St. Katharine's, a history and guide

The Church is dedicated to St. Katharine or the Holy Trinity. The figure of St. Katharine with the wheel appears in the fourteenth century painted glass in a window in the south aisle, and a figure representative of the Holy Ghost is seen in a similar window in the north aisle.

Although the Church is small, seating just 90 people, its antiquity, history and interesting detail give it added significance. The architecture is essentially perpendicular and later additions and developments have continued this style.

From its early beginnings in the 12th or 13th century, the church has undergone significant change. The landmarks in its development are:

Church Interior
The Church door opens into the nave which has north and south aisles separated off by arcading to the left and right. The nave leads between the lectern and pulpit through a large arch to the chancel and the fine east window. To the north of the chancel, behind a curtain, is the vestry.

East Window
The east window is filled with beautiful stained glass by Morris & Co, and is very similar to a much larger one in Oxford Cathedral by the same designer. The figure of St. Katharine occupies the central light, and on either side are figures representing angels. The angel on to the left has a portion of the wheel, and the one on the right holds the rope by which the saint is raised to heaven. Underneath the window is an inscription, “To the glory of God, and in memory of Francis Clayton, of this parish, born 1739, erected by his great-grandson, Francis Corder Clayton, of Birmingham, 1912.” The Bishop of Gloucester dedicated the window in November 1912.

15th Century Carved Benches
The benches in the chancel are 15th century Jacobean carved oak with some fine 'Guilloche' and gothic carving.

Arts and Crafts Features
The early 20th century renovations to the church were strongly influenced by the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. The movement promoted a social order based on a strong work ethic coupled with respect for craftsmen as accomplished professional exponents of their art. Arts and Crafts designs are characterised by their elegance, appropriate use of quality materials and functional simplicity.
The Arts and Crafts features are the east window, altar, altar rails, pulpit, pews and the Church door.

Incised Alabaster Slab
In the south wall of the Chancel is a large 16th century incised alabaster slab that was moved from the floor and built into its present position for preservation, probably in the 18th century. It is considerably worn in places, but the figures of a man between his two wives are just discernible with an inscription in old Church text around the margin. Bigland (1790) recorded this as:
“Hic jacent corpora Johannis Daston Armigeri, et Catherinæ et Eleonoræ uxorum ejus dem qui quidem Johannis obijt XXIII. die mensis Augusti Anno Dom MoCCCCCXXXII. et Catherinæ obijt XIII. Octobr Anno Dom MoCCCCCXVII. et Eleonoræ obijt XX die Febr. Anno Dom MoCCCCCXXXII. Animabus proprietur Deus. Amen.”
Which translated reads:
“Here lie the bodies of John Daston gentleman and Katherine and Eleanor his wives, which John died the 23rd of August 1532 and Katherine died the 13th of October 1517, and Eleanor died the 20th of February 1532. Their souls are with God. Amen.”
John Daston is dressed as a country gentleman of the period. The two ladies are dressed in close fitting, graceful gowns, with Tudor hoods and large, flat collars. The garments are a marked contrast to the hooped voluminous skirts, and starched ruffs normally associated with the dress of Elizabeth I’s reign.
Incised slabs only remained in fashion for about a century and are not common.

The Savage Brass
On the south wall of the chancel is a very interesting Brass to:
“Anne eldest daughter of Richard Daston and wife of John Savage of Nobury , Worcestershire, 1605, Æ 25, in childbed with infant”.
The brass is a representation of the interior of a lady’s bedchamber at the beginning of the 17th century. It shows a young lady lying in a four-poster bed, her head propped up and resting on a large square pillow. Her close-fitting nightgown is richly embroidered with lace, and she wears a cap; her hands are closed in an attitude of prayer. At her right hand on the coverlet, is seen the swathed figure of her baby. The four-poster is elaborately carved, furnished with hangings and curtains, the latter looped back showing the panelled walls of the bedroom. The floor is bare boards with no carpets or rugs.

 The Latin inscription has been translated as:

Child, spouse, and sire the cruel fate lament
Which tore their Anna from their husband’s love
Her father’s firstborn offspring, but she went
E’en as a Phoenix seeks to rise above,
Dying, new life she gave, she passed away
Leaving the promise of a longer day,
Five lustres from heaven’s court her soul had strayed,
Now thither mounts - in earth her bones are laid.

On either side of the brass are fixed two shields showing arms that also appear on the Brass to Anthony Daston 1572, in Broadway Church.
Anne Daston’s birth is recorded in the parish registers of Broadway as 22nd May, 1580. John Savage her husband was the son of Thomas Savage of Nobury in the parish of Inkberrow by Anna daughter of Robert Dison, of Nobury.
The Daston (or Dastyn) family was very important in the village from the 14th to 17th centuries. The village was even sometimes referred to as Dastyn’s Wormington.

Memorial Slabs
In the Chancel are fixed memorials to the memory of five incumbents of the Partridge family, who held the benefice for nearly 200 years from 1575.
On the north wall is a marble memorial to the memory of Samuel Gist Gist, an important Patron of the Church and Lord of the Manor, who died January 15th, 1810, aged 92 years.
On the south wall there are memorials to:

• Josiah Gist and Ann his wife. He died March 25th, 1834; she died November 18th, 1825.
• Hon. Mary Ann Gist, died February 14th, 1844, wife of Samuel Gist Gist of Wormington Grange, only daughter of Lord Rossmore, of Monaghan, Ireland.
• Mary Gist, daughter of Josiah and Ann Gist, died January 31st, 1834. 

There is also a memorial slab in the south wall to William Anderson , who died 1st January, 1796, aged 54 years.

