HER 3710 DESCRIPTION:-

Listed Building Description:

SO 9005 BISLEY-WITH-LYPIATT CHURCH HILL, Bisley Village (west end) 13/24 Church of All Saints GV II* 28/06/60

Parish church. C13 and C14; extensive 1862 rebuilding by Rev. W.H. Lowder (possibly with G.F. Bodley's assistance). Ashlar and coursed rubble limestone; stone slate roof. Nave with north and south aisles, south porch, west tower; chancel with north vestry. C19 restored moulded pointed south doorway with Purbeck marble shafts and delicate foliage capitals. Parapet gabled porch with Early English style arch, short shafts with foliage terminals. Windows with Decorated tracery to aisles all appear C19, possibly copying some original windows. Square recesses to clerestory with alternating cinquefoil windows and blocked pointed openings. North doorway in gabled projection. Bold diagonal buttresses to C14 three-stage tower, south larger incorporating stair turret with pointed arched doorway. Three-light west window with reticulated tracery set in same recess as moulded pointed arched doorway below with quatrefoils in spandrels; 2-light middle stage window. Two- light belfry openings with stone louvres. Octagonal broach spire with small lucarnes to cardinal faces at base. Chancel mostly early C14 with 3-light Decorated east window; cinquefoil headed north window, 2-light south window with Decorated tracery. Large C14 cusped mortuary recess on south side; stone chancel gutters. Vestry with lean-to roof on north side. Paved walkway around church has many late C17 and C18 brass memorial plates.

Interior: limewashed with ashlar dressings. Four-bay C19 nave arcades, north with octagonal piers. Nave roof also C19 with cusped windbracing. Various corbel heads from original roof reset in north aisle. Tall pointed tower arch; pointed doorway set high above, lower part of doors having 2 quatrefoil openings. Wide C19 chancel arch with carved angels playing musical instruments forming terminals of hoodmould; incised painted decorative band above. Part of rood loft stair survives, passing through wall adjoining south of chancel arch. C19 tiled chancel floor; four bay roof with painted panelling, arched braced traces supported on finely carved corbels. Rere-arches to all chancel windows, east with Early English shafts and head terminals; cinquefoil cusping to rere-arch above south chancel window with sedile below. Incised decoration to reredos with central cinquefoil and 4 trefoil-headed side panels; triple Purbeck marble shafts. Double piscina in south chancel wall appears to be C19, reusing 2-light traceried window as elaboration. Octagonal stone pulpit with painted decoration, marble columns and deeply undercut capitals is possibly by G.F. Bodley. Norman stone font bowl with rich basket and cable- moulded ornament incorporating fleurs-de-lys stands on Norman-style C19 base, also with very convincingly unsophisticated carving. Below one bay of south arcade is C13 effigy of knight on reconstructed chest base, effigy moved from external mortuary recess. Many medieval coffin lids set in north aisle wall. Various other fragments scattered throughout church, most resulting from C19 restoration. Tower contains many carvings from original. nave roof and many late C17 or C18 brass memorial plates. Stone tablet with fluted pilasters and pulvinated frieze set very high up. Good stained glass to east window by Clayton and Bell. Royal arms of George III above tower arch. The spire forms a prominent landmark in the surrounding flat uplands. (N.M. Herbert, 'Bisley' in V.C.H. Glos. xi, 1976, pp 4-40; M.A. Rudd, Historical Records of Bisley with Lypiatt, 1937; and D. Verey, Cotswold Churches, 1976 and Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979). Listing NGR: SO 90367 05932. {Source Work 2403.}

Two pieces of interlaced work of Saxon origin are built into the east external wall at Bisley church. Two other pieces of stone at the church appear to be from a Saxon monument of the post-Viking period, possibly from the same one as the fragment at Edgeworth church. In the church porch is a fragment of stone decorated with arcading framing two figures; apparently early work. Anglo-Saxon grave-slabs inside Bisley church include one with a geometric interlaced design and another bearing a tau cross and two kidney-shaped outlines (possibly a degradation of Alpha and Omega). {Source Work 862.}

Other carved stone fragments of uncertain date lie in the porch. A series of twelve sepulchral incised slabs lie against the north wall of the nave. One may be Saxon, another of Irish type of the 11th century, two others are of the 11th century, and the remainder of the 12th century. They were found in the roof of the aisle in Edward II's time and were cut up, reversed, and utilised for gutters. (Bisley Church Notes 1975). {Source Works 862 & 1202.}

Bisley Parish Church of All Saints was extensively restored in 1862. Certain details in stonework suggest a Saxon origin and a few Norman details remain. {Source Works 290, 208 and 902}.

