St Michael's Church, Yanworth

The Church of St. Michael, Yanworth
The Church of St. Michael, Yanworth
	51°49′25″N1°53′11″W / 51.823521°N 1.886406°W Coordinates: 51°49′25″N1°53′11″W / 51.823521°N 1.886406°W
Location	Yanworth, Gloucestershire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
History
Dedication	St Michael
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Architectural type	Church

Last updated February 23, 2019

The Church of St. Michael is the parish church of Yanworth, Gloucestershire, England. The church is a Grade II* listed building dating from the late-12th and 15th centuries. The church stands isolated from Yanworth village adjacent to Church Farm.

Yanworth is a small rural parish located in the county of Gloucestershire, England 14 miles south east of Cheltenham and 88 miles North West of London. It has a population of 300, decreasing to 112 at the 2011 census. The village itself is part of the Stowell Park estate owned by Lord (Sam) Vestey. St Michael's church is set apart from the village and dates to about 1200.

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean.

A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.

History

Like many churches in the Cotswolds, isolation of the church from the village was likely due to the Black Death,^[1] which swept through Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire in the 14th century. In order to try to contain the epidemic, many houses were destroyed and burnt to the ground, leaving only the church and a few substantial buildings standing.

The Cotswolds is an area in south central England comprising the Cotswold Hills, a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment, known as the Cotswold Edge, above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat rare in the UK and that is quarried for the golden-coloured Cotswold stone. It contains unique features derived from the use of this mineral; the predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, historical towns and stately homes and gardens.

The Black Death, also known as the Great Plague, the Black Plague, or simply the Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. The bacterium Yersinia pestis, which results in several forms of plague, is believed to have been the cause. The Black Death was the first major European outbreak of the second plague pandemic. The plague created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history.

Oxfordshire is a county in South East England. The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west, Northamptonshire to the north-east, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west.

Exterior

The church has been described as "remarkable for its fine-jointed ashlar exterior, and pretty grouping of roofs".^[2] The north wall of the chancel is made of limestone rubble mixed with some dressed stone, suggesting that this wall was once part of an earlier building. The roof is of stone slate except for the nave, which is leaded. A 12th-century moulded plinth surrounds the church. A miniature tower, dating from the 15th century, stands flush with the west wall. Gargoyles can be seen on the north and south sides of the church but most have been defaced.

Ashlar Finely dressed stone and associated masonry

Ashlar is finely dressed stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the structure built of it. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.

Chancel space around the altar of a traditional Christian church

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary, at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. It is generally the area used by the clergy and choir during worship, while the congregation is in the nave. Direct access may be provided by a priest's door, usually on the south side of the church. This is one definition, sometimes called the "strict" one; in practice in churches where the eastern end contains other elements such as an ambulatory and side chapels, these are also often counted as part of the chancel, especially when discussing architecture. In smaller churches, where the altar is backed by the outside east wall and there is no distinct choir, the chancel and sanctuary may be the same area. In churches with a retroquire area behind the altar, this may only be included in the broader definition of chancel.

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the 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 building, the strict definition of the term 'nave' is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

Marks on the wall of the north transept may be the result of shrapnel damage from the Civil War.

The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists ("Cavaliers") over, principally, the manner of England's governance. The first (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

Interior

The interior has a plastered four-bay nave with a 12th-century transitional chancel arch. The north transept arch is slightly later with a hooded mould and two chamfered orders. A fine carving of a woman's face can be seen below the right hand impost. A tall narrow chamfered arch has been formed between the nave and the tower. The roof of the nave is 19th-century and braced with tie beams supported by (estimated) 15th-century corbels formed into grotesque carved heads.

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References

↑ Smith, Ian, A Short History of Yanworth Church (pamphlet available in Yanworth Church)
↑ David Verey, Cotswold Churches (B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1976), at pages 87-88

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[pev-1] Smith, Ian, A Short History of Yanworth Church (pamphlet available in Yanworth Church)

[2] David Verey, Cotswold Churches (B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1976), at pages 87-88