Vestry (North-west chapel)
The north-west chapel was probably added around 1800 perhaps to provide seating (and a coal burning stove) for the residents of Wormington Grange. It contains a funeral hatchment of the Gist family with Coat of Arms and quarterings and bearing the motto ‘Resurgam’ which is a statement of faith that ‘I shall rise again’.
The chapel is now used as the vestry. Some of the seating and the stove have been removed and a curtain replaces the railings that once separated the chapel from the chancel.

Nave Arcading
The Nave has an arcading of three bays, in north and south aisles, the latter being 17th century. The arcading of the north aisle is more recent, probably replaced in the 19th century in a similar but slightly simplified style.

Saxon Carving of the Crucifixion
The most striking object in the Church is the stone carving of the Crucifixion fixed into the east wall of the south aisle. It was found in the grounds of Wormington Grange in 1911 by R E S Thomas and presented to the Church. It is thought likely to have come from Winchcombe Abbey.
The Crucifixion is a simple and powerful carving from local Oolite stone most likely in the 9th century. Originally the slab must have been wider since the hands have been removed.
A remarkable feature, which is rarely mentioned in accounts, is the use of a lamb’s, rather than human, head with the jaws and the tongue between them pointing down the body in a manner which some accounts describe as a forked beard.
The body has a loin cloth extending below the knees in a style that suggests an Italian rather than Byzantine influence. The feet are nailed separately with the legs not crossed as in the conventional form. At the top of the cross is carved a large hand in the act of blessing, suggesting God the Father blessing the Son.

14th Century Glass
The western windows of the north and south aisles contain some beautiful 14th century stained glass which seems likely to have been reclaimed from previous nave windows before the aisles were added in the 17th century. The colouring of purple, gold, ruby and various shades of blue is very beautiful. The unconventional faces suggest that the village folk might have been models.
The borders of the north window are filled with the 14th century oak-leaf design. The right-hand light has a representation of the Holy Ghost, bearded, and with curled hair, from whose open mouth a dove has just emerged. The left-hand light shows a musician playing on a stringed instrument like a violin.
The left-hand light of the south window contains a representation of St. Katharine and her wheel. The word KATERINA in black script appears on one fragment.

Font
The Font is a fine octagonal specimen of 15th century perpendicular work with a quatrefoil motif. The southeast sides are not carved, as though the font was not entirely finished. Another unusual feature is the raised step for the priest to the south side, although it has been shortened and is no longer usable as a step. The font has been moved at least twice in the history of the church and has been in its current position since 1885.

 Church Exterior - To Follow

The exterior of the church is constructed from local stone and clearly shows the scale of the changes made over time. The stone is of very varied shapes, sizes and finish. The lines of the walls and roof contain ridges and deviations that mark additions and modifications. Perhaps only the east wall remains in its original 14th century form.

Tower
The wooden bell-turret contains a single bell. It was erected in 1885 to replace a larger tower with three bells that had become unsafe. The other two bells were sold off, one to a church in Bristol and the other as scrap metal since it was cracked.

Norman Corbel Heads
Above the entrance doorway in the west wall, underneath the wooden bell-cote, are fixed five grotesque corbel heads. One has two faces. These are remains from a Norman corbel table of an earlier, probably 12th century, church. The location of this church is unknown, but it may have been at the same site or nearby. It has been suggested that it might have been on a piece of land once called Chapel Close or Churchyard up the Isbourne about half way to Sedgeberrow.
The corbel heads may have been added to the church in any of the major renovations, perhaps in the 19th century during major work on the tower.

Crypt Entrance?
The remains of two Perpendicular arches can clearly be seen in the south wall of the chancel suggesting an entrance to a crypt, although this would be unusual on a church of this size.

Scratch Dials or Mass Clocks
Two Scratch Dials or Mass Clocks exist on the corner stone about five feet above the ground at the south of the entrance at the west end of the nave; both have double circles, and in the lower specimen may be seen radiating lines at the base of the dial. They are both eight inches in diameter and are thought to be of 14th century origin, scratched to indicate the Mass hour before the introduction of clocks; an iron gnomen for casting a shadow was fixed in the centre of each. However, since this corner of the wall was not in its current position until the middle of the 17th century, the stone on which they appear must have been moved.

Churchyard
There is a fine old yew tree on the south side of the churchyard. The graveyard to the north and west of the church contains the graves of several patrons of the church including General Lord and Lady Ismay. The Friends of the Church placed the Gingko tree and accompanying seat in 1998 in memory of the Rev. Peter Richards, rector from 1980 to 1994.

Development of the Church

The earliest evidence of the Church is a reference to the installation of Henry of Culn’ as priest on 12th January 1291 in the Hockaday Abstracts in the Gloucestershire Collection in Gloucester Public Library. It has been suggested that the Church was built by Hailes Abbey after it was gifted Great Wormington. However, it is not clear that the Abbey owned Little Wormington and there was certainly a church on the site before then.
The Church bears the marks of many significant changes and arguably little or none of the 13th century church remains to this day.

14th Century
The fragments of glass in the northwest and southwest windows date from this period.

15th Century
Most histories refer to major renovations or complete rebuilding of the church. In particular, the font, oak benches in the chancel and the chancel arch date from this period.

17th Century
The north and south aisles were added in what must have been very substantial works around 1640.

Gist Renovations, c 1800
Rudge (1803) refers to the construction of a ‘neat little tower’ built at the expense of Samuel Gist Gist. The tower is shown in sketches from 1843 and the pre-development plans from 1880 to have been a larger wooden tower than the current turret. There was a stairway to the tower which started in the north-east corner of the church. 

There are some prospective tower designs in the attached .pdf file below that are interesting to view.

There is alot more information in the full document

of which the above is only a sample.