St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton

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St Michael and All Angels St Michael & All Angels Church, Great Badminton, Gloucestershire (2011).JPG
St Michael and All Angels

St Michael and All Angels is a Grade I listed church [1] on the estate of the Duke of Beaufort in the village of Great Badminton, Gloucestershire, England. Attached to the Duke of Beaufort's residence, Badminton House, it is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Gloucester. [2] Although within the grounds of the Badminton Estate, the church is owned, and its upkeep met, by the Badminton's Parochial Church Council, rather than the Ducal estate. There is a smaller church of the same name in the neighbouring hamlet of Little Badminton. [3]

Duke of Beaufort title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Duke of Beaufort, a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimized son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, a Lancastrian leader in the Wars of the Roses. The name Beaufort refers to a castle in Champagne, France. It is the only current dukedom to take its name from a place outside the British Isles.

Badminton, Gloucestershire municipality in England

Badminton is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It consists of Great Badminton and Little Badminton.

Gloucestershire County of England

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.

Contents

Building

The current church was built in 1785 by Charles Evans in the style of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in miniature, but with a plain tower. The medieval predecessor church, which was then demolished, lay slightly further to the west. [4]

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London

St Martin-in-the-Fields is an English Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since the medieval period. The present building was constructed in a Neoclassical design by James Gibbs in 1722–1726.

The nave of the church has a tunnel-vault with ornamental panelled plasterwork and classical four-bay arcades and aisles with four small saucer domes. The chancel and apse were added in 1875 to accommodate the elaborate monument to Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort by Grinling Gibbons. [4] The 1st Duke was buried alongside his ancestors in the Beaufort Chapel in St George's Chapel, Windsor, [5] [6] but the monument was moved to Badminton in 1878. [7]

Nave main body of a church

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.

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.

Apse Semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome

In architecture, an apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an exedra. In Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic Christian church architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at the liturgical east end, regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical. Smaller apses may also be in other locations, especially shrines.

Within the church, the pulpit and box pews date from 1785, while the organ case, choir stalls, reredos and communion rail were made by Temple Moore in 1908. The eight windows for the aisles, four on each side, have stained glass of 1846-1847 by Thomas Willement with heraldic designs, blue borders, and badges in the yellow of the Beaufort livery. [4]

Pulpit speakers stand in a church

Pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum. The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a canopy known as the sounding board or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker, normally in wood. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, but can have a useful acoustic effect in projecting the preacher's voice to the congregation below. Most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his or her bible, notes or texts upon.

Pew long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of an audience

A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom.

Reredos altarpiece, or a screen or decoration behind the altar in a church

A reredos is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.

Somerset family tombs

St Michael and All Angels serves as the principal burial place of the Somerset family of Badminton House. Until about 1910, the Dukes and Duchesses of Beaufort and distinguished relatives were buried in a vault under the church. The later Dukes and Duchesses were interred in the tiny churchyard. [8]

Within the church, the monument to the 1st Duke of Beaufort (1629–1700) by Grinling Gibbons is now on the north side of the chancel, and consists of an effigy of the Duke in Garter robes, reclining on a sarcophagus and a plinth with relief of St George and the Dragon. There are twin Corinthian columns with embossed shafts, acanthus frieze, cornice with flaming urns, and the Duke's arms and supporters. At the top, 25 ft from the ground, is a tasselled cushion supporting a coronet; on the plinth are full-length female figures of Justice and Truth. Above the Duke's effigy, parted curtains show the heavenly host with palms and crowns. The Latin inscription displays the names of his family and the many offices he held. [4] Two of his successors, the 2nd Duke (1684–1714) and the 3rd Duke (1707–1745), are commemorated in the East end of the north aisle by a splendid monument by John Michael Rysbrack, signed and dated 1754. The two dukes are depicted in Roman costume, one standing, the other seated on the sarcophagus and holding a medallion. Decorative, asymmetrical drapery hangs down over the sarcophagus. [4]

Grinling Gibbons Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver

Grinling Gibbons was an English sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and other country houses, Trinity College Oxford and Trinity College Cambridge. Gibbons was born and educated in Holland of English parents, his father being a merchant. He was a member of the Drapers' Company of London. He is widely regarded as the finest wood carver working in England, and the only one whose name is widely known among the general public. Most of his work is in lime (Tilia) wood, especially decorative Baroque garlands made up of still-life elements at about life size, made to frame mirrors and decorate the walls of churches and palaces, but he also produced furniture and small relief plaques with figurative scenes. He also worked in stone, mostly for churches. By the time he was established he led a large workshop, and the extent to which his personal hand appears in later work varies.

Effigy Representation of a person through art

An effigy is a representation of a specific person in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional medium. The use of the term is normally restricted to certain contexts in a somewhat arbitrary way: recumbent effigies on tombs are so called, but standing statues of individuals, or busts, are usually not. Likenesses of religious figures in sculpture are not normally called effigies. Effigies are common elements of funerary art, especially as a recumbent effigy in stone or metal placed on a tomb, or a less permanent "funeral effigy", placed on the coffin in a grand funeral, wearing real clothing.

Order of the Garter Order of chivalry in England

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by King Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. The Order of the Garter is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George, England's patron saint.

Burials of members of the Somerset family in and near the church include: [8]

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References

Wikisource-logo.svg  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Seccombe, Thomas (1898). "Somerset, Henry". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 242–245.

Coordinates: 51°32′39″N2°16′48″W / 51.5443°N 2.2800°W / 51.5443; -2.2800

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