St Edward's Church is a medieval-built
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 ...
, serving
Stow-on-the-Wold
Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman ...
('Stow'), Gloucestershire.
A tourist attraction, it is among 98
, a mainly rural district having about one third of the total of
Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire
The county of Gloucestershire is divided into seven Districts of England, districts. The districts of Gloucestershire are Gloucester, Tewkesbury (borough), Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Cotswold (district), Cotswold, Stroud (district), Stroud, Forest ...
. The surrounding district, due to many factors such as the
Cotswold Hills
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...
and distance from major cities, has a concentration of
conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
s featuring
neatly cut blocks and masonry of
Cotswold stone
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
which is borne out by the building materials of the church's square-towered, multi-arch structure. Its large
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
windows, buttresses and neatly kept churchyard are among the reasons for its listing in the highest architectural category.
Today
Description
The church features a mixture of architectural styles due to additions and renovations over several centuries. The floor plan is
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 ...
, including a four-bay
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 ...
with north and south porches, wide aisles, a tower in the south
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
position, a north transept and a three-bay
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 organ chamber and
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 walls are rubble built, the roof is Cotswold stone, and the
ashlar
Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.
Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
tower has parapets. The remaining Norman work is confined to the buttresses and some chip-carved string at the west end of the church.
The south porch is gabled, and the shallow north porch from the 17th century masks a 13th-century moulding on the north door, which is framed by yew trees. The north aisle features three late tracery windows and one small 13th century
lancet, and the south aisle features 14th century tracery. The chancel includes tall 14th century windows which have been restored, and a flowing east window designed by Pearson.
[
The west window is from the 14th century and reticulated with an ]ogee arch
An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircular curves or arcs that, as ...
which ends in a canopied niche. The north transept is probably 13th century and features two lancets flanking the 15th century east window. Tudor windows line the north transept and lie on the west side of the aisles. Square-headed clerestory
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' ...
windows feature a stilted drip moulding. In the interior of the church, the arcades date principally from the 13th century and incorporate older 12th century structure, but the work is not uniform. The north transept is divided from the north aisle by a double arcade. The chancel features a 14th-century truss-rafter roof, and a decorated 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 ...
and part of a sedilia
In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...
retaining traces of colour are fitted under the first south window, which is lowered to accommodate them. The chancel arch is of plain half-round structure with no springing. The organ is blocked, and a chamber arch and two medieval tile settings have been excavated at west end. The nave roof is 19th century, but one of the 15th century corbel beams bears the arms of John Weston, who served as rector from 1416 to 1438. The font is in goblet style from the late 16th century, and the stained glass was provided by Wailes and Strang, a 19th-century firm notable for English church window designs.[
The church features a four-stage tower from the 15th century, with corner buttresses to the second stages, two-light supermullioned bell openings, battlements adorned with blank arches, and crocketed corner pinnacles. A projecting rectangular turret on the southwest side houses the stair. The parapet includes pinnacles and a string course with gargoyles. The tower was completed in 1447, is 88 feet (26.8 metres) high and houses the heaviest ]ring of bells
A "ring of bells" is the name bell ringers give to a set of bells hung for English full circle ringing. The term "peal of bells" is often used, though peal also refers to a change ringing performance of more than about 5,000 changes.
By r ...
, eight in all, in 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 ...
. A clock with chimes has existed there since 1580, and the present clock was built in 1926. The painting of the Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
in the south aisle was painted by Gaspar de Craeyer (1582–1669), a contemporary of Reubens and Van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...
. Many notable features of the Cotswold
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...
church can be attributed to the town's prosperity as a trade centre.[
The church is in the highest category of architectural/historic listing (Grade I), having been assessed under the standards set by the statutorily responsible charity, English Heritage, which compiles the heritage list for England.] A tourist attraction, it is among 98 Grade I listed buildings in Cotswold (district), a mainly rural district having about one third of those in Gloucestershire, having many conservation areas and neatly cut Cotswold stone which is the main building material of this structure.[
]
Ministry
The ministry of the 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 ...
of Stow, Condicote and the Swells (the SCATS benefice) under the Reverend Karen Wellman is broad church
Broad church is latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England in particular and Anglicanism in general, meaning that the church permits a broad range of opinion on various issues of Anglican doctrine.
