St Mary de Crypt Church, Southgate Street,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, is an

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 ...

St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester.
A Church Near You, 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2011.

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, which was first recorded in 1140 as ''The Church of the Blessed Mary within Southgate''. It is in 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 ...

and is located adjacent to the ruins of ''Greyfriars''. It has also been known as ''Christ Church'' and ''St. Mary in the South''.St. Mary de Crypt Church.
City of Gloucester, Places of Worship, 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2011. St Mary de Crypt 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 ...

History

The church was first recorded in 1140 and has played an important part in Gloucester's history since then. The Crypt School was founded adjacent to the church in 1539 by Joan Cooke with money she inherited from her husband John, and the school room still exists, although the school has now moved to larger premises. Mr and Mrs Cooke were both buried in the church and the north

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 ...

includes brasses to their memory.John and Joan Cooke.
Living Gloucester, 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2011. In 1643, during the Siege of Gloucester in the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

, the church was used as an ammunition factory and store.

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke Coll ...

, one of the founders of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, gave his first sermon at the church in 1736.St Mary de Crypt & Greyfriars.
Gloucestershire Portal, 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2011. In 1811, Robert Raikes, the founder of

Sunday Schools ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are used to provide ...

, was buried beneath the South Chapel. He had been baptised there in 1736. In 1836, Jemmy Wood, ''The Gloucester Miser'', was buried there. In 1952, the parish was united with the parish of the former St Michael's Church.St Michael’s Tower at Gloucester Cross.
Gloucester Civic Trust, 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2011. In 2019, the church and Crypt schoolroom reopened after a two-year restoration project. Previously the buildings had fallen into disrepair and disuse, and were reopened for worship as well as a creative, community and events centre. The restoration project was primarily funded by a £1.36 million grant from the

National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

Architecture

The church was built in the 12th century and includes a number of surviving Norman features. One of the most significant is the well-preserved carved tympanum over the west door (opening into Southgate Street), which depicts the '' agnus dei'' (lamb and flag), symbols of the Resurrection of Christ, based on the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

. The church was rebuilt and extended in the late 14th century, incorporating some of the 12th- and 13th-century work, and further work was carried out in the 15th and 16th centuries. The

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

referred to in the name is at the western end 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 ...

. The nave is 15th century and includes a 17th-century

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

Records

The Registers of the church for 1653 to 1906 are held by the ''Gloucestershire Record Office''.

References

External links

Gloucester, Southgate Street, St Mary de Crypt Grammar School.Location map.The War Memorial, St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester Church of England church buildings in Gloucester Grade I listed churches in Gloucestershire History of Gloucester English churches with Norman architecture