All of this fine work was done by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, who were one of Victorian England’s leading firms when it came to stained glass production and church restoration.
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The intensity and vividness of the colours in this window were achieved through the emulation of medieval techniques.
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Finally, there’s that glistening stained glass window, which depicts the Crucifixion.
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Literally meaning ‘trick of the eye’, 'trompe l'oeil’ is a painterly optical illusion that makes two-dimensional depictions seem three-dimensional - in other words, making them seem real.
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Then, there’s the shallow single sedilia with its painted curtaining. This is a splendid example of 'trompe l'oeil’.
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Even the floor was enriched with decoration, laid with beautiful encaustic tiles. These are a type of durable tile that has multicoloured patterning - an effect created by inlaying different coloured clays into the body of the tile.
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This stencilling features a cacophony of traditional Christian symbols, including vines, fleur-de-lys, crowns, and stars.
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The most impactful element of this commemorative scheme of decoration is the fine floor-to-ceiling stencilling.
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Fowle died in 1876, passing away at the grand age of 85, and then the chancel of this Wilshire church was sumptuously decorated in his memory.
3/11
Fulwar William Fowle was rector of Allington parish for an incredible 60 years. During his lengthy rectorship, Allington church was almost entirely rebuilt by priest-architect Father William Grey.
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A remarkable memorial for a remarkable man. The chancel of St John the Baptist's church in Allington was gloriously decorated in the late 19th century to commemorate the long-standing rector Fulwar William Fowle.
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To find out more about gift membership, please follow this link: friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/become-a-fri...
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Thus, for this coming Mothers Day you could purchase your mother gift membership of the Friends of Friendless Churches to help save historic churches in England and Wales.
7/8
We have been caring for St Cadoc’s Llangattock-Vibon-Avel for the past seven years. We have only been able to keep this church open for visitors and preserved for future generations thanks to the support of our members.
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Although a medieval structure, St Cadoc’s was restored in the 19th century and has an impressive collection of Victorian stained glass windows.
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In the early medieval period, St Cadoc’s, Llangattock-Vibon-Avel was a ‘mother’ church or ‘clas’ church at the centre of a large community, and one of the most important churches in the area.
4/8
A person’s ‘mother church’ is typically regarded as the church in which they were baptised and, traditionally, people would visit their mother church on the fourth Sunday of Lent - Mothering Sunday.
3/8
Traditionally, in Britain, Mothers Day (originally called Mothering Sunday) was all about one’s ‘mother church’ rather than one’s birth mother.
2/8
Next Sunday is Mothers Day. But did you know that this tradition has a church related origin?
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For the past two decades, we have been able to look after this church with the help of our local volunteers and the oil refinery. Then, in 2022-23, we were able to carry out further repairs to the windows, roof and masonry thanks to a grant from Cadw.
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Although the oil refinery did pay for the repairs to the church, by 2004, St Decumanus’s had to close. However, thankfully, in 2005, we took this handsome Gothic church into our care.
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Therefore, St Decumanus’s had become a church without a village. This medieval structure that had once been at the heart of a local community was now left isolated.
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Fearing for their safety and receiving payments from the refinery, most of the residents left Rhoscrowther and their houses were then demolished.
4/7
Then, in the early 1990s, there was a catastrophic explosion at the refinery, damaging houses in the village and St Decumanus’s church.
3/7
In the 1960s, the quiet Pembrokeshire village of Rhoscrowther gained a rather unsightly neighbour, when an enormous oil refinery was built less than 500 meters from the village centre.
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The church of St Decumanus is one of only a handful of surviving buildings in Rhoscrowther, with much of the medieval village consumed by this church’s overwhelmingly large industrial neighbour.
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But, just over a century later, St Peter's, Llancillo once again faced the prospect of closure.
However, this time, dereliction wasn’t on the cards because, in 2007, we took this remote gem of a church into our care.
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Thankfully, Godsell’s restoration was done with a light touch, preserving much of the medieval fabric, the precious 17th-century pulpit, and the 18th-century memorials that hang on the bare stone walls of this isolated church.
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However, against the advice of the local bishop, Revd Robert Whinerey, set up a restoration fund and St Peter’s was successfully restored by architect G.H. Godsell in 1896.
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In the late Victorian period, this Norman church, built in the late 11th and early 12th century, had become almost entirely derelict.
The south wall of the church had collapsed and sheep wandered freely around the nave.
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📷 The interior in the late 19th century
