Church of St Mary Magdalen is a Grade II* listed building in the Forest of Dean local planning authority area, England. First listed on 7 August 1954. Church.

Church of St Mary Magdalen

WRENN ID
scattered-outpost-jay
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Forest of Dean
Constituency
Forest of Dean MP: Matt Bishop (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
7 August 1954
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Mary Magdalen, Hewelsfield and Brockweir
OS grid reference
SO 567 021
Coordinates
51.71627, -2.62729
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Mary Magdalen is an Anglican parish church located in Hewelsfield. It dates from the 12th, 13th, 16th, and 19th centuries and features a nave, north aisle, south porch, central tower, chancel, and north transept. The church is constructed of sandstone with slate roofs.

The nave has a long, swept-down roof on both sides, and the porch has a coped gable. The inner door is early English, accompanied by part 19th-century doors with strap hinges. Above the door is a 12th-century image niche. To the right of the porch are a 19th-century two-light cusped lancet window and a three-light window with two quatrefoils. The squat tower has a pyramid roof supported by a Norman corbel table, a louvred lancet above a small cusped lancet, and a deep buttress with three offsets to the right.

The chancel features a coped gable with a cross, a cusped lancet, and a two-light cusped window with a carved roundel flanking a blocked priest's door. The east end has a 12th-century cusped two-light window with quatrefoil in pale tracery. To the north of the chancel is a 15th or 16th-century two-light cusped window with a square head. The east wall of the transept has a two-light cusped window from the 14th century, while the west wall contains a pointed door. The north aisle has three very small lancets, one of which is a 13th-century window cut from a single stone. The west end features a small rectangular light with a chamfered surround and a two-light cusped window from the 14th century.

Inside, the church has a four-bay nave with a transitional arcade of double chamfered pointed arches on round columns, leading to a 19th-century roof. There are two quatrefoil openings in the wall to the chancel, and the north aisle has a broad pointed arch leading to the transept. The crossing has a flat beam ceiling from the 19th century, a low, steep pointed arch to the north transept, and a 14th-century ogee-head recess in its east respond. The arches to the east and west are set in very thick walls with broad chamfers. The chancel was restored in the 19th century and features a facetted ceiling. The north transept has a plaster barrel vault and two marble wall tablets from the 18th century. At the time of the survey in November 1983, there were two lofty narrow benefactors' boards and one square board standing in the nave.

Local climate

Church of St Mary Magdalen receives an average of 810 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 50% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 39 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 75% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Boundary Wall, Lych Gate and Stiles to Churchyard to Church of St Mary Magdalen Grade II 42 m
  2. Hewelsfield Court Grade II 197 m
  3. Touchway Barn Grade II 650 m
  4. Milestone at Grid Reference 562028 Grade II 878 m
  5. Pair of Lime Kilns in Hewelsfield Cliff Wood Grade II 1.0 km
  6. Aylesmore Court Grade II 1.0 km
  7. Ghyll House Farmhouse Grade II 1.4 km
  8. Severn View Farmhouse Grade II 1.9 km
  9. Rodmore Farmhouse Grade II 1.9 km
  10. Milestone at Grid Reference So 559 001 Grade II 2.2 km