Church of All Saints

Details

SO 8203-8303 KING'S STANLEY SELSLEY WEST

14/48 Church of All Saints

28.6.60

GV I

Parish church. 1862 by George Frederick Bodley for S.S. Marling. Limestone ashlar; stone slate roof, lead to tower roof. High Victorian, French gothic revival. Nave with north west tower, north aisle and north organ loft apsed chancel. Moulded pointed- arched west doorway in parapet-gabled west end, parapet linking with tower to left. Two 2-light pointed windows with plate tracery; circular window above with bold plate tracery and central cusped light. Irregularly arranged north nave wall has large gabled buttress with lancet recesses. Three 3-light nave windows and one chancel 2-light, all with geometric tracery. Large C14 style mortuary recess and railed enclosure is monument to Sir Samuel Stephens Marling, died 1883. Small triangular-headed panel within round-arched and cusped recess depicts scenes from Life of Christ. Plinth to nave becomes battered at east end; 5-sided apse, each facet with lancet window and circular light above both within round-arched recess. Lean-to north aisle roof, aisle having two 2-light pointed windows. Two-storey vestry and organ loft to east has parapet gables facing east and west, both disappearing into nave roof to south. Gable-mounted chimney at west end with triangular hood. High level pointed-arched organ loft doorway at east end approached up straight flight of stone steps projecting beyond north aisle wall with half-arch to underside spanning entrance to vestry below. Circular window with dogtooth border high in gable apex. Plate-traceried windows on north side of organ loft and vestry. Saddleback tower of 3 stages has large moulded and pointed-arched north doorway with two 2-light plate traceried windows over having sandstone colonnettes with crocket capitals. Tall 2-light belfry openings to east and west with central double sandstone shaft, trefoil-headed openings and circular opening with plate tracery over. Alternating colours to voussoir stone of pointed arch link with banding in gables. North and south sides have row of 3 trefoil and quatrefoil openings in square recesses. Iron cross with weathervane at centre of tower roof ridge. Interior is ashlar-faced. High nave with crown post roof. Two-bay north arcade with simply moulded pointed arches carried on large central marble pier with crocket capital. Pointed-arched tower doorway; octagonal stair turret within tower has 2-light openings within lower stage, each with central sandstone shaft; sandstone treads to spiral stair brought through to external face of turret. Tall lancet chancel arch with simple roll mouldings on intrados, supported on paired marble column shafts with mid height stone rings and crocket capitals. Boarded tunnel-vaulted chancel roof; stepped tiled floor. Elaborate carved string course to apse with gothic-lettered inscription below. Choir stalls with poppy-head and fleur-de-lys finials. Round-fronted marble pulpit with variety of coloured stone inlay. Octagonal stone font has circular base with attached shafts. Row of matching Marling family memorial tablets on south nave wall. Later timber-panelled north chapel has delicately carved tracery. C20 draught lobby at west end has good linenfold panelling. Stained glass by Morris and Company is an important set: one of a group of their first ecclesiastical commissions, all for Bodley-designed churches, the others being St Michael's Church at Brighton and St Martin's Church at Scarborough. The artists involved at Selsley were Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Madox- Brown, Webb (who provided the general scheme and designed all the animals) and Morris himself. Most original is the west window - its subject being The Creation - with astonishingly avant-garde designs, especially the almost abstract depiction of rain and the sea. Marling is said to have directed that the church was to be a copy of the church at Marling (now Marlengo) in the Tyrol. A watercolour of that church is at Selsley. Also on display is a copy of Bodley's original design with the tower towards the east end. One of Bodley's most important early works, of great significance in the development of High Victorian architecture. Dominant position on promontory. (For a detailed account of the stained glass see A.C. Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and His Circle, 1974-5; D. Verey, article in Country Life, 20th May 1971; 'George Frederick Bodley' in ed. J. Fawcett, Seven Victorian Architects, 1976; and Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SO8291703814

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

131922

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)
Sewter, A, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle, (1975)
Fawcett, J, Seven Victorian Architects, (1976)
Country Life in 20 May, (1971)

End of official list entry

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