Embedded Files
For over 900 years Barnwood Church, surprisingly situated away from the centre of the village and some 500 metres to the south of the great Roman road of Ermin Street, has been the spiritual home of the parish. Only in the last half century has the area around the church been substantially developed.
Originally dedicated to St Lawrence around 1150, it has also been known as St Margaret’s and briefly, in the eighteenth century, it was named after St Michael and All Saints.
It is a beautiful building, both outside and inside, and here we describe some of its main features. The church has been added to at various times; there is some Early English work but the majority of the architecture is late Perpendicular.
As you approach the church you will see, on the eastern end, a bell-cot built in the Early Perpendicular style. This is undoubtedly the building’s most important feature as it is a double bell-cot and, where bell-cots do exist, they are almost always built for only one bell. It is empty now, but there are 8 bells in the main tower which was added to the church in 1514 as part of a major rebuild. Five of the bells date from 1698 and were cast here in Gloucester at Rudhall’s foundry.
Just outside the porch, on the left as you enter, stands the base of the old medieval parish cross. Probably, this originally stood somewhere in the churchyard, but for some reason it was transferred to the grounds of Barnwood Court where it remained for many years. It was moved to its present site in 1935.
Both the north and south doorways of the church show original Norman work. This is particularly obvious in the shafts of the south doorway. On the buttresses immediately to both sides of this doorway can be seen, if you look very hard just above head height, two carved sundials. These are not Norman, but are nonetheless interesting.
Across the courtyard is the Parish Centre which was added in 2001. To the southeast of this was the site of the original Barnwood War Memorial, which was a lych-gate that was removed in the 1960s. The memorial itself now forms part of the floor in the chapel at the northeast corner of the church.
The book The Memorials of Old Gloucestershire tells us that the north doorway has two recessed orders, with a bold roll on the outer order, supported on large shafts with early scalloped capitals. There is a quaint monster head and a band of zigzag round the arch and down the jambs.
As you enter the church through the north door, note the markings, just above the offertory box, on the pillar immediately facing you. Tradition has it that these were made by soldiers who stopped to sharpen their swords whilst on their way to the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.
Left: Another Brandon print, this time showing the interior of the church in 1848.The stone font is early 16th century. Two local men of note were baptised here; Sir Edmund Saunders, originally a beggar, who in 1682 became the Lord Chief Justice and the scientist Sir Charles Wheatstone. In those days, however, the font would have been in the centre of the church as it was not relocated to its present position until the latter part of the 19th century. The window behind the font, depicting Saint Lawrence holding a grid, shows some excellent Norman work.
At the eastern end of the side aisle, on the arch just above the organ console, there are some early 13th century wall paintings.
The pulpit is particularly interesting. It came to Barnwood in the 1960s having been discovered at a carpenter’s workshop in Camberwell. This pulpit previously belonged to the chapel at Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Experts have dated it about 1800 but the oak panelling could be much earlier and may even date back to Archbishop Laud’s time. Coincidentally, Laud was at one time Dean of Gloucester and therefore patron of Barnwood. After discovery, the pulpit was stripped of its brown paint and then restored to its period glory of scarlet and gold.
The nave is furnished with late 18th century pews which were previously at St Mary’s Church, Woolwich. They replaced, in the 1960s, some Victorian pews which had themselves superseded the original Georgian ones placed there in 1756. The roof of the nave, which was ceiled in 1730, is a very finelate 15th century example of West Country carpentry tradition. The chancel arch dates from the late 12th century and there is Norman work, too, in parts of the nave. A screen was placed in front of the chancel in Victorian times. This was removed in the 1960s as part of the restoration of this church to its pre-Victorian appearance. The building was reroofed in 1989.
The window (not the glass!) at the east end of the chancel is said to include much original work, although it has been greatly altered. Its former beauty can now, sadly, only be seen in one of the 18th or 19th century prints of the church.
The church’s elegance is clear when seen in the morning light from the far side of the field to the east of the building. However, probably the best known view is obtained from the end of the diagonal path across the field to the north of the churchyard. Worshippers have used the path for a 1000 years and the view, although now somewhat obscured by trees, has changed little in the lifetime of the church.
Books about ‘old Barnwood’ and its church are available from the Parish Office tel: 01452 372731.
Page updated
Report abuse