St Kenelm's Church, Sapperton, Gloucestershire facts for kids
St Kenelm's Church is a very old and special church. It is located in a village called Sapperton in Gloucestershire, England. This church is now looked after by The Churches Conservation Trust. It is considered a Grade I listed building. This means it is a very important historic building. The churchyard also has some interesting graves.
Contents
History of St Kenelm's Church
How Old Is It?
St Kenelm's Church was first built a long, long time ago. It started in the early 1100s. Some parts of the original church can still be seen today. The main tower and the roofs were built in the 1300s. The church was mostly rebuilt in the early 1700s. This was done by the Atkyns family.
The church is named after a saint called Saint Kenelm. In 2016, the church became "redundant." This means it was no longer used for regular church services. Instead, it became the 350th church to be cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust. This trust helps protect important old churches.
Church Architecture
Outside the Church
St Kenelm's Church is built from strong, rough stone. The main part of the church and the south side are made of smoother stone. It has a roof made of Cotswold stone-slate. The roof has pointed ends called gables. These gables have stone crosses on top.
The church has a shape like a cross when you look down from above. This is called a cruciform plan. The tower is in the middle, just east of the cross arms. The tower has two levels. It has openings for bells with special three-leaf shapes. On top of the tower is a pointed roof called a broach spire and a weathervane.
The south side of the church has two gables. It also has a fancy entrance doorway. The windows in the main part of the church are round at the top. Some of these windows still have their original greenish glass from the early 1700s.
Inside the Church
The tower inside the church is held up by four arches. These arches were built in the 1300s. The font, which is a basin used for baptisms, is in the south porch. It dates back to the 1400s.
You can see amazing carved wooden seats and wall panels inside. These special pieces came from the dining room of Sapperton Park. That house was taken down around 1730.
The church also has a wonderful collection of monuments. In the north part of the church, there is a large tomb for Sir Henry Poole. He passed away in 1616. His tomb shows marble statues of him and his family kneeling. There is also a stone statue of a knight lying down. This statue is on the east wall of the north part of the church.
In the south part of the church, there is a big monument for Sir Robert Atkyns. He was a historian who wrote about Gloucestershire. He passed away in 1711.
Church Cemetery
Famous Graves
Near the south wall of the church is the grave of Rebekah Mason. She was the first wife of the astronomer Charles Mason. He passed away in 1787. Charles Mason, along with Jeremiah Dixon, helped map out a border. This border solved a land disagreement between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
Later, after Pennsylvania made slavery illegal, this border became very important. It was known as the Mason–Dixon line. It separated the states where slavery was allowed from those where it was not.
Sapperton village was also closely connected to the Arts & Crafts movement. This was a special time when people focused on making beautiful things by hand. The cemetery has the graves of some important people from this movement. These include Ernest Gimson and Ernest and Sidney Barnsley. They were famous furniture makers and leaders of the movement. Ernest Barnsley also designed the nearby village hall. Another important person buried here is Emery Walker. He was a well-known printer and worked with William Morris, another leader of the Arts & Crafts movement.
