The Church of the Holy Cross is the

Grade I listed 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 ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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'' (195 ...

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 or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

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 parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe#Stinchcombe Hill, St ...

, and links the openwork battlements and square pinnacles to

Gloucester Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishme ...

. Restoration 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 (London), National Portrait Gallery. He was Arch ...

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

in 1959, and in 1986 the 17th-century

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

(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 parishes in England, 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, Wiltshire, Sherst ...

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

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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