Church history |
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Building work on St Peter's Church in Winchcombe started in around 1454: Michelangelo was not yet born, and Leonardo da Vinci was just two years old. Built with the help of gifts from Winchcombe Abbey, from parishioners, and especially from Lord Ralph Boteler, the building we inherit stands almost exactly as it was completed in around 1470. It is unique in several ways: first, being a complete rebuild, its architecture is entirely uniform, in the style of the 'perpendicular' period of English Gothic architecture. Secondly, it is the only fifteenth-century church in Gloucestershire which possesses an arcade with eight bays, and the only one without a chancel arch. For over five hundred years successive generations have looked after the building. The first known repairs were carried out in 1590 and related to the tower. In 1690 some of the battlements crashed through the chancel roof. This resulted in the lowering of the chancel walls and the installation of a barn-like roof. The whole interior, we are told, was whitewashed and painted. During the eighteenth century considerable attention was given to the upper stonework and the lead on the roof and windows. In 1850 the nave roof was restored and, during further restoration in 1873, the chancel walls were raised to their original height and the barn-like roof replaced by the present one. Following a further restoration in 1873 the beautiful east window depicting Jesus with St Peter walking on the water was given (while the Revd Noble-Jackson, a former naval chaplain, was vicar). During the twentieth century, major restoration work was carried out on the roof, including relacement of the old lead-work with a copper roof and supporting the original timber beams in the north and south aisles with a steel cradle. The Lady Chapel was restored and major masonry work was carried out on all clerestory windows. In 1984 the richly carved wooden screen was moved from the chancel step and repositioned at the west end of the church to form part of the new choir vestry. At the same time the bell-ringing chamber was created and the tower arch glazed. The glazed screen is inscribed with the words 'In my end is my beginning', a quotation from TS Eliot's Four Quartets, and was a gift of Canon Ronald Appleton to mark his retirement as Vicar in 1986. |