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Copyright of John Williams

All Saints Church,
Church Road,
Longhope, 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 tells us that Longford is "a village and parish, on the high road from Gloucester to Mitcheldean, Coleford and Ross, with a station on the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester section of the Great Western railway, situated in the centre of the parish". It is 6 miles north from Newnham, 9 west from Gloucester and 125 from London, in the Forest of Dean division of the county, hundred of the Duchy of Lancaster, union of Westbury-on-Severn, county court district of Newnham, petty sessional division of Little Dean, rural deanery of North Forest and archdeaconry of Gloucester. All Saints Church is "an ancient cruciform edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, south porch and an embattled western tower, with finials, containing 6 bells". The stained east window, erected in 1861, is a memorial to the Rev. Vernon George Guise, a former vicar, d. 10 March 1861, and the south window, inserted in 1911, is to the memory of Thomas Miller and his wife and sister. A new organ was erected in 1893, and rebuilt in 1912, the cost defrayed by Miss Constance Miller. The parish records date from 1693.

"May Hill", which rises to a height of 973 feet above sea level "and commands some magnificent views", is within this parish. Part of it has been enclosed, but 4 acres of it were retained for public use and vested in the Parish Council. In 1897, in order to secure the site, an acre of it was planted with trees as a memorial to the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/334/2/7/13) for the "Parish Church of Longhope - All Saints" records that there were 210 free sittings, and 140 "other" sittings. The estimated attendance on March 30th was 190 in the morning, and 100 in the afternoon, with 67 and 66 Sunday Scholars respectively. The average attendance was lower - 70 in the mornings and 120 in the afternoon, with 70 Sunday Scholars attending both in the morning and afternoon. The return was completed by the Curate, Walter Henry Hill ("W.H. Hill, Longhope, Gloucester"), seemingly a conscientious cleric, since he sees fit to draw attention to the discrepancy in attendance - during a period previous to December last owing to the ill health of the Incumbent, recently deceased, the average attendance was scarcely more than 40 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon. Since that time the congregation has nearly doubled"

There is more about All Saints Church, which is Grade II Listed, on the British Listed Buildings website.

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 SO6845619793. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• All Saints Church, Longhope shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Longhope 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 Longhope, 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.