A fury of a building

When I moved to Tewkesbury in 2021 and started exploring, I was struck by the number of churches in the area. And not just the number – every one is magnificent and has at least one feature which makes it special.

Having started full-time work in 1976, I bought a car and spent weekends trundling around cathedrals, churches and abbey ruins, book in hand. I learned what made a cathedral a cathedral (it must have a bishop), how to date a building from its style and why the abbeys are in ruins (thank you Henry VIII.) Recently I took my brains out, dusted them, put them back and set about reliving the fun I'd had exploring and learning about these places.

Many of Gloucestershire’s medieval churches have a core which is the work of masons appointed after the Norman conquest in 1066. William I was a great creator. England already had churches and cathedrals, thank you, but the Normans delighted in pulling them down and replacing them with their own massive jobs (and not always building as successfully as the Saxons; native churches were small and sturdy, Norman creations, particularly the cathedrals, were large with poor foundations and bits often fell down.)

Saxon churches have small windows which are circular round-headed. Interior arches, too, are round. The example here is from St Mary's Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, as is the double triangular-headed opening which links the nave and the tower. St Mary's dates at least as far back as the early 9th century.

This small village also has a gem of a chapel, built in 1056 by Odda who was a relative of Edward the Confessor. The chapel has typical Saxon alternating stonework in the corners, known as long-and-short work.

There must have been a fury of church building following the Norman conquest. The finest Gloucestershire example of Norman style, known as Romanesque, is Tewkesbury Abbey but there are many more. Romanesque buildings are typically heavy and masculine with much carving, particularly doorways like big, scary mouths filled with aggressive-looking teeth.

Windows retained their round heads but became bigger and were splayed inwards to admit maximum light with minimum draught, as in Stoke Orchard.

In the early 13th century the building style changed. The pointed arch was introduced. Between 1200 and 1500 England saw three styles known as 'Gothic' - Early English with pointed arches and little decoration, Decorated also with pointed arches plus much elaborate carving, some of it amazingly realistic, and Perpendicular when building skills had developed, walls could be thinner and windows larger. They often have huge expanses of stained glass. In the early 14th century Stoke Orchard underwent a refurbishment and as a result the chancel arch became pointed.

I praise the Lord and ever shall, It is the sheep hath paid for all.

So says the window engraving of a merchant's house in Nottingham. It could equally well apply to the dwellings of the Cotswold merchants during the height of the wool trade. Not satisfied with having big houses, these men - who surely we would call yuppies - would contribute towards the building of a church. In keeping with their new rich status, it had to be impressive. Gloucestershire is blessed with many churches filled with the tombstones of their benefactors. If they couldn't afford to finance a church they could endow a chapel where masses could be said for their souls after death.

St John's Cirencester, one of the best wool churches, was begun in the 12th century and rebuilt several times until, by 1530, it finally took on its present form. This is one of the largest parish churches in England and the tower rises to 134 feet.

St Michael and all Angels in Bishop's Cleeve has the oldest wooden staircase in the country, dating from the 15th century. It is used mainly by bellringers but interested visitors can ask permission to view it. Stoke Orchard has 13th century wall paintings. St Nicholas Ashchurch has stonework which uses material not wanted by the masons building Tewkesbury Abbey. St Peter and St Paul Northleach has a fine collection of memorials to local wool merchants. St John the Baptist Burford has an impressive Romanesque doorway.

The churches featured here are only a sample of what can be enjoyed. If you are out and about in Gloucestershire and you see a church do go inside. All the churches I have visited have been unlocked, every one has been worth an hour of my time and I'm sure you will feel the same. It is amazing what men could achieve with ideas and basic tools. Some were crippled, paralysed, even killed when they fell from scaffolding; there were no safety harnesses or Bob the Builder hats in the middle ages. Some would have lost fingers, possibly limbs, when breaking stone and many must have lost an eye or two when chips broke off and few through the air. Their efforts have left us a wonderful legacy and apart from the artistic merit of these buildings we owe it to the masons, who toiled to create them, to look after them. Just like with Aldi and Lidl, when they're gone, they're gone.