Description

SO 61 SE LITTLEDEAN CHURCH STREET
(east side)

10/77 Church of St. Ethelbert

23.9.55

GV 1

Parish Church. C12, C14 and C15; Tower and porch thin coursed
red sandstone with ashlar dressings; nave, larger squared stone,
very roughly coursed, with ashlar dressings; chancel squared,
coursed stone. Welsh slate roofs, stone slate to porch. 4-bay
nave, west tower, north aisle of same height as nave, chancel, 2-
bay north chapel, south porch. South face: tower, undivided
externally, diagonally-set corner buttresses to west; plain
plinth, ogee-headed single-light windows to 2 upper stages, upper
with stone louvres. Plain oversailing parapet with plain gargoyle:
stump of octagonal spire above. Nave, diagonally-set west buttress,
square-set east: two 3-light windows with rectilinear tracery, no
hoodmoulds: high up at east end a blocked doorway. Gable copings,
with apex cross. Porch set slightly off centre, plain, moulded
door surround, built up; projecting kneelers and cross-gablet apex
and cross to gable. 2 mass-dials on south face. Projection for
rood-stair with stone cap in angle between nave and chancel.
Chancel two 2-light 'Y'-tracery windows with hoodmoulds: blocked
priest's door between. Diagonally-set buttresses to east end,
window intersecting tracery. North aisle square-set buttresses,
square-headed 2-light windows with ogee-heads to lights.
Interior: chancel floor same level as nave: walls plastered.
Chancel arch semi-circular Norman responds, with slightly different
capitals: later pointed arch above. Small, square-headed door
above to right at head of rood loft stair. Octagonal pillars to 4-
bay arcade with plain, chamfered bases and moulded capitals. In
short return wall by tower a low square-headed opening to north
aisle, set a little way up wall: possibly access to a former west
gallery. Ceiling panelled, plastered barrel-vault with carved
wooden bosses. Chancel ceiling panelled plastered waggon roof,
carved bosses, crenellated wall-plate. North aisle: Medieval
glass in head of 2 lights (also in north chapel): north half of
ceiling panelled plastered waggon roof, with crenellated wall
plate; other half plain plaster. North chapel has heavily-moulded
cambered tie beams, with wall posts and curved braces, between
cambered, plastered ceiling. Large Pyrke monument in chancel 1752,
by T. Ricketts of Gloucester; 3 late C18 or early C19 wall
monuments. Octagonal stone font, probably medieval, on later
stem; trefoil headed blind arches to sides of bowl. Benefactions
board in porch. Spire blew off 1894; south porch made into vestry
mid C20. Rich collection of headstones in churchyard, not
separately listed. (D. Verey, Gloucestershire, The Vale and
Forest of Dean, 1970.)

Listing NGR: SO6721513580

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17525868

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)