| Click below to navigate
Home
page
Church
Link
Scheme
Parish
Council
Parish
News
Useful
Links
Contact
web site |
| greatbedwyn.com |
The site for the
Wiltshire village of Great Bedwyn |
| The
Church pages |
 |
We are now part of the
Savernake team of Churches. Here is a link to the team
web site:
www.savernaketeam.org.uk
ST MARY'S, GREAT BEDWYN
ST MICHAEL'S, LITTLE BEDWYN
ST KATHARINE'S, SAVERNAKE FOREST
|
 |
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. |
 |
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
KATHARINE'S
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. |
|
|