey, 1970, page 122 The upper floor is a chantry chapel and the lower is a vestry. In about 1310 the east window of the

was inserted and at least two of the windows in the south wall of the chancel were enlarged in the

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

style. At the end of the 14th century the north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

was added, linked with 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 ...

by an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

of four bays. The large

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

window in the middle of the south wall of the chancel was inserted in the 15th century, replacing the Norman original. The south porch was added in 1630, the

clerestorey A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

was added to the nave in 1636 and the north arcade was probably rebuilt in the same century. The

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

was built in 1725, probably replacing an earlier one. The west gallery was inserted in 1735. The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

and the north porch added in 1871. By 1854 the tower had a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

of six bells, of which the two oldest were cast in 1638 and the remainder in 1679, 1683, 1729 and 1854. The bells were increased to a ring of eight, and in 2016 an appeal was launched to replace the bell frame and to increase the number of bells to ten.

Present day

The ecclesiastical parish now forms part of the Vale and Cotswold Edge team of Church of England churches, with the Team Vicar remaining responsible for Blockley and its outlying villages of Paxford, Draycott and Aston Magna, as well as the parish of

Bourton-on-the-Hill Bourton-on-the-Hill is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about west of Moreton-in-Marsh. In 2010 it had an estimated population of 288. The village overlooks the surrounding hills of the Cotswo ...

. ''

Dalziel and Pascoe Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill. Characterisation and style Dalziel is d ...

'' episode ''Sins of the Fathers'' was filmed in the church. The church is used as St Mary's Roman Catholic church in the ''

'' television series and the vicarage transformed into presbytery for Father Brown's residence. In 2017 the bell frame was replaced by John Taylor of Loughborough. At the same time all the bells were removed and cleaned. The tenor bell was recast, two new trebles added, and all the headstocks and other equipment replaced.

Notable people

* Erasmus Saunders, (1670–1724) a Welsh priest and writer, curate and then vicar at the beginning of the 18th century * Thomas Wilson, vicar, later Dean of Worcester (1571–1586) * Thomas Henry Morgan (1898-1957) buried in churchyard,A Welsh Uncle -Memories of Tom Morgan 1898–1957, John Dann, FastPrint Publishing, 2018 ISBN alleged original Welsh composer of Welsh standard " We'll Keep a Welcome"

Gallery

Blockley - geograph.org.uk - 47112.jpg, The church within the village Blockley church tower - geograph.org.uk - 889246.jpg, Church tower South porch, Blockley Church - geograph.org.uk - 889236.jpg, South porch St Peter and St Paul, Blockley.jpg, South-east view Blockley Church.jpg

References

External links

Church website

A Church Near You profile
Church of England church buildings in Gloucestershire Grade II* listed churches in Gloucestershire {{DEFAULTSORT:Blockley