In the American Episcopal Churc ...
and it encourages believers to be beyond parochial, fulfilling the Anglican Five-Mark Mission which requires the worldliness and mindfulness to
History
Building and restorations
The Church of St Edward is an ashlar
Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.
Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
Cotswold stone
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
Norman church, its parts dating from the 11th or 12th to the 14th century except for its tower and clerestory of the 15th century. It stands on the site of the original 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 ...
church, believed to have been made of wood. The tower and clerestory required substantial funds, provided by the community's wool trade which directly enriched the medieval rectory.[ The church was also renovated in the 17th century and in 1873. The then parish priest, Reverend Robert William Hippisley, commissioned architect ]John Loughborough Pearson
John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficie ...
. Hippisley served long and had a substantial parish income as Rector during his 1844-99 ministry. He conserved the building avoiding blunt 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 ...
. He attracted complaints in the running of the final civic (secular) 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 ...
:
Rectory house
Stow Lodge, now non-religious was said in 1900 to be Hippisley's property, built, in the 18th century, for the Chamberlayne family whose crest it bears and was used as the parsonage for a large part of the 19th century. The original parsonage, which was under repair in 1840 has been lost; with a plausible reference north-east of the town centre 'Parson's Corner'. The rectory was built in the early 20th century, away from the town at the southern end of the graveyard.
Role in Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold
In 1646 during the English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, the Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
army marched through the Cotswolds, attempting to join the forces of King Charles I at Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. However, they were met by a Parliamentary
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
force in the battle, and the encounter was so deadly that it was said ducks could bathe in the pools of blood left in the street near the market square. Reportedly the street was afterward called "Digbeth" or "Duck's Bath" because of this. After the last battle in the war was fought at nearby Donnington, Gloucestershire, the church housed 1,000 prisoners following the defeat of the Royalists
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...
. The church features memorials to Francis Keyt and John Chamberlayne who died in 1646 during the Battle of Stow, and also houses memorials to those who died in service during World War I and World War II.
In contemporary film, fiction or media
The funeral of the Who
The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
's bass player, John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...
, took place at the church in 2002. Entwistle lived at Quarwood, a country estate in the civil (and ecclesiastical) parishes of Stow. Many mourners attended the private church service conducted by family friend Colin Wilson. The service was broadcast through a PA system to fans who had gathered outside.
Wealth and contribution
Medieval period
Elrington, a prominent historian selected to compile the lengthy Victoria County History work found sources such as quoting the town's name as Edwardstow(e) from at least Domesday.
Churches were dedicated to the Holy Family or Saints, so if the town was named after its church as well as an individual, the likely root of the name he believed was Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr ( – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar (r. 959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's sup ...
. A Latin charter pre-dating the other main contender for the dedication, bearing the date 986, he added, seems to be a medieval fake.[ He draws attention to the other lightly evidenced roots: saint 'Edwold' ]Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester (also Aethelwold and Ethelwold, 904/9 – 984) was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth-century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England.
Monastic life had declined to a l ...
and the late 12th century-canonised immediately pre-1066 King, 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 ...
being the dedication, the latter being taken as true in local 15th century worship.['Parishes: Stow-on-the-Wold']
A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6, ed. C R Elrington (London, 1965), pp. 142-165 Accessed 21 April 2015. Maugersbury or Donnington in the parish formed wealthy manors.[ The only ]glebe
A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...
in Donnington in 1765, Chapel Yard, may record a failed intention to build a chapel of ease there.[
]Evesham Abbey
Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in Worcestershire, England between 700 and 710 following an alleged vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary by a swineherd by the name of Eof.
According to the monastic history, Evesh ...
's rights in this church's donations, tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
s and lands were an issue in disputes between the abbey and the bishop and in 1208 it was proposed to resolve the difficulties by appropriating the church.[ By then the abbey possessed two-thirds of the great tithes of Donnington and perhaps also of Maugersbury. In 1291 the Abbey also received a pension of £1 5s. 0d. from the church. The Abbey's attempts to appropriate subsided and the living (benefice) stayed as a rectory.][
]
Lands and contributions to the church
In the 16th century the rectory let as a farm produced nearly £18 a year clear.[ By 1650 it was worth c. £150 (a year) and remained about the same until ]inclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
(privatisation of common land) in 1765 and 1766 when in return for loss of its imputed interests the rectory (rector's successive estate) received glebe
A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...
