A history of the churches in Woodchester

• The Parish Church
• The Baptist Church
• The Roman Catholic Church
• Franciscan Convent

The history of the Parish Church in Woodchester is long. The first mention of a parish priest is in 896 and is the earliest mention of a priest on record in England:
A Witanagemot (an assembly of wise men) was summoned by King Alfred and was held at Gloucester. At this assembly, the Bishop of Worcester complained that well on nigh all the woodland of Woodchester, which had been granted to the See by King Athelbald in the early 8th Century, had been taken by one Ethelwald, a local thane. A compromise was made under which Ethelwald and his son could keep the property for their lives, excepting some pig pasture at Long Ridge, and thereafter it had to revert to the See of Worcester. Whereupon Ethelwald's yeoman, accompanied by the village priest Wulpen, rode around the bounds of the land.
The Saxon system of local government was based on each village having a leader elected by the free families of the village. Every village was grouped in to Hundreds, each with its own court.
The parish boundaries are of saxon origin and the church was built over the Roman Villa on the site of the Great Pavement.
The old church is no longer standing, save for some small ruins of a Norman chancel arch and the north doorway. The fragments show it was of the early Norman type. There is no indication that in decoration or building it was particularly distinguished and by the the middle of the 19th Century the old church was both too small and had fallen into a bad state of repair. Verey, in his book on Cotswold churches says that the villages, most of whom were Church of England, wanted a church that would match or exceed the new Roman Catholic religious centre that had been built in south Woodchester. Hence it was decided to pull the old church down and a new church was built in the middle of the village. There was no protest in the village at losing their old church. (Pictures of the site of the old church can be seen here.)
A description from 1851 stated that the church had a nave and south aisle, chancel and west tower, the whole much modernized but with some early features. It noted that it was encumbered with hideous pews and galleries. There was also a covered passageway that ran from the manor house to one of the galleries.
The peculiar poverty of the church is out of character with the surrounding wealth generated by the woollen industry. There is no reasonable explanation as to why the church was not enlarged and improved from the time that the mills flourished from the 14th century.

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State of Woodchester Church. 1563

"That one James Clark has had unlawful copulation with one Alice Aldersay so that she is delivered with child. The present the churchyard gate isn't well repaired in default of the parish. The chancel isn't well covered nor well glazed in the default of one Francis Wye, Gentleman who was a former there and they say that they have complained often times and can have no redress, the parsonage now is in the hands of Mr Thomas Freman who has had it but this month. The register of christenings, burials and marriages hasn't been well kept by the default of one Sir John Randall who was curate under Mr Wye who couldnot write to make the book perfect."

A Raid by Colonel Massey. 1642

"Ferebe, John was Rector of Woodchester and as he was one day at the font, a party of Colonel Massey's men came in with drawn swords. They pulled off his surplice (which one of them, putting on, wore on his way back) tore the Common Prayer Book, stripped him of his clothes except for his drawers and drove him barefooted and bare legged into Gloucester where he was kept for many days in a damp and low room." Suffering of the Clergy. John Walker 1714.

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Monument to James Smith 1757

"Affliction sore long time I bore     Physicians were in vain Till God did please Death should me seize     To ease me of my pain"

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The old churchyard measured about two thirds of an acre. By the time it was decided to move the church it was estimated that over 3,000 burials had taken place there.
Vaults of the Bridges, Browning, Peach, Wathen, King and Smith families were within the foundations of the church. Scattered in the churchyard were  many tombstones bearing well known names of the locality: Cambridge, Browne, Cholmeley, Paul, Harrison, Drew, Webb, Churches, Deane, Cooks, Ball, Long, Collett, Tiley, Heron, Hopkins, Jones, Turner, Pavey, Hawker, Howard, Workman, Heaven, Pierce, Dudbridge, Wade, Hillman, Radcliffe, Fisher, Gough, Clarke, Jackson, Ford, Cyde, Boulton, Iles, and Walker.
In the north east corner of the churchyard is the Dunn family tomb with stones representing the Trinity and the Circle of Eternity. There are eight alter tombs in the railed Paul enclosure.
The inscription on one of the tombs reads:
 

The old church yard is a wonderfully peaceful place. There is still the yew tree walk from the gate to where the main entrance to the church would have been. The tombs are now beginning to decay and some are crumbling but a few of the inscriptions have been restored in the past and are easily readable.
 

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Seating Plan in the Church. 1816.
Lord Ducie, Sir G.O.Paul, Sir S. Wathen, Haycock, Howard, Harrison, Cooper, Long, Skelton, Horlick, Ball, Summers, Moore, Hills, Watts, Jenner, Dudbridge, Merrett, Quarrington, Chalk, Afams, Hodges, Creed, Nrowing and Drived.
 

The new church was built in the centre of North Woodchester on a large site donated by the Wise family.  The money to build the church was raised by local subscription and the church was consecrated on 24th September 1863.
The architect was S.S.Teulon and it was built by Harrison of King's Stanley (who also built Selsley Church.) It is an orthodox design and his designs were of a low church nature.
Inside, the design is simple but well proportioned and can seat 480. (Teulon also designed churches at Kingscote, Uley and Newton Bagpath.
There is some excellent Victorian stained glass by Preedy, Lavers and Barraud and some memorials were brought from the old church including the Huntley monument, a 16th Century cenotaph for the then Lord of the Manor Sir George Huntley and his wife.  George Huntley died in 1580 having had the Manor of Woodchester bestowed on him by Elizabeth 1st. A detailed listing of the memorials can be found at this external link.
Woodchester Memorials
The bells include those from the old church and date from the 14th Century, 1738, 1759, 1793
and two recast bells from 1956.
(To find out more about bell-ringing at the church).
  

