HER 3883 DESCRIPTION:- Listed Building Description: 90 NW EDGEWORTH EDGEWORTH VILLAGE 5/101 Church of St. Mary GV I 26/11/58 Parish church. Possibly C11, enlarged with late C12 chancel; C14 tower; chancel restored c1867. Random rubble limestone; ashlar porch, tower and dressings; stone slate roof. Nave without aisles; west tower, south porch and chancel. Chevron arch to south doorway with pair of attached columns having scalloped capitals and moulded bases; heavily restored C13 porch has moulders pointed arch springing from stone corbel brackets with nailhead enrichment;porch roof is C19 with parapet gable. Left of porch Early English lancet; to right of porch break in masonry indicates late C12 enlargement of nave; immediately right 2-light with 3-centred arched heads in square opening with matching window in north wall opposite; beyond break 2-light with reticulated tracery to head; offset buttresses at east corners of nave and parapet at east end of roof. Blocked square-headed north doorway with long and short jamb stones and deep stone lintel with canted top; west jamb partly obscured by C19 buttressed chimney. Single small round-headed Norman east window to chancel with C19 triplet inserted above which breaks string course; clasping corner buttresses. North and south chancel walls have central tall lancet flanked by flat buttresses with further trefoil-headed lancet to west; corbel table to eaves has extensive set of Norman grotesques. 3-stage tower with diagonal offset buttresses to west side only; continuous plinth moulding; projecting canted stair turret to south with raking top and very small slit windows; 2-light Perpendicular west window with panel tracery and hood mould; small trefoil-headed windows in south and west of ringing chamber, that to south having stone sundial mounted above. Carved heads linked by moulded string course below belfry; small trefoil-headed lancet to east side of belfry; openings otherwise ogee-headed with stone louvres. Crenallated parapet with diagonal carved corner gargoyles below linked by moulded string course also embellished with carved animal heads central to tower faces. Interior has been scraped and ribbon pointed throughout; both nave doorways are round-headed internally as are nave windows; C14 pointed tower arch; moulded pointed chancel arch probably also C14, with surviving Tudor-arched head to high level rood loft doorway at top of stone stairs leading from north side of chancel arch; C19 wagon roof to nave. Main chancel windows have had cinquefoil rere-arches added in C19 with ballflower terminals to cusping; chancel also has C19 wagon roof. Piscina and sedile in south wall have C19 rere-arches; stone mensa now has C19 cinquefoil pierced stone end supports matching the C19 cinquefoil pierced stone communion rail. C19 choir stalls, and C19 restored timber rood loft bearing coat-of-arms and having moulded choir screen below. C19 octagonal pulpit has moulded stone base and carved panelling above, dated 1885. Trefoil-headed piscina in south wall. C15 stone font with octagonal bowl decorated with quatrefoil on each face and cinquefoils on pedestal. Some C15 bench ends with 3 carved poppyheads; many C19 copies based on these. Late C18 and early C19 wall memorials in tower. Small lancet in north chancel wall has C14 stained glass depicting a bishop; otherwise glass is mostly C19. (W. J. Sheils, 'Edgeworth' in V. C. H. Glos xi, 1976, pp 41-47; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979). Listing NGR: SO 94826 05964. {Source Work 2387.} The western part of the nave of Edgeworth church appears to be of pre-Norman origin, and includes a blocked N doorway dating from the time of Edward the Confessor. The eastern jamb of the doorway, visible externally, is built in the "Escomb" fashion with a single flat bonding stone between two tall uprights, and the exterior lintel has its lower face partly cut away in a manner characteristic of several Cotswold churches {Source Works 228, 21.}. A fragment of Saxon carved stone of the post-Viking period to be seen outside Edgeworth church may belong to the same monument as those fragments at Bisley church (SO90NW30) decorated with interlaced work.{Source Work 1402.} A Saxon grave-slab with a triangular head, outside Edgeworth church, is decorated with kidney-shaped outlines similar to a stone at Bisley (SO90NW30).{Source Works 1251, 862 and 10157.} Edgeworth church remains as described and is in ecclesiastical use. The only example of Saxon interlaced work is a small fragment of stone cemented on to the internal W window ledge of the porch. The triangular headed stone is one of three early grave stones fixed to the outside S wall of the church. It measures 0.5m high by 0.3m wide by 0.1m deep and is decorated as described. The other slabs measure respectively 0.7m by 0.3m by 0.1m, decorated with a simple cross; and 1.2m by 0.5m by 0.1m, incised with a decorated cross. {Source Work 862.} |