Details
PUCKLECHURCH
1096/4/208 WESTERLEIGH ROAD
15-AUG-85 (East side)
RYEMILL MONUMENT IN THE CHURCHYARD ABO
UT 8 METRES SOUTH WEST OF PORCH OF ANG
LICAN CHURCH OF ST THOMAS À BECKET
(Formerly listed as:
WESTERLEIGH ROAD
RYEMILL MONUMENT IN THE CHURCHYARD ABO
UT 8 METRES SOUTH WEST OF PORCH OF CHU
RCH OF ST THOMAS OF CANTERBURY)
GV II
Pedestal tomb. Early C19, commemorating William Ryemill (d. 1849) and other members of the Ryemill family. It lies in the churchyard of St Thomas à Beckett, Pucklechurch, about 8 metres south-west of the porch. The limestone monument is square in plan and has a fluted hipped top with a finial and a cornice with acroterial ornaments. On the north side of the tomb there is a shaped inscription shield and there is as moulded top to the plinth.
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, in 1846-56, and the second, by J D Sedding, in 1889. These included some reordering, and 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 Ryemill tomb is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural: as good example of an early-C19 pedestal tomb
* Group value: for its relationship with the Grade I-listed church of St Thomas à Becket, and with other listed tombs.
