We have 5 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Alf Beard/Phil Draper
Church Crawler's
Flickr site

St Leonard's Church,
Tortworth Road,
Tortworth, 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.

The Little Avon River passes through Tortworth parish, connecting it with Charfield to the south west, and Stone to the north west. According to Kelly's Directory of 1923, the Church of St Leonard is "a building of stone in the Late Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north porch and a fine embattled western tower with lofty pinnacles, containing 6 bells. At the east end of the south aisle are several modern monuments, in the Cinque-Cento style, belonging to the Throckmorton family, former lords of the manor... It was entirely rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in the year 1875"

"In the churchyard is an arched stone recess with seat, surmounted by the Ducie arms, erected as a memorial to Julia, Countess of Ducie, who died in 1895. There is also an ancient stone cross, restored by a former rector. On the south wall is a tablet of Hopton Wood stone, erected to the memory of the men of this parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18".

"In this parish stands the 'Tortworth Chestnut', a famous boundary tree, the original girth of which was 60 feet; it now measures 57 feet, being much decayed on the west side... it is mentioned by Sir Robert Atkyns, and also in Evelyn's 'Sylvia', as a famous tree in the reign of King Stephen".

In the park belonging to Tortworth Court, on a hill overlooking there is a Roman camp, known as the "Bloody Acre"... remains of a vineyard, of uncertain date, are to be seen on the south side of the hill below the camp.

Tortworth Court was built between 1848 and 1853 from designs by S.S. Teulon of London, for the 2nd Earl of Ducie. It is now Leyhill Prison Officers' Training School, and Grade II Listed. [Sources: Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire (1923), and the British Listed Buildings website]

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 ST7043293336. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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