Description

GREAT WITCOMBE GREAT WITCOMBE VILLAGE
SO 91 SW

7/93 Church of St Mary

4.7.60

GV I

Anglican parish church. C12, C15 and mid C18. Nave: random
squared and dressed limestone. Tower, porch south wall of chancel
and north aisle: ashlar. East and west walls of chancel:
coursed squared and dressed limestone; stone slate roof. Plan:
nave with north aisle and south porch, chancel and west tower.
Nave south wall: 2 large C19 round-headed windows; flat-roofed
mid C18 porch in the same style as the tower to the left, with
double cast iron gates with urn finials within a trefoil-headed
opening with imposts and ogee-curved architrave which curves up
towards an upright cross finial; blind quatrefoil either side;
small round-headed window with diamond leaded panes to the left.
Two small Tudor-arched single-light windows at the east end above
the level of the chancel roof. South wall of chancel: two lancet
windows flanking a C19 priest's door within a pointed-arched
surround; two reused pieces of C12 stonework with diaper
decoration suggests the chancel was rebuilt during the C13; wide
lancet with moulded hood at the east end. Buttressed north aisle:
rectangular 3-light window with Perpendiculatr tracery at the east
end; 2 similar windows to the north wall; early plank door far
right within a moulded Tudor-arched surround with carved spandrels
and hood with diamond stops; 2-light pointed window with
quatrefoil at the west end may be in the blocking of a former
doorway. Three-stage tower built 1749-52. Masons John Bryan of
Painswick and Joseph Bryan of Gloucester; 3-light pointed window
on the west side; clock above partly covering a blocked trefoil-
headed 2-light window above; similar but blind window on the
north.
Interior: 3-bay Perpendicular nave arcade with octagonal piers,
moulded capitals and double-chamfered pointed arches. Plastered
wagon roof to the nave with panelling with finely carved foliate
bosses and brattishing at the east end; C20 panelled wagon roof to
the chancel; simple tie beams and canted plastered roof to the
north aisle; flagged floor. C12 chancel arch with plain inner
arch and chevroned outer arch rising from engaged jamb shafts with
scalloped capitals; cambered rood beam formerly reached via a
flight of steps; tall C18 round-headed chancel arch; small Tudor-
arched doorway to tower stairs to the right. Furniture and
fittings: C19 copy of the C12 font at Lasborough comprising a
simple stone bowl, at the west end of the nave arcade. Late C19-
early C20 pews and choir stalls. Octagonal wooden pulpit made from
carved C17 panelling and barley-twist balusters from the.old manor
house at Witcombe Park. Small C17 carved wooden box with the
Dragon motif-on-the front beside the pulpit. Communion rails with
widely spaced barley-twist balusters probably also from the old
manor house. Small C17 communion table with turned legs and
inscriptions 'LOVE AS BRETHEREN 1688 / DOE THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF
MEE / BE YE ALL OF ONE MINDE' in relief on 3 sides. C19 reredos,
made- in 1904 from panels from a house in Gloucester; aumbry with
wooden door to the left; two hanging iron ball candelabra.
Monuments: 2 ledgers to members of the Hicks family, one mid C18
one dated 1801 in the floor of the chancel. Eight marble monuments
to members of the Hicks family on the walls of the chancel, two
C18, five C19; one C20 Royal arms of George III and C19 wooden
commandment board in the north aisle. Fragments of C15 stained
glass in the tracery of the windows of the north aisle. C19
stained glass to the windows of the nave and chancel.
(D. Verey, The Buildings of England: The Vale and the Forest of
Dean, 1980)

Listing NGR: SO9105414795

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526306

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)