St Edward's Church, Stow-on-the-Wold
51°55′48″N 1°43′26″W / 51.930°N 1.724°W
St Edward's Church or the Parish Church of Stow-on-the-Wold | |
---|---|
Norman-Perpendicular | |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Gloucester |
Archdeaconry | Cheltenham |
Deanery | North Cotswold |
Parish | Stow-on-the-Wold |
Clergy | |
Rector | Reverend Martin Peter Short, Rector[1] |
Laity | |
Churchwarden(s) | Mr Robert Barnett, Mr Desmond Watson |
St Edward's Church is a medieval-built Church of England parish church, serving Stow-on-the-Wold ('Stow'), Gloucestershire.
A tourist attraction, it is among 98
Today
Description
The church features a mixture of architectural styles due to additions and renovations over several centuries. The floor plan is Cruciform, including a four-bay nave with north and south porches, wide aisles, a tower in the south transept position, a north transept and a three-bay chancel with organ chamber and vestry. The walls are rubble built, the roof is Cotswold stone, and the ashlar tower has parapets. The remaining Norman work is confined to the buttresses and some chip-carved string at the west end of the church.[2]
The south porch is gabled, and the shallow north porch from the 17th century masks a 13th-century moulding on the north door, which is framed by yew trees. The north aisle features three late tracery windows and one small 13th century lancet, and the south aisle features 14th century tracery. The chancel includes tall 14th century windows which have been restored, and a flowing east window designed by Pearson.[2]
The west window is from the 14th century and reticulated with an
The church features a four-stage tower from the 15th century, with corner buttresses to the second stages, two-light supermullioned bell openings, battlements adorned with blank arches, and crocketed corner pinnacles. A projecting rectangular turret on the southwest side houses the stair.
The church is in the highest category of architectural/historic listing (Grade I), having been assessed under the standards set by the statutorily responsible charity, English Heritage, which compiles the heritage list for England.[2] A tourist attraction, it is among 98 Grade I listed buildings in Cotswold (district), a mainly rural district having about one third of those in Gloucestershire, having many conservation areas and neatly cut Cotswold stone which is the main building material of this structure.[2]
Ministry
The ministry of the benefice of Stow, Condicote and the Swells (the SCATS benefice) under the Reverend Short is broad church and it encourages believers to be beyond parochial, fulfilling the Anglican Five-Mark Mission which requires the worldliness and mindfulness to
- 1. proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom [of God and his Heaven]
- 2. teach, baptise and nurture new believers
- 3. respond to human need by loving service
- 4. seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation..
- 5. strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.[4]
History
Building and restorations
The Church of St Edward is an
...all became controversial issues that on occasions led to physical violence. Factions grew up, and before he resigned in 1899 the townspeople had hanged the rector in effigy.
— The Victoria County History Project Title: The History of Gloucestershire, 1965[6], Christopher Elrington (1930-2009)
Rectory house
Stow Lodge, now non-religious was said in 1900 to be Hippisley's property, built, in the 18th century, for the Chamberlayne family whose crest it bears and was used as the parsonage for a large part of the 19th century. The original parsonage, which was under repair in 1840 has been lost; with a plausible reference north-east of the town centre 'Parson's Corner'. The rectory was built in the early 20th century, away from the town at the southern end of the graveyard.
Role in Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold
In 1646 during the
In contemporary film, fiction or media
The funeral of
Wealth and contribution
Medieval period
Elrington, a prominent historian selected to compile the lengthy Victoria County History work found sources such as quoting the town's name as Edwardstow(e) from at least Domesday.