The first Baptist Society in Woodchester is mentioned in 1742 when, in writing to Mr John Cennick, Mr Thomas Adams says "I visited both the Society at Wichester (Woodchester) and Chafford (Chalfont.) At both of which places our dear Saviour manifested his power abundantly." Later in the 18th Century and early 19th Century various houses were licensed and chapels set up in them for dissenters.
In 1822 a private room was opened in Woodchester for preaching services on week-nights under the pastoral care of the Baptist Church at King's Stanley.
In 1825 a small chapel was opened overseen by Mr Peter King who is credited with being the instigator of the flourishing church that continued until the 1970s.
 

Below, is a photograph of a distant view of the church looking east towards Amberley.

  The building of the Church of the Annunciation began in 1846. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Ullathorne and the church was consecrated in 1849 and the first sermon was preached by Bishop Wiseman who, a year later, became Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.
The church was commissioned by William Leigh (see Woodchester Mansion) and was the church of the Priory that he also had built. Leigh's vision was to establish a religious house at Woodchester and he had approached the Congregation of the Passionists to take up his offer. They accepted and whilst the church and priory were being built they took up temporary residence at Northfieds Road, Forest Green with their leader Dominic Barberi. However, by the time the priory was complete the Passionists had decided to move on and their place was taken by the Dominicans.
Leigh asked A.W. Pugin to draw up plans but subsequently Pugin decided not to take the commission and the project was handed to Charles Hansom although it is generally believed that Hansom's design borrowed heavily from Pugin's as the church has many elements in it's design which are Puginesque. (In the church is a sketch reputed to be by Pugin of the church.)
The church is a fine example of Victorian architecture and craftsmanship. Its dimensions are pleasing: 115 feet long, 36 feet wide and with wide north and south aisles. The church has a nave, a chancel and aisles with a north tower topped by an octagonal spire. An unusual rood screen, incorporating a walk-over, separates the chancel from the nave. There are some excellent wood carvings and interesting paintings; one, high above the chancel arch, is by Henry Doyle and depicts the Last Judgement.
A side chapel, dedicated to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste is devoted to the memory of William Leigh and his family. They are buried in the vault beneath and there is an alabaster effigy of William Leigh in the chapel. There are also stained glass windows that commemorate Leigh, his family, friends and also his employees such as Mr Peake, the steward of Woodchester Park.
There is also the imposing stone tomb of Francis Nicholson, the Archbishop of Corfu, who died whilst staying with the Leighs.
In the floor of the Martyr's Chapel there are two brass plaques dedicated to Leigh and his wife; one has the inscription "Of your charity, pray for the souls of William and Caroline Leigh founders of this church and for their family."
 

Another plaque is dedicated to the memory of George Archer-Shee, the 'Winslow Boy' made famous by Terence Rattigan's play.
The adjacent monastery was completed in 1853 and was given to the Dominican Order by William Leigh.
In 1885, there was a magnificent ceremony in the church when the Rt. Rev. George Vincent King was consecrated Archbishop of Trinidad (Port of Spain.) He had previously been a novice of the monastery. He is also buried at the church.
The priory became the training ground for many notable Dominicans, including several Archbishops of Port of Spain in Trinidad and a number of writers and preachers such as Bede Jarrett and Vincent McNab. Also, Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, was a novice here. The Domincans attracted to the area a circle of lay convert scholars, including John Moore Capes, Mathew Bridges - the hymnologist - and William Wilberforce. When Wilberforce died a requiem mass was held in the church with Cardinal Newman leading the service.
In 1966 the Dominicans moved away and, unfortunately, the monastery was demolished in 1971 (although it was in a bad state of repair) but the church continues to serve the catholics in the area.
A large crucifix, standing in a field below the church is in memory of many men of the neighbourhood who fell in World War One.
 
 

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In 1881 there were twenty monks at the Dominican Priory at the time of the census.
 
 

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Franciscan Convent
The community of Enclosed Franciscan Nuns was established by William Leigh in 1860. They resided at Summerwells House next to the Dominican Priory.  In the first instance sixteen nuns formed the new foundation but gradually the numbers increased. During the next five years the house was extended as the community grew and in 1869, Charles Hansom designed a beautiful chapel.
They also esablished an orphanage for girls in 1862. This was finally closed in 1927.
It is of interest to note, that in the list of nuns and orphans taken from the 1881 Census (see below), there were none from the local area suggesting the rather isolated nature of the community.
(There is still a small community of  Poor Clare nuns today and they have their own web-site.)
 

Contents:

• Introduction and Description
• Home Page
• A Brief History
• Neolithic History
• The Romans and Woodchester Villa
• King Arthur, Myths and Legends
• Anglo Saxon History
• History of  Woodchester's Churches
• 1999 Selsley Electoral Roll
• Woodchester Views (photographs)
• Woodchester Mansion
• Flora and Fauna
• Selsley Church and William Morris
• Pictures of Selsley Church
• Journals, Poetry and Literature
• Woodchester Village Statistics
• The Woollen Industry
• Genealogical Information
• Maps and Ephemera