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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Warwickshire

by Peter Kessler & Aidan MacRae Thomson, 18 April 2010

South Warwickshire Part 2: Churches of Wolverton, Langley & Claverdon

St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin, Wolverton, is on the eastern side of the Wolverton Road in this hamlet near Claverdon, which was known as Wolverdington until the middle of the nineteenth century. The church existed by the thirteenth century and may have been Norman in its earliest incarnation. Following the Dissolution, the advowson was removed from St Mary's, Warwick, and given to the local manor, before being presented to the Church of England in 1754.

St Mary the Virgin

Inside the church, there are broken joints in the masonry where the nave joins the chapel. The nave was built in the second half of the thirteenth century and the chancel was added or lengthened early in the fourteenth century. Some remodelling took place at the west end, probably late in the fourteenth century, to support the bell turret or an earlier bellcote. The two bells are apparently inaccessible; the original has no inscription, the second is by T Rudhall, 1771.

St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin, Langley, is on the eastern side of Ford Lane, opposite a minor lane. Langley is more a scattered group of houses than a village. It falls within the parish of Claverdon, to the north, while its church is a tiny brick-built Victorian building comprising a short nave with a three-sided apse, or chancel. Until it opened, Langley's parishioners had to travel to Claverdon. It was only in 1925 that the parish of Wolverton, which includes Langley, was created.

St Mary the Virgin

The parish initially fell under Richard of Hatton until about 1150, when it was gifted to the Abbey of St Florent, Samur, and its cell, the Priory of Monmouth. The interior of St Mary's shows the contrasting colours and surfaces of the different elements of the simple interior. All the windows are glazed with geometric patterns in tinted textured glass, excepting one very striking stained glass window on the south side which was produced by by Birmingham School of Art.

St Michael & All Angels

St Michael & All Angels, Claverdon, is between Church Road and St Michael's Road on the eastern side of the village. Much of the early church building dates to the fourteenth century, but a church has been here since at least 1208. By the middle of the 1200s the advowson had fallen come into the hands of the archdeacon of Worcester, and it has remained so ever since. The striking tower was added in the fifteenth century, standing prominently on its escarpment.

St Michael & All Angels

The tower was built of large ashlar masonry externally and of squared rubble or rough ashlar inside. The remainder of the church is mainly a rebuild of the 1800s (in fact two rebuilds were undertaken in the same century), which incorporated some older features. The south aisle was added in 1830, and in 1877-1878 the north aisle was added and the nave was rebuilt, along with various other work. The tower was restored in 1930, and contains a ring of six bells.

All photos on this page kindly contributed by Aidan McRae Thomson.

 

 

     
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