Churches were dedicated to the Holy Family or Saints, so if the town was named after its church as well as an individual, the likely root of the name he believed was Edward the Martyr. A Latin charter pre-dating the other main contender for the dedication, bearing the date 986, he added, seems to be a medieval fake.[6] He draws attention to the other lightly evidenced roots: saint 'Edwold' Æthelwold of Winchester and the late 12th century-canonised immediately pre-1066 King, Edward the Confessor being the dedication, the latter being taken as true in local 15th century worship.[6] Maugersbury or Donnington in the parish formed wealthy manors.[6] The only glebe in Donnington in 1765, Chapel Yard, may record a failed intention to build a chapel of ease there.[6]
Evesham Abbey's rights in this church's donations, tithes and lands were an issue in disputes between the abbey and the bishop and in 1208 it was proposed to resolve the difficulties by appropriating the church.[6] By then the abbey possessed two-thirds of the great tithes of Donnington and perhaps also of Maugersbury. In 1291 the Abbey also received a pension of £1 5s. 0d. from the church. The Abbey's attempts to appropriate subsided and the living (benefice) stayed as a rectory.[6]
Lands and contributions to the church
In the 16th century the rectory let as a farm produced nearly £18 a year clear.
Three chantries in the town, one including a hospital, one formerly known as a guild that was reputedly pre-Conquest ended on
Rectors, curates and church hall
Rowland Wylde, parish priest of Stow and Lower Swell from 1642, was deprived before 1649 as a delinquent and restored (as with the monarchy, the year before) in 1661, this post having been served meanwhile by "an active controversialist of
Local roles before the enlargement of state funded institutions
In 1566 Stow had four churchwardens in all to help cover Maugersbury and Donnington, as in 1826. By the early 19th century one of the wardens for the town was the rector's nominee (choice). The office of parish clerk and sexton, prized, was filled by election by the parishioners.[6] Two overseers and two surveyors who presented separate accounts operated and were made responsible in 1825 for repairing the town well. In 1834 a small majority defeated a proposal to appoint a paid assistant overseer. Two conditional contributions in 1691 and 1710 towards building a workhouse were returned because no workhouse was built.[6] In 1712 Quarter Sessions (county judicial/administrative matters) ordered that a combined workhouse and house of correction should be established at Stow in the 'Eagle and Child'. Expenditure on poor relief in the late 18th century increased more than the average for the area, and remained high. A school of industry with 22 children, recorded in one record of 1802 was not in that of 1812.[6]
To deal with health problems, the vestry in the 18th century kept a pest house, (fn. 523) and in 1831 and 1833, following outbreaks of smallpox, temporary boards of health were set up. (fn. 524) A burial board was formed in 1855, and a new graveyard was opened south of the town beside the Foss Way. A nuisance removal committee existed in 1859 when a nuisance inspector was appointed.[6]
The town and the two hamlets all became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union under the
Numerous church-overseen testamentary charities served, many of which were sufficient provision for the weak and infirm housed in the row of almshouses. Funds were more manageably administered into an annual revenue-focussed joint board Scheme from 1899. In 1961 the almshouses were condemned as unfit for habitation but five were occupied and stipends continued to be distributed to the almspeople. The other charities for the poor were distributed in kind, such as the rent from a fuel allotment (coppices) being spent on coal.[6]
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire
- List of ecclesiastical restorations and alterations by J. L. Pearson
References
- ^ "The Church of England: A Church Near You". Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f "Parish Church of St Edward, Stow on the Wold". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ "English Church Architecture". Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ The Five Marks of Mission Archived 1 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine St Edward's - the Parish Church of Stow on the Wold. Accessed 21 April 2015.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1078369)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 'Parishes: Stow-on-the-Wold' Archived 21 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6, ed. C R Elrington (London, 1965), pp. 142-165 Accessed 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Quarwood". Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ Stow on the Wold Archived 18 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine J M Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer Entry, 1870-72
- ^ "Stow history". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ "St Edwards Church Stow on the Wold". Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ "Stow on the Wold Travel Guide". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ "With the British Army in Flanders". Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (11 July 2002). "The Who Attend John Entwistle's Funeral". People.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ "Final farewell to Entwistle". BBC. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2020.