St Mary’s , Berkeley, Gloucestershire

30th March 2024

The inspiration of our visit today was the recent acquisition of Simon Jenkins’ book “England’s 1000 Best Churches”.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a striking 13th century church standing beside Berkeley Castle in the Vale of Berkeley just 17 miles north of where we live in Bristol and 1 mile east of the River Severn.

Jenkins describes it as a “rugged church in sandstone”.

The church is notable for its medieval wall paintings, detached tower, table tombs, and memorials to the Berkeley family.

A bit of history from Wikipedia:

There was probably a Saxon church, since stones reused in the present church have Saxon carving. The present tower, erected in the 18th century, was built on the site of the tower of a medieval church, thought to be where the Saxon building stood.

Robert Fitzharding, in the 12th century, is thought to have built a church on the site of the present church.The south door and the font remains from this building; otherwise the oldest parts of the building date from 1225 to 1250, notably the nave and west front. The west end of the chancel is also of this period; the east end was extended about 1300. During the 14th century the south and north aisles were rebuilt, and the north door was created. The large rood screen is of the 15th century.

The Berkeley burial chapel, built about 1450 by JamesBerkeley, 11th Baron Berkeley by tenure and 1st Baron Berkeley by writ (c. 1394–1463), is still owned by the Berkeley family and is not open to the public. It is in the south-east corner, in Perpendicular style. There is an ogee crocketed arch over the doorway holding the Berkeley arms.

All quotes are Simon Jenkins “England’s 1000 Best Churches”. All photos are my own.

The west front of the church, with the tower to the left

The bell tower sits well-away from the church to the north

Table tomb to the “Tayler” family – no relation as far as I know

Inside, the Early Gothic arcades have stiff leaf capitals.

Pevsner: “The oldest part of the existing building is the nave which has the original clerestory with its range of broad windows of the second quarter of the C13.”

West end

Pevsner: “The beautiful west end of the nave is mid C13, and has five graduated round-headed lancets with moulded hoods and slender shafts”

Jenkins says of the stiff leaf capitals “some are so deeply cut that the leaves seem about to blow in the wind”

” Pride of Berkeley is the Berkeley Chapel and the alabaster effigies of successive barons”

Sir George Gilbert Scott (restorations in 1865-6) was responsible for the preservation of the wall paintings (late C13)

Stone reredos by Comper of 1918. Jenkins says that “Berkeley seems to bring out ruggedness even in the most delicate of designers”.

“The east window is the memorial to Edward Jenner, son of the vicar and himself a local doctor. Jenner invented vaccinations in 1823 by trying out his serums on his own family in the parish”.