We have 3 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Alf Beard/John Williams

All Saints Church,
Broad Street, GL5 5LG,
Selsley, Kings Stanley, 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 1862, and we understand it is still open.

Designed by George Frederick Bodley for S.S. [Sir Samuel Stephens] MARLING, All Saints Church is a Grade I Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details.

The early name of the village of Selsley was Stanley's End - the account of the church's consecration, recorded in The Stroud Journal on 28th November 1862, described it as "All Saints, Stanley End, King's Stanley". The name Selsley was adopted in 1863 when a new ecclesiastical parish was created. It derives from the name of a landmark "Selsley Hill", to the south of the village. [Sources: The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp.242-245 (Kings Stanley), and an article by Steve Bown, formerly online at selsleyvillage.freeserve.co.uk]

Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes it as "an edifice of stone in the Early Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, and a fine gabled tower on the north-west, containing 2 bells". The living was then a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Col. Sir Percival S. Marling, and had been held since 1921 by the Rev. Sidney George Bush A.K.C. of King's College London, and of Hatfield Hall, Durham. The saddle-back tower was, according to the above-mentioned Victoria County History account, modelled on that of the church of Marling in the South Tyrol.

Kelly's account also mentions a tablet erected inside the church in 1920 in memory of those who fell in the Great War, 1914-18, and that there are some good stained glass windows. It makes no mention of the notice board in our photograph, which reads:

The Incorporated Society / for Building &c Churches
Granted £200 towards Building / this Church upon Condition that
All the Seats are Free and / Unappropriated.

This was an important notice for its time, since provision of free seating could have been a contentious issue. An increasing population resulted in the sometimes limited free seating in parish churches being stretched to its limits; and provision of more free seating was often opposed by seat-holders, who were renting pews for their exclusive use. In Ashbourne, Derbyshire, the ensuing disturbance, when the Rev. Errington proposed to introduce more free seating in the parish church of St Oswald, led to a schism between him and his parishioners which became known locally as "the great pew battle". This was not resolved until the "Free Church" of St John was opened in 1871.

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 SO8291703811. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• All Saints Church, Selsley, Kings Stanley shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Kings Stanley 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 Selsley, Kings Stanley, 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 Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

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.