of of that land.[ The annual value of the benefice rose to over £500 a year in 1864, , since which it has in real terms waned due to economic changes and a loss of public functions' supervision, such as to ]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 ...
council and central government.[
Three chantries in the town, one including a hospital, one formerly known as a guild that was reputedly pre-Conquest ended on ]Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
's Chantries Acts
A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings:
# a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or
# a chantry chapel, a bu ...
; various educational and civic improvements and products of funding from the church are shown in medieval National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
and Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament of the United King ...
records.[
]
Rectors, curates and church hall
Rowland Wylde, parish priest of Stow and Lower Swell from 1642, was deprived before 1649 as a delinquent and restored (as with the monarchy, the year before) in 1661, this post having been served meanwhile by "an active controversialist of Congregational (parish independence) tendencies". Benjamin Callow followed Wylde in Stow and Lower Swell, ministering them for 40 years. He spent most of his time in Stow and faced disciplinary action for neglecting Lower Swell.[ Four rectors spanned the whole period from 1744 to 1899, and three of them were members of the Hippisley family; all of them maintained (paid for) curates but towards the end of the service from 1844 to 1899 of Robert William Hippisley, with whom many wealthy inhabitants quarrelled, a Stow Curate was appointed and paid by a committee independent of him.][ That curate was J. T. Evans who was rector from 1899 to 1935 and author of the standard work on the church plate of Gloucestershire.][ In 1937 the first church hall was built by the Foss Way in the superseded parish of Lower Swell.][
]
Local roles before the enlargement of state funded institutions
In 1566 Stow had four churchwardens in all to help cover Maugersbury and Donnington, as in 1826. By the early 19th century one of the wardens for the town was the rector's nominee (choice). The office of parish clerk and sexton, prized, was filled by election by the parishioners.[ Two overseers and two surveyors who presented separate accounts operated and were made responsible in 1825 for repairing the town well. In 1834 a small majority defeated a proposal to appoint a paid assistant overseer. Two conditional contributions in 1691 and 1710 towards building a workhouse were returned because no workhouse was built.][ In 1712 Quarter Sessions (county judicial/administrative matters) ordered that a combined workhouse and house of correction should be established at Stow in the 'Eagle and Child'. Expenditure on poor relief in the late 18th century increased more than the average for the area, and remained high. A school of industry with 22 children, recorded in one record of 1802 was not in that of 1812.][
To deal with health problems, the ]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 ...
in the 18th century kept a pest house, (fn. 523) and in 1831 and 1833, following outbreaks of smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
, temporary boards of health were set up. (fn. 524) A burial board was formed in 1855, and a new graveyard was opened south of the town beside the Foss Way. A nuisance removal committee existed in 1859 when a nuisance inspector was appointed.[
The town and the two hamlets all became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the ]Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the British Whig Party, Whig government of Charles ...
, and of the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863. Under 1872 legislation the town and the urban part of Maugersbury (transferred to Stow civil parish in 1894) were placed under a local board and subsequently became an urban district
An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter
Specific urban districts in some countries include:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Districts of Germa ...
. Donnington and the rest of Maugersbury became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District
Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:
*Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies
*Rural sanitary dis ...
under the Act of 1872, and were transferred in 1935 to the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District, in which the Stow urban district was merged the same year and from that year a civil parish council governed the remaining civil aspects beneath the district level of government.[
Numerous church-overseen testamentary charities served, many of which were sufficient provision for the weak and infirm housed in the row of ]almshouse
An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...
s. Funds were more manageably administered into an annual revenue-focussed joint board Scheme from 1899. In 1961 the almshouses were condemned as unfit for habitation but five were occupied and stipends continued to be distributed to the almspeople. The other charities for the poor were distributed in kind, such as the rent from a fuel allotment (coppices) being spent on coal.[
]
See also
*Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire
The county of Gloucestershire is divided into seven Districts of England, districts. The districts of Gloucestershire are Gloucester, Tewkesbury (borough), Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Cotswold (district), Cotswold, Stroud (district), Stroud, Forest ...
* List of ecclesiastical restorations and alterations by J. L. Pearson
References
External links
Stow on the Wold church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Edward's Church, Stow-on-the-Wold
Stow on the Wold Saint Edward
Stow on the Wold Saint Edward
Stow on the Wold Saint Edward
John Loughborough Pearson buildings
Stow-on-the-Wold