The Church of St Edward the Confessor in Kempley is a

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 ...

in the

Forest of Dean district Forest of Dean is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in west Gloucestershire, England, named after the Forest of Dean. Its council is based in Coleford, Gloucestershire, Coleford. Other towns and villages in the district inc ...

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, close to the border with

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

History

The church was built to the design of

Randall Wells Albert Randall Wells (1877–1942) was an English Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts architect, designer, craftsman and inventor. He was the son of an architect, Arthur Wells of Hastings. After a practical training in joinery and foundin ...

(1903-4) and is

Grade II* 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, H ...

. St Edward's was described by

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

as "a mini-cathedral of the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

". The church, dedicated to

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

, was built as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

by the Lord of the Manor and major landowner,

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (20 February 1872 – 14 November 1938), styled Viscount Elmley until 1891, was a British Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901, a member of the Liberal administrations of ...

, because

St Mary's Church, Kempley St Mary's Church in Kempley is a former parish church in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the border with Herefordshire. It is a Grade I listed building. St Mary's Church is now owned by English Heritage and main ...

was too far away from the main centres of population in the parish and liable to flooding. St Edward's became the parish church in 1975 following the redundancy of St Mary's. Wells had acted as

William Lethaby William Richard Lethaby (18 January 1857 – 17 July 1931) was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of ...

's resident architect at

All Saints' Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, Queensland *All ...

, Brockhampton-by-Ross, (1901–02) where Lethaby's experimentation with the employment of direct labour under a site architect instead of a contractor under a formal building contract, and deliberately produced few drawings, gave Wells freedom to evolve the design as the building rose and to engage in the physical activity of building. Some of the foundations had already been put in before Wells was asked to design a church to fit upon them as nearly as possible, fulfilling requirements of Lord Beauchamp that there should be no east window, that most of the lighting should be from the west end and that the eaves should be kept low. The small village of Kempley has two notable

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 ...

churches, the other, older, is dedicated to

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

and is Grade I.

Exterior

The church was built from local materials by local labour. The

red sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...

used was from the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

quarries, about seven miles distant. The roof timbers were of unseasoned oak, cut on the Beauchamp estate. The church was roofed with local stone slates which remain on the

lych gate 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 ...

; the church now has pantiles.

Interior

The church has three sculpted stone reliefs designed by Wells: above the entrance ''Christ'' carved by Wells and a local carpenter Walter James; within the porch, a ''Virgin and Child'' by Laurence Turner; and on the East wall, the ''Crucifixion'', again by James. The

rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixio ...

, carved by David Gibb, originally from Glasgow and said to have been the last ship's figurehead carver in London, was painted by Wells and his brother Linley, through whom Wells had obtained the commission. The seating, the prayer desk, the rails and the altar were designed by the architect and made in English oak by

Peter Waals Peter Waals (30 January 1870 – May 1937), born Pieter van der Waals, was a Dutch cabinet maker associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Arts and Crafts Born in The Hague to Jan van der Waals and Lena Alida Maria Loorij, Peter Waals was the ...

at the

Daneway Sapperton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire in England, about west of Cirencester. It is most famous for Sapperton Canal Tunnel, and its connection with the Cotswold Arts and Crafts Movement in the ear ...

Workshop, Sapperton, during the partnership of

Ernest Gimson Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputat ...

and Ernest Barnsley. The lectern was designed by Barnsley, the candelabra and a pair of iron candlesticks were made by Alfred Bucknell, supplied by Gimson, with other ironwork by the Kempley village blacksmith, George Smallman. The parochial church council launched an appeal in March 2011 to raise £110,000 for repairs."Church repair fund receives big boost"
''Ledbury Reporter'' 10 March 2012

References

External links

at daffs.org.uk
St Edward the Confessor's Church, Kempley
at churchdb.gukutils.org.uk
Parish (Church): Kempley
- list of clergy from before 1548 – 1822, at theclergydatabase.org.uk

Gallery

File:Kempley Church "Jam Tart" Window - geograph.org.uk - 550565.jpg, West window File:Detail from St Edwards Church, Kempley - geograph.org.uk - 57966.jpg, Crucifixion relief on the east wall File:Kempley church - geograph.org.uk - 957447.jpg, The rood File:St. Edward the Confessor's church, Kempley - geograph.org.uk - 990144.jpg, St Edward's from the southeast File:Church of St. Edward the Confessor, Kempley - geograph.org.uk - 730758.jpg, Through the lychgate File:Kempley church - geograph.org.uk - 957365.jpg, The Christ above the entrance {{DEFAULTSORT:Kempley, Saint Edwards Church Arts and Crafts architecture in England Church of England church buildings in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean Grade II* listed churches in Gloucestershire Churches completed in 1904 20th-century Church of England church buildings