Bishop's Cleeve, St. Michael
The west door.
Unfortunately for me, I could not get inside of Bishop's Cleeve church on this particular Saturday, as there was a wedding taking place. I had to make do with the exterior of this church, which luckily has some interesting features.
Bishop's Cleeve is a medium sized town just to the north of Cheltenham. I had made my way there from Tewkesbury, across flat countryside, with the Cotswold hills rising to the east. It was around midday by the time I arrived, and the weather was fine, despite storms being forcast.
I drove in through new housing estates of the usual mock georgian variety that have sprung up all over the country in the last 20 years. I could have been anywhere. It was not until I reached the centre of town that some local character appeared, with older houses built from local stone.
St. Michael's itself is quite large, and sits in a spacious and well maintained churchyard. The chancel is 14thc. decorated, and has a lovely east window which I photographed enthusiastically, only to find out later that it is 19thc. Still the tracery is very beautiful I think. The central tower was rebuilt in the 18thc. after the original one collapsed. But it is the norman features of this church, which make the exterior really special. I first looked at the south doorway, which is inside a nice little porch with norman arcading. The upper arch of this doorway is decorated with two snakes, each curled around, with their downward facing heads eating birds. There is also two orders of chevrons and one that is embattled, and good carved capitals. The west front is also norman, and has another door with chevrons and snakes, not quite as fine as the south one though.
I left St. Michael's a little disappointed that I hadn't seen the interior. Apparently there is an interesting room above the porch which is worth seeing. I might have to come back at some point.
Bishop's Cleeve, St. Michael
The west door.
Unfortunately for me, I could not get inside of Bishop's Cleeve church on this particular Saturday, as there was a wedding taking place. I had to make do with the exterior of this church, which luckily has some interesting features.
Bishop's Cleeve is a medium sized town just to the north of Cheltenham. I had made my way there from Tewkesbury, across flat countryside, with the Cotswold hills rising to the east. It was around midday by the time I arrived, and the weather was fine, despite storms being forcast.
I drove in through new housing estates of the usual mock georgian variety that have sprung up all over the country in the last 20 years. I could have been anywhere. It was not until I reached the centre of town that some local character appeared, with older houses built from local stone.
St. Michael's itself is quite large, and sits in a spacious and well maintained churchyard. The chancel is 14thc. decorated, and has a lovely east window which I photographed enthusiastically, only to find out later that it is 19thc. Still the tracery is very beautiful I think. The central tower was rebuilt in the 18thc. after the original one collapsed. But it is the norman features of this church, which make the exterior really special. I first looked at the south doorway, which is inside a nice little porch with norman arcading. The upper arch of this doorway is decorated with two snakes, each curled around, with their downward facing heads eating birds. There is also two orders of chevrons and one that is embattled, and good carved capitals. The west front is also norman, and has another door with chevrons and snakes, not quite as fine as the south one though.
I left St. Michael's a little disappointed that I hadn't seen the interior. Apparently there is an interesting room above the porch which is worth seeing. I might have to come back at some point.