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St Peter's Church,
Stanway Village,
Stanway, 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 12th century, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes St Peter's Church as "a building of stone in the Late Norman, Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 4 bells". Inside the church is a memorial to Augusta (Wemyss-Charteris), Countess of Rossmore, who died 28 July, 1940. Robert Dover, who instituted the once famous "Cotswold Hill Games" died here in 1642, and is buried in the churchyard.

The living, in 1923 was said to be a vicarage in the gift of the Earl of Wemyss and March, and had been held since 1922 by the Rev. Geoffrey Neville Bennett M.A. of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, who was also vicar of Didbrook.

On top of Stanway Hill is the Jackdaw stone quarry. Stanway House, near the church, was erected in 1626 by Sir Paul Tracey. In 1923 it was the residence of the Earl of Wemyss & March. Kelly reports that its main entrance gate was designed by Inigo Jones (1573-1652), but other sources indicate his wasn't the only famous name which has been associated with the building. The Parks & Gardens UK website lists two later architects - William Burn (1789-1870), and Detmar Blow (1867-1939), and a local stonemason, Timothy Strong of Barrington, as its builder. The Strongs were a talented family, their various distinctions recorded in the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 6: Slaughter hundred, and the upper divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster hundreds (1965), pp.16-27 (Great and Little Barrington). Timothy (d.1635) had moved to Little Barrington in the early 17th century, and Thomas Strong, who (I think) would have been his grandson, owned quarries in Little Barrington, and took stone from there for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. We might assume this included St Paul's Cathedral, as his name is included in the list of "Wren and his draughtsmen" on the website of St Paul's Cathedral. He died in 1681, and was succeeded by his brother Edward.

The entry for Stanway House in the Historic England database PastScape records a further snippet - that the House stands on the site of an 11th cent cell of Tewkesbury Abbey, that it was later converted into an abbot's country seat. It is however more reticent about its architect, in saying the gatehouse was built in the style of Inigo Jones.

Listed Buildings in Stanway, besides Stanway House, include St Peter's Church, and the War Memorial of circa 1920, by Sir P. Stott, carved by Alexander Fisher, with lettering by E. (Eric) Gill - see the British Listed Buildings website for details. The site also mentions War Memorial lettering in St Peter's chancel windows, also by Eric Gill.

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 SP0607432364. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Peter's Church, Stanway shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Stanway 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 Stanway, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The leading on-line resource for historic parks and gardens, Parks & Gardens UK (null) (verified 2018-12-21)
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 6: Slaughter hundred, and the upper divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster hundreds (null) (verified 2018-11-06)
• The rich history of St Paul's Cathedral (null) (verified 2018-11-18)
• “A quick and easy way to search over 420,000 records held in the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE)” - PastScape (null) (verified 2018-11-15)
• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)

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.