The church
St Mary the Virgin is a Grade 1 listed Norman church, dating from 1100, standing in an oval churchyard of Saxon origins. The area is actually the courtyard of the motte and bailey castle which was destroyed in the 14th century, nobody knows why!
Originally the tower was in the centre of the church, but it was made from soft local sandstone which fell down. Rather than rebuilding it the Normans built a new western tower. Look out for the Norman arches supporting the walls and the fine carvings on the eastern arch of chevrons and beak heads, possibly sculptured by a traveling stonemason (known as a journeyman) on his way to Kikpeck where there are similar carvings.
The interior of the church is dominated by Romanesque pillars and contains a flat tomb with a rare example of Lombardic script which is dated to c 1420. This translated means "Pray for the soul of our departed brother in Christ".
The church has some fascinating stone figures, the shapes of three people who died over 700 years ago: Cecilia de Muchegros, the second wife of Robert de Muchegros who died in 1301; and Hawisia, dressed in a long flowing robe, who died in 1353. It is not known who the third figure with a young body and an old head was - possibly a priest.
There is also a screen dating from 1500, the Machen family chapel and some fine stained glass windows by Percy Bacon dating from 1908. The long chancel was also rebuilt in the 13th century and note the wagon-roofed nave.
The churchyard contains many graves of the Machen family, the grave of a girl who was married at 14 and died at 15, as well as an interesting tomb of Charles, the black servant of George Wyrall, which is close to the east window.
In April 2007, the Bells were returned from the repairers and manhandled into the Church. The bell hanger re-hung the four original 1709 bells and the new one made by Rudhalls of Gloucester. St Mary’s is one of the few churches in the country to have an anti-clockwise ring.
The cache
To find the cache, find the answers to the following questions:
Q1: Lych Gate - How old was Marion Merrett when she died? = AB
Q2: Go to Waypoint 1- In which month was Susannah Lerigo born? = C
Q3: How old was she when she died? = D and E
The cache can be found at:
N51 50.(D-C)(B+E)(A-B) W002 36.(A-C)(D+C)(A-D-E)
*** Congratulations FTF The Coachman's Pair ***
****************** ********************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
****************** *******************