All Saints Church, Viney Hill (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Friday, November 19, 2010, 08:09 (5123 days ago) @ mrsbruso

http://www.kenmorse.co.uk/36167/36467.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*

Returning to the Porch we enter the Church and immediately on our left we see the plain stone Font with its heavy oak cover. The copper Ewer at the Font was given by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Johnson.

The church of ALL SAINTS, Viney Hill, begun in 1865 and consecrated in 1867, was built as a memorial to Charles Bathurst (d. 1863) of Lydney Park by his wife Mary and his brother and heir, the Revd. W. H. Bathurst. (fn. 25) In the mid 1830s the Viney Hill area was visited by the curate of Blakeney and the vicar of Awre. (fn. 26) Later Henry Poole organized missions from St. Paul's church, Parkend, and in the early 1850s he built school-chapels between Viney Hill and Oldcroft and at Blakeney Woodside with the help of Charles Bathurst and Edward Machen, deputy surveyor of the Forest. (fn. 27) That between Viney Hill and Oldcroft, which became known as St. Swithin, (fn. 28) was replaced for services by All Saints' church, further east. All Saints was in 1866 assigned a parish taken from that of St. Paul's church and including Blakeney Hill and Yorkley Slade. (fn. 29) The benefice, described as a perpetual curacy (later a vicarage), was given a stipend of £150, of which £100 was secured by an endowment from Mary and W. H. Bathurst, (fn. 30) and a new house north of the church. (fn. 31) The patronage was vested in W. H. Bathurst (fn. 32) and descended with the Lydney Park estate (fn. 33) until 1936 when Viscount Bledisloe gave it to University College, Oxford. (fn. 34)

All Saints' church, built of local red sandstone with grey sandstone dressings, was designed by Ewan Christian (fn. 35) in a late 13th-century style with an apsidal chancel flanked by quadrant chapels and a nave with north transept and south aisle and porch. The north chapel was used as a vestry and the south chapel was converted in the early 20th century as a choir vestry. Of the fittings the organ, in the transept, was bought between 1900 and 1904 to replace another instrument. (fn. 36) The two bells hanging in a bellcot over the chancel were cast in 1867 by Mears & Stainbank. (fn. 37) The plate includes an almsdish donated in 1901 by Charles Bathurst (later Viscount Bledisloe) (fn. 38) and a chalice and paten given in memory of C. R. Williams, vicar 1922-50. (fn. 39) The mission to Blakeney Woodside continued under All Saints' church until its abandonment before 1950. (fn. 40) In 1875 A. D. Pringle, vicar of Blakeney, began holding Sunday services in a former Baptist meeting house at Blakeney Hill. (fn. 41) The building was presumably that used as a mission hall until at least 1901. (fn. 42)

From: 'Forest of Dean: Churches', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 389-396. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23271 Date accessed: 19 November 2010.

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