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Copyright of Alf Beard

St Andrew's Church,
Coln Rogers Village, GL54 3LB,
Coln Rogers, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in the 11th century, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1923 provides the information that St Andrew's church is "an ancient building of stone, in the Norman and Later English styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 3 bells". It also mentions that a new church clock was presented by G.O. Ranger esq. in 1922, in memory of his son Peter, who died in South Africa.

However by far the most interesting, and moving account is provided by Arthur Mee, in his The King's England series for Gloucestershire.

"Coln Rogers... has the loveliness of the Coln Valley that Nature gave it, and it has more - a memory that must make it always thankful, and a little church proud of the best preserved Saxon work in the county. It is one of the 31 Thankful Villages that we have found where everyone who went to the war came back. A stone tablet in the church porch tells us they were 25 men and one woman, a V.A.D.

Neat and trim is a charming churchyard with a splendid old yew, the church has a 15th century west tower rising from the roof, and a simple nave and chancel which retain not only their original plan (except for a slight extension at the east end), but also most of their Saxon walling. There are several of the familiar Saxon pilasters, and examples of their "long and short" quoins. There is a scratch dial with five rays by which they used to tell the time, and another dial has more rays.

The north doorway, blocked up in the wall, is odd for being of different times; it is Saxon inside, but outside its 13th century arch rests on shafts and capitals from Norman days. The Norman south doorway, through which we enter, has scallop capitals.

The Saxons built the fine simple chancel arch, over ten feet high and little more than six wide, with great stones in the sides and curved ones in the arch; its only enrichment is the bold pellet ornament on the imposts. A tiny Saxon window in the chancel is cut from a single stone. The rest of the windows are 13th and 15th century, one having a figure of St Margaret in old glass, a coronet on her long hair, a book and a rosary in her hands, and the head of a dragon at her feet. It is perhaps 500 years old.

The font is Norman, an ancient chest has iron bands and four locks, and the fine 15th century panelled pulpit is one of a group of about 60 medieval stone pulpits still surviving in this country.

The village derives its name from Roger of Gloucester, who gave the manor to Gloucester Abbey in 1105. In the early 12th century it was known simply as Coln, and in the mid 12th century it was called Coln St Andrew from the dedication of the parish church.

In 1923, the living was a rectory united with that of Coln St Dennis, which had been held since 1894 by the Rev. Lewis Bythesea Bubb, M.A. of Pembroke College, Oxford, who lived at Coln St Dennis. In 1935, it ceased to exist as a civil parish when it was merged with Coln St Dennis; and today it is part of the Benefice of "Chedworth Yanworth and Stowell Coln Rogers and Coln St Denys" (Dennis). [Other Sources: Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire (1923), and the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 9: Bradley Hundred. The Northleach area of the Cotswolds (2001), pp.21-30 (Coln Rogers)]

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference SP0874109684. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Andrew's Church, Coln Rogers shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Coln Rogers shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Coln Rogers, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 9: Bradley Hundred. The Northleach area of the Cotswolds (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.