Contact web site greatbedwyn.com
The site for the Wiltshire village of Great Bedwyn

Savernake IT

Churches in and around Great Bedwyn

The churches in and around Great Bedwyn are part of the Savernake Team: a grouping of 11 village parishes in beautiful countryside in North East Wiltshire. We are part of the Deanery of Pewsey in the Diocese of Salisbury, England. Here is a link to www.savernaketeam.org.uk

The Bedwyn churches are: St Mary's in Great Bedwyn, St Michael's in Little Bedwyn, St Katharine's in Savernake Forest and St Nicholas' in East Grafton.

Church Services for July 2010

St Mary's St Michael's St Katharine's St Nicholas'
Great Bedwyn Little Bedwyn Savernake Forest East Grafton
July 4th - Fifth Sunday after Trinity 11.00am
Matins
9.30am
Family Service & Baptism
6.00pm
Evening Prayer
11.00am
Holy Communion
July 11th - Sixth Sunday after Trinity

9.30 am

Parish Communion

8.00 am

Holy Communion

11.00am
Matins

Wednesday July 14th 12 noon
Holy Communion
July 18th - Seventh Sunday after Trinity

8.00 am
Holy Communion

9.30am
Family Service

6.00 pm

Evening Prayer

9.30am

Family Service 

& Baptism

11.00 am

Parish Communion

July 25th - Eighth Sunday after Trinity

9.30 am

Parish Communion

8.00 am

Holy Communion

11.00 am
Holy Communion

11.00am
Family Service

St Mary's, Great Bedwyn
The present church of St Mary's was started in 1092 and took about 200 years to build. Beneath the church are the massive remains of a Saxon church begun in 905. The south transept houses the 14th Century tombs of Sir Adam de Stokke and his son, Sir John. In the chancel is a memorial to Edward Seymour, father of King Henry VIII's wife Jane, and later Lord Protector to the young Edward VI. The bells are one of the heaviest "rings" in Wiltshire - the tenor bell weighs over a tonne.
St Mary's Church in Great Bedwyn

St Michael's, Little Bedwyn
St Michael's church was originally a chapel-of-ease for Great Bedwyn, and served the community which had moved down into the valley from the iron-age fort at Chisbury (which has its own near-ruined chapel, St Martin's). The small community straddles the railway and canal. Of particular interest in the church are the differently shaped arches on either side of the nave, and the collection of hand-stitched kneelers. The rear of the church, which also doubles as the village hall, has a map of the parish made for the millennium, with paintings of every building and all the wildlife found in the parish.
St Michael's Church in Little Bedwyn

St Katharine's, Savernake Forest
This "Victorian gem" of a church serves a scattered community in Savernake Forest. It was built in 1861 by the Marchioness of Ailesbury in memory of her mother, to serve the family estate and their household in Tottenham House. The church was severely damaged in an accidental explosion at the end of the Second World War, and was restored to use in 1952 by sealing in the arches of the north aisle, which is now a pleasant meeting room.
St Katharine's Church in Savernake Forest