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Copyright of Alf Beard

St Andrew's Church,
Church Lane,
Woolaston, 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 1131, and we understand it is still open.

According to the British Listed Buildings St Andrew's church was in the grant of Tintern Abbey from 1131. It stands in a roughly circular churchyard, suggesting a very early site development. <p> Kelly's Directory of 1923 describes it as "an ancient building of stone in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south porch, organ chamber, and a massive embattled (western) tower containing 5 bells. The arcade, dividing the nave and aisle, has double shafts of polished marble, with foliated capitals". The living was then a rectory, with the chapelry of Alvington and the rectory of Lancaut annexed.

Mike Salter, in his booklet Parish Churches of The Forest of Dean (1990), observes that the first mention of the church is in 1131 (as above); and by the 13th century it had become cruciform, with a tower on the north side of the nave, and a chapel on the south side. This in fact reflects its present appearance, so Kelly's description is not entirely accurate. The chapel was absorbed into a south aisle built in 1829 by John Briggs, and didn't become a chapel again until 1954, but the tower, rebuilt in the early 19th century, retained its position at the north east end of the nave, so cannot really be described as a "western" tower.

He also mentions fittings transferred from other churches - the pulpit, of c.1750, which was brought from Claycoton in Northamptonshire in 1966; and the screen of c.1860 which was brought from the Church of the Venerable Bede, in Sunderland.

The church was restored in 1859 by Henry Morgan of Tidenham. The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 10: Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds (1972), pp.117-118 (Woolaston - Nonconformity) records that a gallery was removed from the church that year, and transferred to the Bible Christian Chapel at Woodside.

At Plusterwine, formerly a hamlet in the parish, are remains of a Roman camp. The name of the place is said to be derived from the Celtic "Plwy-ystarwain" - "the hamlet of the gushing forth". Plusterwine House was formerly the residence of the Woodroffe family, who - it is said - held it for the king during the Civil War. Near the existing house stand the remains of a former, surrounded with a still-traceable moat, and traces of a "large and good fireplace".

Kelly's Directory also tells a rather fanciful story about a piece of water formerly by the roadside near the church, known as 'The Wyvern's pond', "the name being probably connected with a forgotten legend of some fabulous monster"....

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 ST5867899344. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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