Church Micro #695 Selsey - All Saints Traditional Cache
Church Micro #695 Selsey - All Saints
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Alongside the Manor House lies Selsley Church, commissioned by the Marling family during the mid-19th century and modelled by Bodley in the French Gothic style. Its stained glass was one of the first commissions undertaken by William Morris and his partners Rossetti, Webb, Ford Madox Brown and Burne-Jones. The design of the church derives from the squires' name. The Church is modelled on one seen in Marlengo (Marling) in the disputed area of the Italian Tyrol.
Despite attempts to enclose the Common at Selsley, it has been vigorously defended over the years. Indeed the first recorded dispute was in the Saxon period, and the threat to enclose the Common in the 19th century met with vocal public outrage. There is one area which did become enclosed, known locally as 'Dead Man's Acre'. The story goes that a man was told that he could have as much land of the common that he could enclose in one day. The effort though, proved too much, and killed him.
The truth of this tale is dubious, as it bears similarities to works of fiction such as Leo Tolstoy's How Much Land Does a Man Need?
Dotted over the Common are the long abandoned remains of quarries once used to supply stone for local building and walling. Lesser hollows are the remains of a medieval soldier's camp - so identified in 1942 by Captain H.S. Gracie. In addition, the grassed-over ways used by the quarry wagons can still be seen. Selsley Common Site of Special Scientific Interest Selsley Common Area of Search Gloucestershire Grid reference SO829030 Interest Biological/Geological Area 39.4 hectare Notification 1966 Natural England website Selsley Common (grid reference SO829030) is a 39.4-hectare (97-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1966.[1] It is a large open expanse and a rich habitat for rare flora and fauna. During the summer, bird song mingles with the sound of cattle as Commoners can, and still do, exercise grazing rights.
The Common is in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and overlies the Jurassic limestone of the Cotswolds. It supports herb-rich calcareous grassland habitat. Leigh’s Quarry, which is in the southern part of the SSSI, is of particular geological significance.
All Saints Church is at the very heart of the English Arts & Crafts Movement.
The distinctive saddleback tower of All Saints rises over a hundred feet to catch the changing Cotswold light on its French Gothic gables: the last of the great Cotswold wool churches, and the first to exhibit work of the craftsman movement.
Built under the patronage of Sir Samuel Stephens Marling, the church was an early commission for G. F. Bodley, a young architect who had trained under Sir George Gilbert Scott.George Bodley had got to know the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in 1858, and it was his promise of commissions that contributed to the establishment of a fine arts design firm by William Morris that included Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and Philip Webb.This remarkable partnership of artists and intellectuals was called upon to design stained glass windows for the new Church. Rose window above the West Door William Morris & Company.
A delightful feature of the church is the series of three large windows along the south side of the nave, which flood the space with light. Uncoloured glass admits this light and contrasts with rich colours in the three triptychs: the Sermon on the Mount by Dante Gabriel Rossetti nearest the altar, St. Paul preaching at Athens in the centre window by William Morris, and Christ Blessing the Children by Edward Burne-Jones in the third window.Capturing afternoon sunshine, the rose window above the west door depicts scenes from the Creation that include a richly coloured Adam and Eve that is considered to be one of the best small scale designs in stained glass by William Morris.
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