The church of St Edward was developed in the Arts and Crafts design and style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally designed as a ‘chapel of ease’, it was dedicated in 1903 but not consecrated until finally 1934 nor registered for weddings till 1943. It at last grew to become the parish church for Kempley in 1975 with the formal closure of the close by 12th century church of St Mary’s. The church was thoroughly renovated in 2014.
The style and design of the church is uncommon mainly because it has no east window powering the altar. The 7th Earl Beauchamp gave his architect, Randall Wells, a totally free hand with the style but preferred an exterior stone relief on the east end of the church as a roadside shrine for passers-by. It is constructed in community red sandstone, and the church and lychgate had been initially roofed with nearby stone tiles, but the church was subsequently re-roofed with pantiles. Timbers for the support beams, rafters and other woodwork arrived from neighborhood oaks on the Earl’s estates.
Regional adult men manufactured the church underneath the supervision of a local carpenter, Walter James. The regional blacksmith, George Smallman, built all the nails, hinges and other ironwork. The church is a constant solitary nave and chancel with a higher-pitched roof held on significant scissor-beam roof-trusses, with grapevine trails painted on the rood beam. On the north facet of the nave is the Girl Chapel, a vestry and a bell tower with a saddleback roof and a porch underneath. The substantial west window has a diagonal stone grid, often referred to as a ‘jam tart’ window. The leaded lights for the window had been designed by W Smith of London applying Outdated Dutch glass held in a wrought iron casement in the stone grid.
The lychgate has a gabled roof with a low deep arch the wedge formed stones over the arch are set as ‘voussoirs’, with a central keystone that distributes the fat to the supports on possibly facet of the arch.
There are a few sculpted stone aid layouts drawn by Randall Wells, two of which had been carved by Walter James. Significant on the east wall experiencing the highway and serving as the Earl’s ‘roadside shrine’, is the ‘Crucifixion of Christ’. Higher than the entrance porch of the church is ‘Christ the Peacemaker’. In the porch previously mentioned the most important doorway into the church is ‘Virgin and Child’ by Laurence Turner.
Inside of the church the carved rood beam carries the figure of ‘Christ Triumphant’ on the cross. The carving of Christ was completed by David Gibb, the last remaining carver of ship’s figureheads in London. To the sides of the crucifixion are the Virgin Mary and St John.
The altar, candle holders and lectern came from the Daneway workshop in Gloucestershire they ended up made by Ernest Gimson and Ernest Barnsley and created in oak by Peter van der Waals. The candelabra had been built by Charles Robert Ashbee and the pews by the Gloucester Woodworking Co. The stone font was intended by Gimson but its maker is not known.
Posted by WendyHarris1955 on 2022-03-13 20:44:17
Tagged: , church , Church of England , Christianity , Anglican , faith , place of worship , Arts and Crafts , 20th century building , holy , hallowed ground , eglise , kirche , iglesias , Gloucestershire , United kingdom , England , parish church
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