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Copyright of John Williams/Phil Draper

St Andrew's Church,
Church Lane,
Churcham, 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 before 1066, and we understand it is still open.

It may be useful to know that St Andrew's Church is a Grade II Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details.

Said to be one of the most distinctive churches in the area, the tower of St Andrew has a Rhenish helm, similar to that of St Mary's Church in Sompting, Sussex. This was erected when the church was rebuilt in 1878 following a fire, which destroyed the original, which was of timber. The church bells, and a wooden roof, were also destroyed.

A large part of the church is however early Norman. Of particular note is its typically Romanesque chancel arch, and there are two Norman doorways. The south doorway arch has the remains of 12th or 13th century wall paintings, and "there is an odd little figure above the north doorway, the cause of much learned debate". Some say it is Romano-British dating from the 3rd century AD, others that it is a 14th century carving of a saint, possibly St Andrew.

A large 15th century font lies shattered in the churchyard. The churchyard also contains the grave of Henry Hooke, one of the soldiers awarded the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Rooke's Drift in 1879.

In 1086, the ancient parish of Churcham comprised two manors, "Hame and Mortun" in the west, and "Hamme" (Highnam), in the east. Both manors were in the ownership of Gloucester Abbey, but by 1100 the western manor became known as Churcham because the church had been built there. They did however remain separate entities for the purposes of agriculture, and for manorial and parish affairs. This became formalised in 1851, when Highnam became a separate ecclesiastical parish. Then in 1935, Churcham was united with Bulley, to form a new civil parish of Churcham.

The foundation of the church evidently predates the name of Churcham, as Domesday states "the Church had its hunting here in 3 hedged enclosures before and after 1066".

One of the sources for compilation of this account was a website which (in 2018) appears to be no longer available, providing a 'virtual guide' to The Forest of Dean. It was an attractive and useful site, so you may like to visit the "Wayback Machine" archive of the Forest Web collection to see for yourself. [Other Sources: Phil Draper, the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp.25-28 (Churcham - Churches), and Phillimore's translation of Domesday (1982)]

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 SO7685418200. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)
• The “Wayback Machine” Internet Archive of the Forest Web (null) (verified 2018-11-22)
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (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.