ST MARY’S CHURCH, NEWENT
St Mary’s church holds a very interesting past. The churchyard site was an ancient burial ground going back to Anglo-Saxon times, confirmed by the discovery of a buried Celtic cross, dating back to approximately 750AD, which now sits proudly in the entrance porch.
By 1080 Benedictine monks from St Mary’s Abbey, at Cormeilles, in Normandy, had arrived, establishing the first Norman church on site (part of the building we see today) and Newent was recorded in the Domesday Book.
The church was enlarged in 1260 and 1361 with the 65 ft. tower being added soon after. Not satisfied with the height, an 88 ft. steeple was also added. 300 years later a severe storm blew the spire over and it crashed to the ground.
Because of continued weather erosion the spire has had to be rebuilt several times since. In 1674 a heavy fall of snow resulted in the church roof also collapsing. Newent carpenter Edward Taylor, an understudy of Sir Christopher Wren, rebuilt it without the original centre pillars allowing Canon Wood to add the large wooden ceiling that you see today. The craftsmanship shouldn’t be underestimated as it still holds the record for being the largest unsupported wooden ceiling in the country!
The church also lays claim to having a church organ which is truly unique. Built by local craftsman Thomas Warne in 1737 it was credited as being
“Sweet and compleat, and thought to be as good as any of that kind”.
Quite an achievement considering he had no training, instruction or direction and it was the first one he’d ever built.
Every Thursday the local bell ringers practice with the church’s eight bells which are in demand regularly for weddings and special services. The church opens up the bell tower on occasions to give demonstrations. Mr C remembers when there were only six bells in Newent prior to augmentation in 1983. He has rung there on numerous occasions over the years.
As an aside, Mrs C and I had the fortune to visit the Abbaye de Cormeilles in 1979 when we were both Venture Scouts. We were both founder members of the Abbey de Cormeilles Venture Scout Unit, Aston Ingham that was set up by my late uncle. Aston Ingham also has a connection with the Abbey. There is little to see at the site now as the abbey had fallen into disrepair by the C15th. In the C18th the Abbey was supressed and over the ensuing centuries the Abbey has been almost completely destroyed.
The Cache
The listed co-ordinates should have you standing in front of the main entrance at the base of the tower. Please be respectful of the surroundings and all answers should be attained by using the footpaths, thank you.
To find the location of the final, answer the following questions by walking anticlockwise around the church. Starting on the:
South side:
Qu1: To the right of the main entrance are some slab-graves with green plaques on them. How many = A
Qu2: On the black and white South Porch is a plaque. The fourth digit of the year of renovation = B
Move round to the East end:
Qu3: Looking up at the large and ornate East Window, the number of near-circular (they are pointed top and bottom) windows that run across about halfway up = C
Qu4: Below the East Window is an OS Flush Bracket. The middle number = D
Move round to the North side:
Qu5: Looking at the gate across the doorway, the number of spear heads across the middle of the gate = E
A little further along,
Qu6: The gutter hoppers are cast with a date. The fourth digit of the year = F
Move round to the West end:
Qu7: Looking at the centre buttress you will see some carved ‘graffiti’. HRG inscribed here in 192G
Qu8: The number of glazed windows on this side of the tower = H
Checksum = 36
N51 (E-G)(F+G).(E+H)(D-G)(B+G) W002 (E/B)(C-F).(G-F)(C-B)(B-H)
The cache is a magnetic micro, please rehide carefully.
Many thanks to Newent Town Council for allowing this cache to be placed.
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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@gmail.co.uk.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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