St Mary's Church, Dymock

St Mary's Church, Dymock is a Church of England parish church in the center of the village of Dymock in Gloucestershire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

The church of St Mary's

History

The building is mainly Norman and is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086 AD).[2] The tower dates from the 15th century.[3] The church had further Victorian restoration by John Middleton in the 19th century.[1]

The church has been placed on the Historic England Heritage at risk register because of slow deterioration of the stonework of the tower and buttresses.[4][5]

The parish is part of the benefice of Redmarley D'Abitot, Bromesberrow, Pauntley and Upleadon within the Diocese of Gloucester.[6]

Dymock sculptors

Dymock is celebrated as the centre of a mediaeval school of Romanesque sculpture that was first described in detail by George Zarnecki in 1950. It was more fully analysed by the Reverend John Eric Gethyn-Jones, who renamed it after the Dymoch church which contains all of its characteristic motifs. Evidence of the work is also found in other churches within a ten-mile radius.[3]

Architecture

The church consists of a long 12th-century nave and a west tower dating from the 15th century, topped with a short octagonal pyramid spire. It has a south porch, and a south chapel immediately east of it. There is a north chapel not facing the south one, but further to the west. East of the nave is a 12th-century bay that was originally the lower story of a crossing tower.[3][7][1] The tower and octagonal spire include a small octagonal stair turret and is supported by buttresses.[1] The church includes several examples of Romanesque architecture including the doorway and windows of the nave, the stringcourse of the tower and part of the chancel wall.[3]

The west end of the nave is devoted to a display of the Dymock poets, their work and associations.[8] Within the church is a memorial to the men of Dymock who died in World War I and World War II.[9]

References
  1. Historic England. "Church of St Mary (1303073)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  2. "St Mary the Virgin's Church, Dymock". Church Databases. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. "St Mary, Dymock, Gloucestershire · The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland". www.crsbi.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  4. "Church of St Mary, Dymock - Forest of Dean". Heritage at Risk. Historic England. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. "Dymock: St Mary the Virgin". Church Heritage Record. Church of England. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  6. "St Mary the Virgin". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  7. "Home (Index)". dymockchurch.net. Archived from the original on 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  8. "Dymock Poets". Dymock Church. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  9. "St Marys Church Dymock". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

Further reading
  • Crawley-Boevey A. W., The Cartulary and Historical Notes of the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley (Exeter: Privately printed, 1887), p. 159.
  • Gethyn-Jones, J. E., The Dymock School of Sculpture (London and Chichester: Phillimor, 1979). ISBN 085033313X
  • Jones, J. E. G., Dymock down the Ages (1966).
  • Taylor, H. M., and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture (1965).
  • Thurlby, M., The Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture (Eardisley: Logaston, 1999), pp. 20–23 and passim.
  • Verey, D., Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and the Forest of Dean, The Buildings of England (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970; 2nd ed., 1976), pp. 175–77.
  • Victoria County History: Gloucestershire XII. Online text in progress, Dymock, August 2007.
  • Zarnecki, G., Regional Schools of English Sculpture in the Twelfth Century: The Southern School and the Herefordshire School. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1950, pp. 223–28.


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