Parish Church Of St Edward

The Parish Church of St Edward has Saxon origins, with Norman elements in the nave, and was extended in the 13th and 14th centuries. A tower and clerestory were added in the 15th century, with restoration occurring in the 17th and 19th centuries, including work in 1873 by J. L. Pearson. The church is cruciform, comprised of irregular compartments including a four-bay nave with north and south porches, wide aisles, a north transept, a tower within the south transept, and a three-bay chancel with a vestry and organ chamber. It is constructed of rubble with a Cotswold stone roof, with the tower and parapets in ashlar, except for the chancel. A 15th-century Sanctus bell-cote is present.

The four-stage tower is a prominent landmark, featuring corner buttresses to the first two stages and a rectangular turret to the southwest. It has an embattled and panelled parapet with pinnacles and a string course with gargoyles. A gabled south porch is present. The shallow 17th-century north porch obscures a moulded 13th-century north door. There are three late Perpendicular windows and one small 13th-century lancet in the north aisle, and 14th-century tracery in the south aisle. Tall 14th-century windows, restored, are located in the chancel, and a flowing east window was designed by Pearson. A good 14th-century reticulated west window features an ogee arch terminating in a canopied niche. The north transept, likely dating to the 13th century, retains two lancets flanking a 15th-century east window. Later Tudor windows are found to the north of the north transept and at the west of the aisles. The clerestory contains square-headed windows with stilted drip moulds. Norman elements are limited to three buttresses and some reset chip-carved string at the west end.

The interior features arcades principally from the 13th century, incorporating 12th-century components, though they are not uniform. The north transept is divided from the north aisle by a double arcade. The chancel arch is plain and semi-circular, with no springing. The chancel has a 14th-century truss-rafter roof. A Decorated piscina and part of a sedilia, retaining traces of colour, are located under the first south window of the chancel. A blocked organ chamber arch contains two medieval tiles set within it, excavated at the west end. A late 16th-century "goblet" font is also present. The nave has a 19th-century roof, but one of the 15th-century corbels supporting the beam arms is carved with the image of John Weston, rector from 1416 to 1438. Stained glass (by Wailes and String) and monuments are detailed in "Buildings of England; Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds" (Pevsner/Verey). Further information can be found in the Victoria County History of Gloucestershire, Volume VI.