The Anglican Church of the Holy Rood at

Ampney Crucis Ampney Crucis is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, part of the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. The village is in the Ampney-Coln electoral ward. This ward stretches from Ampney Crucis to Coln St. Dennis in the north. ...

in the

Cotswold District Cotswold is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. It is named after the wider Cotswolds region and range of hills. The council is based in the district's largest town of Cirencester. The district also includes the towns of ...

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, has

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

foundations with some of the stonework being

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 ...

. It is a grade I

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 ...

. The listing summary describes it as an "Anglican parish church. Saxon foundation, with some Norman work and elements from all periods including C15 tower and re-roofing of nave, up to restoration of 1870".

History

In 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 ...

(1086) the building is called the Church of Omenie Holy Rood since the name of the village at that time was Omenie, located in the Garsdon Hundred. The term "rood" is translated into English as "cross". Documents from 1287 refer to the church by its Latin name, ''Ameneye Sancte Crucis''. The foundations of the building date from the

period and some aspects parts of the fabric of the building are

. Parts are more recent including the tower and the roof of 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 ...

which are from the 15th century. The church was restored twice in the 19th century, including a

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive wikt:refurbish, refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England church (building), churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century Victorian era, re ...

in 1870. The church is attached to the estate of Ampney Park. The parish is within the South Cotswold Team Ministry

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

which is part of the

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...

Architecture

The

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

building with slate roofs. It has a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

plan of

with porch and

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 ...

with a north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

. The west three-stage tower has

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s and is supported diagonal

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. The tower contains six bells. Inside the church are some wall paintings from the 14th century, which are being restored by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The tub-shape

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

is Norman but mounted on a modern octagonal base. There is also a 12th-century pillar

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

with a square multi-scallop bowl. There are tombs and memorials to local nobles from the 16th to 18th century. The tomb of George Lloyde from Ampney Park, who died in 1584, is in the north transept. The organ was installed in the mid-19th century. The cross in the churchyard was erected in 1415. Parts of it were stored in the church for many years and reinstalled on its base around 1860. The Grade I listed cross, and also a Scheduled Monument, is described as: "Late C14/early C15" ... The head was discovered in 1860 hidden in the old stair to the rood tower and replaced in its original position." The cross was restored in the late 20th century. The book ''Ancient Crosses'' by Marion Freeman states that during the

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

era (1650s), many villages removed their crosses, or at least the heads, in order to comply with the government's ruling.Ancient Crosses
/ref>

References

{{reflist