St Mary's Church, Kempley | |
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51°58′44″N2°28′55″W / 51.9788°N 2.4820°W | |
Location | Kempley, Gloucestershire |
Country | England, UK |
Denomination | Church of England |
History | |
Status | parish church |
Dedication | St Mary |
Architecture | |
Functional status | redundant |
Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
Designated | 2 October 1954 |
Specifications | |
Materials | rubble masonry |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Diocese of Gloucester |
Archdeaconry | Archdeaconry of Cheltenham |
Deanery | Tewkesbury and Winchcombe |
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. [1] St Mary's Church is now owned by English Heritage and maintained by The Friends of Kempley Churches.
The simple Norman church is now remote from the village it served. It has some of the best preserved medieval wall paintings in Britain. Those in the barrel-vaulted chancel, which is painted throughout, including the ceiling, are particularly rare, dating from the early 12th century. St Mary's has in its chancel "the most complete set of Romanesque frescoes in northern Europe", [2] including the Christ in Majesty painting created in about 1120. On the walls of the nave are further images, including a wheel of life, showing the life cycle of man. The nave paintings are worked in tempera painted on dry lime mortar, unlike those in the chancel which are true frescoes.
The paintings, having been covered with whitewash, were rediscovered in 1872 during preparation for renovations. [3] On the advice of the architect, John Henry Middleton, the renovation plans were dropped and the paintings uncovered and conserved. [4] Sadly, such attempts to remove whitewash and other coatings over some of the paintings "darkened and started flaking and causing problems"; "it was very well intentioned, but what they did was wrong". As of May 2024, a decision had not yet been made as to the best method of restoring those area. [5]
In 1999 Francis P. Kelly at English Heritage initiated a dendrochronology test on the oak roof of the church. [6] [7] The Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory found the roof was the oldest medieval roof in Britain ever tested, [8] dating back to 1120–1150. [9] [10] [11]
The church has an unusually well-preserved interior. The church was restored in 1913 by Temple Moore. In the early months of the year, from late February to early March, the churchyard is often covered in wild daffodils.
The small village has two notable Anglican churches, the other, St Edward's Church, is Grade II* listed. [12] The church, dedicated to Edward the Confessor, was built (1903–4) as a chapel of ease by the Lord of the Manor and major landowner, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, because St Mary's was too far away from the main centres of population in the parish and liable to flooding. The newer church was built to the design of Randall Wells. St Edward's became the parish church following the redundancy of St Mary's in 1975.
Kempley is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the border with Herefordshire. It lies 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Gloucester and 17 miles (27 km) of Hereford. The nearest market towns of Newent and Ledbury are 5 miles (8.0 km) and 8 miles (13 km) away respectively.
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St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Shipton Sollars, Gloucestershire, England under the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building,
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St John the Baptist's Church is the Church of England parish church of the village of Clayton in Mid Sussex District, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The small and simple Anglo-Saxon building is distinguished by its "remarkable" and extensive set of wall paintings, dating from the early 12th century and rediscovered more than 700 years later. Much of the structural work of the church is 11th-century and has had little alteration. The church, which stands in the middle of a large churchyard and serves the small village of Clayton at the foot of the South Downs, is part of a joint parish with the neighbouring village of Keymer—an arrangement which has existed informally for centuries and which was legally recognised in the 20th century. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary de Lode Church is a Church of England church immediately outside the grounds of Gloucester Cathedral. It is believed by some to be on the site of the first Christian church in Britain. The church is in the Diocese of Gloucester and Grade I listed by English Heritage. It has also been known as St. Mary Before the Gate of St. Peter, St. Mary Broad Gate and St. Mary De Port.
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Francis P. Kelly is a British architectural historian and formerly an inspector for English Heritage and Historic England, working in the south west of England. He has contributed to a number of publications on medieval buildings, and his extensive slide collection is held by Historic England. He is a member of the British Archaeological Association.
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