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Copyright of Alf Beard

St Peter's Church,
Rendcombe Village,
Rendcombe, 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 16th century, and we understand it is still open.

St Peter's Church is a Grade I Listed Building. The British Listed Buildings says it was entirely rebuilt in the early 16th century by Sir Edmund Tame of Fairford. Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes the building as "a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 6 bells. The font dates from the 14th century, and is enriched with panel work and figures, and the oak rood screen is in perfect preservation; indications of the rood loft appear in the north wall of the nave. The east and north windows are stained, and in the chancel are several handsome mural monuments to the Berkeley family, who once resided at Rendcombe Park. On the apex of the gable, immediately over the east window, is a small canopied crucifix, belonging either to a more ancient church, portions of which may still be seen built into the north wall, or to the cross which once stood in the church, and of which the basement of three steps and the stone pediment of the shaft still remain".

This account is apparently not entirely correct. The above mentioned British Listed Buildings website records two fonts, neither of which is 14th century. One is an 11th century tub-shaped stone font inside the south door (reputedly brought from Elmore by the Guise family) decorated with an arcade containing eleven figures representing the apostles, and a chalice-shaped stone font of the 18th century, at the west end of the nave.

The site also notes that St Peter's was entirely rebuilt in the early 16th century by Sir Edmund Tame of Fairford. It notes a close relationship between it and St Mary the Virgin's Church, Fairford, which was built by John Tame, Sir Edmund's father.

On the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/340/1/11/14), the return was completed by the Rector, Joseph Pitt. He noted that there were 24 Free Sittings, and 14 Other Sittings, but must have felt obliged to explain that the average number of attendees at morning and afternoon service was 100, since he included the following remarks: "In making the above return respecting the sittings I allude to the number of Pews - each Pew wd contain 5 people".

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 SP0186009786. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Peter's Church, Rendcombe shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Rendcombe 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 Rendcombe, 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.