Details
PUCKLECHURCH
1096/4/213 WESTERLEIGH ROAD
15-AUG-85 (East side)
NICHOLS/HUDLESTONE MONUMENT AND RAILIN
GS IN THE CHURCHYARD ABOUT 17 METRES S
OUTH OF NAVE OF ANGLICAN CHURCH OF ST
THOMAS À BECKET
(Formerly listed as:
WESTERLEIGH ROAD
NICHOLS/HUDLESTONE MONUMENT AND RAILIN
GS IN THE CHURCHYARD ABOUT 17 METRES S
OUTH OF CHURCH OF ST THOMAS OF
CANTERBURY)
GV II
DESCRIPTION
The Nichols/Hudlestone monument lies in the churchyard of St Thomas à Becket, Pucklechurch, about 17 metres south of the nave. An early-C19 chest tomb in the Regency Gothic style, commemorating Sarah Nichols (d. 1808), wife of Lawson Hudlestone and daughter of William Godwin (q.v.), together with other members of the family. The limestone monument has a flat top with a moulded edge and high moulded plinth. The corners of the tomb are marked by pilasters each with two recessed panels with bi-foil heads, with two quatrefoils at the top of each pilaster. Between the pilasters, a frieze of bunches of grapes and vine leaves. There are rectangular inscription panels on the north and south faces with foliage at the corners. The tomb is surrounded by cast iron spear-topped railings on a chamfered stone base.
HISTORY
Pucklechurch, which appears from the archaeological evidence to have Roman origins, was an important settlement from the later Anglo-Saxon period, when it became the administrative, military and judicial centre of the Hundred which bears its name. The settlement, once forming parts of the ancient Forest of Kingswood, may have been a royal burh in the later Saxon period. Certainly it was the site of Edmund, King of Wessex's hunting lodge; he was murdered in Pucklechurch in AD946, and his body taken to Glastonbury Abbey for burial. The manor of Pucklechurch was formally granted to Glastonbury Abbey in AD950, and was subsequently transferred to Bath Abbey in the C13. After the Dissolution in the C16, the village underwent a phase of rebuilding and gentrification, with a number of large houses erected in the C16, C17 and C18, indicating that the settlement was relatively wealthy in this period. A further phase of expansion and prosperity occurred from the mid-C19, when a number of collieries opened in the parish.
The parish church was founded in the Norman period, and was perhaps a royal foundation, but the current building dates largely from the C13; a north aisle and south porch were built in the C14, together with parts of the tower. A chantry, now the site of the Lady Chapel, was set up by William de Cheltenham in 1337. There were further alterations in the C17, coinciding with the increased prosperity of the settlement after the Dissolution, and there were two major phases of work in the C19, the first by R C Carpenter from 1846 to 1856, and the second by J D Sedding in 1889. These included some reordering, the replacement of some windows, the introduction of new fittings, and some stained glass. There has been some further, minor refitting in the C20.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The Nichols/Hudlestone tomb is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: as a good example of an early-C19 chest tomb in Regency Gothic style.
* Group value: for its relationship with the Grade I-listed church of St Thomas à Becket, and with other listed tombs.
