Church of St Peter, Rendcomb, Gloucestershire

Description

RENDCOMB RENDCOMB
SP 00 NW
6/249 Church of St. Peter
26.11.58

GV I

Anglican parish church. Early English; entirely rebuilt early
C16 by Sir Edmund Tame of Fairford; restored 1895 by F.R. Kempson.
Nave north wall: rubble. Church otherwise ashlar; stone slate
with leaded roof. Nave with south aisle and south porch; chancel
with south chapel (parallel to and the same length as the chancel);
vestry linked to the north side of the chancel via a short passage;
west tower. South wall of south aisle and chapel with diagonal and
side buttresses with offsets: 5 three-light 4-centred arched
windows with hollow-moulded chamfers and stopped hoods; similar
windows at the east and west ends; battlemented parapet; two late
C17-early C18 headstones with oval inscription panels and rich
decoration in almost 3-dimensional relief. Gabled porch with
diagonal buttresses and 4-centred arched entrance with engaged jamb
shafts; carved spandrels, one with a Tudor rose, one with a vine
motif; stopped hood; battlemented parapet with cube sundial at
the apex. Flagged floor within porch; stone side benches; C15
studded plank door with fillets within a moulded 4-centred arched
surround with carved and painted spandrels with naturalistic oak
leaf and ivy leaf decoration. Nave north wall: evidence of column
bases and springing of the Early English north arcade now
incorporated; blocked rectangular north doorway with flat-
chamfered and quirked moulding; three 3-light windows similar to
windows lighting the south aisle; stairs projection to the former
rood loft far left; battlemented parapet. Chancel: 5-light
Tudor-arched east window; two similar 3-light windows to the north
wall. C19 vestry with diagonal buttresses. Three-stage tower with
moulded plinth; pointed 3-light west window with a casement-
moulded surround and a hood with diamond stops; 2-light belfry
windows with stone louvres and hoods with carved head stops;
strings between storeys; battlemented parapet with crocketed
pinnacles.
Interior: 3-bay south aisle continuous with 2-bay south chapel;
5-bay nave arcade with octagonal piers with concave mouldings and
capitals in the form of elongated lozenges with moulded margins
supporting 4-centred arches with ogee mouldings; pointed tower
arch. C16 roof to the nave with braced ramped tie-beams and
moulded intersecting beams with carved wooden bosses; similar C16
roofs to the south-aisle and south chapel; fine angel corbels
carrying musical instruments to the south aisle. C19 roof to
chancel similar to that in the nave. Stone flag floor; coloured
and encaustic tiling to the chancel and sanctuary. Traces of three
circular Early English piers formerly forming the arcade to a north
aisle (now demolished) visible in the north wall of the nave.
Round-headed doorway high up in the north wall of the nave where it
joins the chancel, formerly giving access to a rood screen. Finely
carved C16 wooden screens with blind tracery and vine scroll frieze
divides the nave and south aisle from the chancel and south chapel;
similar C16 screen divides the chancel from the south chapel. C11
tub-shaped stone font inside the south door (reputed to have been
brought from Elmore by the Guise family) decorated with an arcade
containing the eleven figures representing the apostles. C18
chalice-shaped stone font at the west end of the nave. Early C20
pews with blind tracery at the pew ends. C19 pulpit possibly
incorporating carved panels possibly from the former rood loft.
Finely carved panel decorated with Katherine of Aragon's
pomegranate reused as a cupboard door on the vestry. Fine C17
communion rails with turned balusters and acorn finials; C20 altar
table. C18 wrought iron communion rails to the south chapel,
incorporating a swan motif. Monuments: two ledgers in the nave
aisle one to Robert Berkeley, died 1690 one to Rebekah, wife of
Robert Berkeley, died 1707. Two ledgers one to William Bradley,
died 1728 and one to Hannah Bradley died 1733 in the south aisle.
North wall of chancel: large ornate Baroque monument formerly
highlighted in gold to Jane, daughter of Robert and Rebekah
Berkeley, died 1672 with an oval inscription panel with foliate
surround with large palm leaves either side; putti and painted
heraldic shield at the apex, drapery flows down and around the
inscription panel (by Reeve of Gloucester). White marble monument
over the door to the vestry to a member of the Berkeley family,
with almost illegible inscription possibly dated 1727, cartouche-
like surround to the inscription panel with palm fronds either
side; cherub's head and heraldic shield at the top; two down-
turned flaming torches and a skull with bat-like wings at the
bottom. South chapel: 2 chest tombs one to Eleanor Iermye, died
1629, wife of Sir R.Y. Berkeley, with black marble top and two
polished limestone heraldic plaques on the side. Similar monument
opposite to members of the Guise family. Both monuments appear to
be either C18 or earlier C19 in date. Stained glass: fragmentary
C16 Renaissance style stained glass; middle north nave window with
the initials 'E.T.' (Edmund Tame cf) tied with a lover's knot;
small figures of winged sibyls, survive within the tracery at the
top of windows in the south chapel and south aisle; medallions of
C17 Flemish glass set in the windows of the north aisle; west
window of the south aisle by Wailes 1858. There is a close
relationship between this church and Fairford church which was
built by John Tame, father of Edmund Tame donor of Rendcomb church.
(David Verey: The Buildings of England: The Cotswolds, 1979; and
V.C.H. Glos. Vol VII, p226) -

Listing NGR: SP0185509789

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

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Church of St Peter

A Grade I Listed Building in Rendcomb, Gloucestershire

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