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Copyright of Alf Beard

St David's Church,
Church Street,
Moreton in Marsh, 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 1295, and we understand it is still open.

There is an excellent account of Church, and Village history on St David's Church, Moreton in Marsh website. It seems there were at least three buildings on the present site. The first was "a simple nave and chancel... certainly in existence by the late 13th century".

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.240-250 (Moreton in Marsh) provides some background to this, arguing that a church was in existence in Moreton by 1295, as there was a graveyard, and "the absence from medieval documents of any reference to the church may be explained by the fact that it was a chapel of ease to Bourton-on-the-Hill". However, both Bourton and Moreton were in the peculiar of Blockley, and "parishioners of Moreton buried at Blockley until 1512 when they were allowed to bury in the churchyard of Moreton".

They also make reference to the second building described on St David's website - "in the 16th century a small embattled tower was built and possibly the whole church was rebuilt at that time as there was a tradition that the church was consecrated in the mid-16th century".

The British Listed Buildings website refers to the third rebuilding in 1858 of "a hall church of 3 naves in Decorated style".

Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes it as "a building of stone, in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north porch and a western tower with pinnacles and lofty spire, 116 feet high, and containing a clock and 8 bells". There is a memorial window in the north aisle to the Rev. Gabriel Stokes, a former curate. In 1891-2 when the church underwent extensive alterations, three galleries were removed, the south aisle was widened, the chancel extended, and a chancel aisle built.

The three galleries referred to relate to east and west galleries, part of alterations paid for by rector Dr Samuel Warneford, in 1820, and galleries on the north and south walls, which replaced Warneford's east gallery, in 1858. The east end of the south aisle became a Lady Chapel in 1927 when a War Memorial altar and reredos of oak were installed.

In 1923 the living was a chapelry, formerly annexed to the rectory of Bourton on the Hill, but separated from that parish in 1887, and annexed to Batsford. The Incumbent in 1923 (since 1887) was the Rev. Spencer John Jones M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford. Today, it is a Benefice which includes the Churches Longborough (St James), Todenham (St Thomas Becket), Batsford (St Mary), and Lower Lemington (St Leonard).

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 SP2061332235. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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

• You may want to visit St David's Church, Moreton in Marsh website for present-day information.
• 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)
• 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.