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St Michael & All Angels Church,
Millend Lane, GL10 3SG,
Eastington, Stonehouse, 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 by 1340, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes Eastington as a parish on the river Frome and the Stroudwater canal, and bounded on the east by the Stroud and Gloucester road, 2 miles west from Stonehouse station on the Bristol and Birmingham section of the Midland railway, 3 west from Stonehouse station on the Swindon and Stroud branch of the Great Western railway and 8 south west from Gloucester.

The church of St Michael is described as an ancient edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of six bays, south aisle, north porch and a western tower, with turret, containing a clock and one bell. There are four stained windows. The west window, erected in 1893, is a memorial to the Rev. Thomas Peters B.A. rector here 1837-83. The north aisle, Kelly says, was added in 1885; and the registers date from 1558.

The account of Eastington Churches in the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp.135-138 cites a reference from Dugdale of tithes from Eastington being granted to Bermondsey Priory in 1092, suggesting perhaps that a church existed then, but their earliest ecclesiastical record is from a tax return of 1291. Of the building itself "no part of the fabric is obviously earlier than the 14th century, but the Norman font … presumably survives from the earlier church".

Its first known dedication (in 1340) was to St Mary, but it has been known as St Michael's from the early 18th century, with variously St Mary and/or St Michael in the intervening years. Apparently Kelly's Directory of 1856 and 1870 records "St Matthew", which may have credence, since David Verey's Buildings of England (1998, p.176) records fragments of medieval painted glass in a north window, including a figure of St Matthew.

The south aisle, according to Verey, was added by the Duke of Buckingham of Thornbury Castle, before his execution in 1521, On the south doorway are carved the initials S.B. for Stafford and Buckingham. Its east window has an elaborate dripmould supported by angels with shields and complicated tracery.

Kelly's Directory tells us that St Michael's had just one bell, but we learn from A Ringer's Guide to Towers in Gloucestershire that there are now 6, bells which used to hang in St Peter's Church, Frocester, demolished in 1954 - "the bells sound ok and go well".

For reference, until recently Eastington was one of the "Cotswold Edge" group of parishes, but it is now (2019) part of the Stroudwater Team Benefice.

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 SO7827105767. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Michael & All Angels Church, Eastington, Stonehouse shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Stonehouse 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 Eastington, Stonehouse, 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 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (null) (verified 2018-11-06)
• A useful overview of Churches, and the chance to enjoy a 'virtual' peal of their bells - A Ringer's Guide to Towers in Gloucestershire (null) (verified 2018-11-18)

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.