Details
ST 68 SW WINTERBOURNE CHURCH LANE (west side),
Winterbourne
1/29
3.3.61 Church of St. Michael
G.V.
I
Anglican Parish Church. C12, mainly C13 and C14, mid - late C19 extension and
restoration. Rubble, freestone dressings, slate and concrete double roman
tile roofs, raised coped verges with saddlestones. Chancel, nave, south
transeptal tower, south porch, south organ chamber, north aisle, north chapel,
north vestry. Mainly Decorated. Chancel from C12 has pilaster buttresses
and a round-headed priest's door, chamfered around a keel moulding, good plank
door with fish-tail bands; 2-light window at south, similar at north under
corbelled tabelling, roof and east end raised (1856) for insertion of tall
3-lancet window; 4 bay gabled nave with tall 4 light west window (rebuilt
1843), 2-light windows at south, one literally squeezed between porch and
tower; gabled south porch diagonal buttresses, chamfered pointed arch, single
light above, 2 cusped lights at east and west, within is door reset from west
end, it stands between jamb shaftswith floreate capitals under a heavy rounded
cinquefoil arch with a rounded drip; 3-stage south transeptal tower has
weathered diagonal buttresses with cusped niches, first stage has 3-light south
window and small single lights above, large west stair turret with lean-to
roof, plain, shallow second stage with south clock, third stage has 2-light
cusped mullion and transom windows to bell chamber, corner pilasters rise as
panelled and crocketed finials with trefoil pierced parapet between, octagonal,
ribbed ashlar spire of 1871 replaces one struck by lightning (part retained
behind Hambrook House (q.v.)); south organ chamber of 1895, gabled, large
weathered buttress; 4 bay buttressed and gabled north aisle, rebuilt 1843,
2-light windows above a pointed door with double chamfer and roll moulding,
3-light window at west; gabled north chapel has 2 light north window and
3-light east window; late C19 flat roof north vestry. Interior: chancel
still shows rolled eaves string course, chancel arch has floreate capitals;
nave has 8 bay rebuilt hammerbeam roof, tower arch has ½ engaged column with
round caps below arch with hood mould, a piscine remains as do glazed squint
and rood squint, east and west pointed tower arches and a similar massive
rere-arch to south window, giant curved corbels above, cusped piscina at south
east corner, remnants of wall paintings, chevrons to arch chamfers, foliage
within, heraldry to window arch, roses on corbels; rebuilt 4-bay north aisle
has roof as nave, shaft and hollow piers; north Manor chapel, restored circa
1880 has another mock mediaeval roof. Fittings: revedos of 1856 has carved
Last Supper by Farmer; perpendicular stone pulpit of 1877; C17 font with
hollow moulded octagonal stem and gadrooned bowl. Memorials: in wall of
aisle, reset from former tower chapel in a cusped and crocketted niche is a
reclining knight, cross-legged, his feet on a lion; Manor chapel contains C14
monuments to Richard (died 1355) and Isabel Bradeston and their son John (died
1372) and wife - fine reclining courtly figures; one similar unknown female
figure; a good brass, probably another Bradeston of c.1370; a memorial of
1612, John Buck, Ionic columns and shields on a chest tomb, Corinthian columns
and a frieze above; in the chancel a fine wall memorial, 1662, Amy Symer,
marbled, aedicule with twisted Composite columns, open pediment with scallop,
cherubim and early C19 tablets by O. Greenway and T. Paty; in tower an early
Clg tablet with Christ ascending by Crinway. (Source: D. Verey : "Buildings
of England : Gloucestershire : The Vale and The Forest of Dean" 1970).
Listing NGR: ST6413881008
