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St John the Evangelist's Church,
Elkstone Village,
Elkstone, 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 1160, and we understand it is still open.

St John the Evangelist's Church is a Grade I Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details.

Notable features are the tympanum above the south doorway, which depicts Christ in Majesty with the hand of God above, surrounded with the emblems of the Evangelists and the Agnus Dei, and a hexagonal pulpit, dated 1609.

It also has the distinction of standing on higher ground than any other in the Cotswolds.

Entering the church one gets an impression that the chancel is lit whilst the rest of the church is not. This effect is achieved by windows on either side of the chancel glazed with plain, but slightly yellow tinted glass, allowing the altar area to be flooded with light. A striking feature of the chancel is the carved grotesque faces strapped together at the intersection of the roof vaulting ribs forming a "boss".

The church dates from about 1160. A 14th century porch encloses the South door with the tympanum over the door considered to be one of the finest in the country. Representing Our Lord on a cushioned throne holding the Book of Judgement, with the symbols of the four evangelists and to the left the Agnus Dei.

The font dates from the 15th century. The church also has an intact series of parish registers, which date back to 1592.

The War Memorial, with a dedication To the Glory of God and in Honoured Memory of the Six Men of this Parish who made the Supreme Sacrifice in The Great War 1914-1919 lists the following names:

Edward BLACKWELL.

Charles DEAN.

Henry HARRIS.

Jesse JONES.

Walter LANCHBURY.

Cecil Hugh POPE.

At an earlier date, the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/340/1/9/11) records the number of Free Sittings, and of Other Sittings in the Church was entered as "Sufficient". The number of attendants to morning service on March 30 1851 was "small" (about 30), but the afternoon service was "full", with 43 people attending. The return was completed by the Rector, Edward Ness. [Source: John Williams/Rosemary Lockie]

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 SO9670812292. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St John the Evangelist's Church, Elkstone shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Elkstone 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 Elkstone, 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 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.