Description

SO 91 SW BRIMPSFIELD BRIMPSFIELD VILLAGE

2/3 Church of St. Michael

26.11.58

GV I

Parish church of early C12 with C13 chancel and C15 tower. Ashlar
and rubble limestone, with stone slate roof. Short, wide nave
without aisles; eastern tower, chancel beyond; south porch and
north vestry. Nave has C12 south doorway with scratch mass dial on
right jamb; two 2-light windows to left and right of C13 and C15
respectively, latter flanked by two C18 wall-mounted memorials;
blocked remains of C12 window also in south nave wall. Doorway now
sheltered by C14 porch with internal stone seats. West nave wall
is C15 replacement with 2-light window; north has projecting rood
loft stair turret, two small trefoil headed C13 lancets, 2-light
C15 window, and a doorway, now obscured by C19 vestry. No east
window in chancel, which has narrow C13 lancet in north wall; in
south, two 2-light C14 windows and square-headed priest's door.
Tower is Perpendicular with string courses and crenellated
parapet. Bell chamber has 2-light trefoil-headed opening in south
face, with single lights to the others, all with stone louvres.
Chamber said to have apsed east end.
Church interior is unscraped and whitewashed. View into chancel
constricted by narrow tower arches with complex piers: partly
embedded C13 round columns in later tower masonry. Either side of
tower a chapel: the north has stone 'mensa', both with restored C19
squints. Complete rood loft stairs; one loft support corbel
survives. Fragments of medieval painting on tower piers. Nave
roof is wagon type with early tie-beams at east end. C19 chancel
roof of two collar and arched braced trusses with curved wind
braces. In north chancel wall an aumbry, while in south a double-
drained piscina. Three medieval memorial stones and fine C18 chest
tomb lyre-end in chancel. In nave an octagonal carved oak pulpit
dated 1658, and C15 octagonal stone font with quatrefoil panel
decoration, sitting on a buttressed base. Stained glass is early
C20. Early history of church is associated with a once adjoining
Benedictine priory which, together with the church was founded by a
Giffard. The Giffards, as Lords of the Manor, also built the C12
castle, the mound of which lies to the south of the church approach
path. The church has considerable landscape importance. (A. R. J
Jurica, 'Brimpsfield' in V.C.H. Glos, vii, 1981 pp. 140-149: and D.
Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1970).

Listing NGR: SO9420112829

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Michael at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17540295

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)