The font in the church is thought to be of a Norman date and the bowl is ornamented with geometrical patterns, basket-work on rim and cable a bottom. Two fish are carved in relief at the bottom of the of the bowl. The pedestal has a sculpture in relief of the Saviour as the Good Shepherd. the font had been removed from the church in the latter part of the 18th century and placed on the top of the so-called "bone-house" in the churchyard. {Source Work 1549.}

1931 - An account of a visit by the Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club was made to the church on 23 May 1931. This involved a tour of the church and particular notice was made of the condition of the effigy of the re-founder of the church outside during the 19th century restoration work. A small capital of possibly 10th century date is in the British Museum collections from this church. Details are given in the published account of the font and funerary monuments including cross slab grave covers and brasses. {Source Work 3001.}

1966-1970 - The regionally rare occurrence of interlace in stonework from this site with interlace designs is noted within a review of such sculpture across The Cotswolds. {Source Work 10157.}

2007 - A modern archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Mercian Archaeology during March 2007 in connection with the insertion of a new toilet into the west end of the north-aisle. No features or deposits indicative of an earlier, pre C13 church on the site were encountered during excavation of the new drainage pipe trench through the graveyard. Seven burials were identified during the work, along with a quantity of disarticulated human bone. One burial was located directly below the north wall of the north-aisle, suggesting it to be earlier than the C14. Two cist graves were identified and whilst these cannot be accurately dated, these are also likely to date from the medieval period. All three deposits wer identified at 1.45m below present ground level. The other burials were identified at between 0.30m and 1.10m below present ground level, two of which had cast iron coffin handles indicating an C18 date. Buried deposits included a dump of fire reddened stone and two architectural fragments. The carved stones were probably from the original fabric of the C13-14 build and were discarded during restoration works at te church in 1862. The fire-reddening of the stone may add weight to the theory that an earlier Norman church on the site burnt down, though the watching brief produced no definitive evidence to support this hypothesis. The site archive will be deposited with Museum in the Park, Stroud. {Source Work 8954.}

2007 - A programme of recording was undertaken by Mercian Archaeology on 24/10/2007 in connection with a burial vault whose roof slab had fallen into the vault below. At least two individuals were interred in the tomb. The stone ledger slabs read

'William Tayloe who died 1808 aged 66 years' and

'In memory of Mary of William Tayloe, who departed this life June 25th 1818 aged 66'

The slabs each have a pair of circular recesses cut into two corners so that when placed together there would be a recess in each corner of the rectangle that they formed. These would originally have held posts, with bars, or more likely chains attached between to form a boundary to the tomb.

The small size of the hole allowed only limited visual inspection of the interior of the burial vault; the chamber was located directly below, extending across the area of the removed and existing ledger stones. The chamber measured 2.15m long and 2.07m wide, with a depth to the present floor level of 2.07m. A 'coffin-slip' entrance was built into the southern wall below the existing slab.

At least two skeletons were visible along with some highly decorative coffin furniture. {Source Work 9135.}

Historic Towns Survey :-

Bisley Church is believed to have been founded in the Pre-Conquest period and to have served as a minster, with dependent chapels at Stroud and Paganhill (which continued until the 18th century). The present structure dates from c.1230, with restoration work of 1862. In 1827, Thomas Keble was instituted as vicar of Bisley, and set a pattern of Tractarian observance which formed the basis of the Oxford Movement (of which he is considered the founder). {Source Work 6039}.

2019 - This monument was previously recorded within the Historic England National Record of the Historic Environment. That record, formerly held within the AMIE database, is quoted below:

“Fragments of 11th century Anglo Saxon carved stones incorporated in the fabric of Bisley church. They appear to be post-Viking 11th century, and one may be of Irish origin.

SO 90360592. Two pieces of interlaced work of Saxon origin are built into the east external wall at Bisley church. Two other pieces of stone at the church appear to be from a Saxon monument of the post-Viking period, possibly from the same one as the fragment at Edgeworth church (SO 90 NW 15). In the church porch is a fragment of stone decorated with arcading framing two figures; apparently early work. (1)

Anglo-Saxon grave-slabs inside Bisley church include one with a geometric interlaced design and another bearing a tau cross and two kidney-shaped outlines (possibly a degradation of Alpha & Omega). (2)

There are two small (0.2m x 0.1m) fragments of Saxon interlaced work built into the external east wall of the church. Other carved stone fragments of uncertain date lie in the porch.

A series of twelve sepulchral incised slabs lie against the north wall of the nave. One may be Saxon, another of Irish type of the 11th century, two others are of the 11th century, and the remainder of the 12th century. They were found in the roof of the aisle in Edward II's time and were cut up, reversed, and utilised for gutters (a). (3)

The 2 fragments of string-coursee work in the church are 10th century. An incomplete grave-cover dates to the first half of the 11th century. A possiblre fragment of 11th century holy wateer stoup is in the vestry. (4)” {Source Work 4249.}