Campbells, Luggs & Blackwells of Nelson, PA

[The text and illustrations below are from a brochure I picked up at Holy Cross (or Holy Rood) Church in Avening, Gloucestershire, when my wife Mary and I visited there in 2000. It's an incredible feeling, being in this building built on orders of Wm. the Conqueror's wife, Queen Matilda. Just feeling all those centuries since it's Norman construction become palpable. And knowing that it's where Ann Clinch Campbell was christened and where her parents, Thomas Clinch and Sarah Lugg, were married. And the parish where many of our Blackwells came from. But some of the oral histories distorted the name to "Haven Parish". Avening still has a pub once owned and operated by Thomas' brother-in-law, Richard Essex. I've transcribed the original text and aded some linkes to augment it.---Bill Thompson, 2012]

GUIDE TO AVENING CHURCH

Gloucestershire

HISTORICAL NOTES

Ancient tombs with port-hole windows, unearthed in 1809 in a field called the Norn and removed to the Glebe field near the Old Quarries entrance, show that Avening was inhabited 3,000 years before Christ.

Coins and broken pottery found from time to time in fields and gardens testify to the Roman occupation of this Parish.

The old stone coffin [photo] outside the porch is evidence of the extensive burial ground before the Conquest, and that being so, perhaps there was a Saxon Church, of which the carved stones in the wall near the font, said to bear Saxon designs, may be the sole surviving remains.

In Norman times Avening was a favorite resort of royalty, for the manor came into the hands of William I and the story leading up the building of the Church is closely linked with a royal romance.

The Doomsday book tells of a hawk-mews at Avening Court, which belonged, before the Conquest, to Brittric [a Clinch- wbt]. This young man, Lord of Gloucester who also held an estate at Tewksbury, was sent by Edward the Confessor on an embassy to Baldwin, Count of Flanders, where he met Matilda, who was later to become the wife of the Conqueror.

Matilda fell in love with him, but to her great disappointment he rejected her approaches and William, Duke of Normandy, eventually won her hand.

Shortly after their accession she revengefully caused the King to dispossess Brittric of the manor of Avening and other estates and throw him into prison in Worcester, where he died. It is said that in her remorse for the persecution of Brittric she entirely build Avening Church, that the masses might be said for his soul. While in residence at Avening Court the king and queen superintended the the building operations. At the consecration on Holy Cross Day, September 14th 1080 (some say it was as early as 1070), the queen gave a feast to the builders, of boar's head, shot in the forest, and the Avening Feast is still celebrated on "Pig Face Day".

A charter records that in 1082, "William and Matilda endowed the Abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen, with the manors of Avening, Nailsworth and other lands, for the good of their souls." They had already built and endowed two religious communities at Caen, and of the one, "the Abbey aux Dames," Matilda's daughter was the first nun and second abbess.

Caen retained the Avening endowments for 333 years, during which time the Church was served by French priests sent here from Caen. The Church is dedicated to the Holy Rood, or Cross, St. Mary the Virgin being the patron saint.

The Registers date from 1557. A list of Rectors dating from 1251 is in the Church. Many of them were famous; one afterwards became Bishop of St. David's, and another was Bishop of Gloucester. Another point of interest is that the present priest in charge, The Reverend Celia Carter, was one of the first group of ordained women to be priested in the Church of England in May 1994 in Gloucester Cathedral and was the first non-stipendary woman priests to be in charge of a parish. The parishes of Avening and Cherington were united in one benefice in 1975.

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These notes, written by Canon Cooper, a former rector, who loved this church dearly, were reviewed by his successors, Cannon Richards and Rev'd. R. E. Gleed. Exhibits from the Museum are now displayed in the Museum in Cirencester.

TAKE THIS GUIDE ROUND WITH YOU

Here is one of the most interesting and best preserved ancient churches in the Cotswolds. It has great attraction for archaeologists and much admired by visitors from all parts.

Dedicated to the Holy Rood, or Cross, in 1080, it has had additions and alterations made in the following centuries in successive architectural styles as can be seen from the plan and models in the church.

The Main Doorway as you enter by the main porch notice the handsome Norman doorway with characteristic dog-tooth moulding similar to the contemporary arches in Gloucester Cathedral. This arch is supported by two twisted pillars of unusual Norman design, but similar to those in Durham Cathedral. A handsome perpendicular doorway has been skillfully blended with this Norman work. To this early English porch a parvise, or upper priest's chamber was added in the 15th century. It was approached by an outside stairway, now removed, and another doorway (now blocked) probably led to the Rood loft. The floor was recently removed to expose the Norman arch.

The Nave As you enter you stand in the original Norman Church consisting of nave, tower, and half of the present chancel. On the north side is a small Norman aisle, the roof of which once gave access from an outside staircase to the Rood loft, and later to a gallery running along the north and west of the nave but removed in 1902. The figures were removed at the Reformation, and the loft in 1829.

Altars On the east wall of the nave are to be seen two small chevron arches. One, on the left, is incomplete. But here once stood two parish altars. On the right an oak Commonwealth table, formerly used in the chancel, bears the date 1657. The handsome gift cross is a memorial to a pious parishioner, a gilt-framed account of whom stands in the piscina.

Tower The massive tower is an example of pure Norman work except for the top storey, which was added late in the 14th century. The two high splayed windows are interesting and were once, of course, outer windows. There is a similarmone blocked up in the north of the choir. There are six bells in the tower. In the north-west pier of the tower a doorway is seen which gave access to an Anchorite cell of which little is known.

Transepts The north and south walls to the tower were pierced when the two Early English transepts were added to the Church. That in the north is known at the Bridges' aisle, after Henry Bridges, whose effigy is seen on his monument. He was an interesting character, having been a pirate, smuggler and highwayman, but on being pardoned by James I, he settled down in Avening. The south transept, or Driver's aisle, so called from the eloborate monuments, is now used as an organ chamber.

Chapel In the outside angle, between the north side and the choir, there once stood a Lady Chapel. The door opening into it from the choir is now blocked up. The eastern foundations and the piscina are still to be seen outside. Pieces of molten metal from the site are probably evidence of its destruction by fire. It is thought that the extension of the chancel was made to replace this chapel.

Chancel The chief features to be admired there is the fine groined stone roof, the vaulting ribs of which, in the eastern portion, were skilfully made to harmonise with the earlier vault when the Norman part of the choir was extended eastward. The ribs carry two fine carved bosses. Several past Rectors lie buried beneath the floor and numerous vaults exist under the Church. The pulpit, which originally stood in Shewsbury Abbey, was given by Mr. Polllack.

Windows The original windows have everywhere been replaced by later stonework between the 13th and 16th centuries. All the glass is modern and the somewhat uncommon subjects and treatment deserve attention [photo1; photo2].

Fonts The present font is modern and replaced an earlier one now in the museum but, built into the wall by the main door, are two fragments considered to be part of the original Norman font. The six figures may represent the Apostles, as these are commonly used for decoration at the time. The smaller fragment was thought by Fosbury to be Adam and Eve, often associated with the original sin and baptism.