Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire, England, UK. Founded in 1140 and home to the finest set of Romanesque sculpture in the UK.
Kilpeck Church (aka the Parish Church of St Mary and St David in Kilpeck), located in Herefordshire, England, UK, near the Welsh border, is home to the finest collection of Romanesque sculpture in England. It was built iaround1140AD and has survived remarkably intact and unaltered to the present day. The village's name of Kilpeck is probably derived from kil Pedic, the "cell of St Pedic," who is otherwise unknown but was likely a local Celtic holy man. Records in the Book of Llandaff indicate that "Kilpeck church with all its lands around" was given to that diocese in 650 AD. Hugh de Kilpeck, son of William fitz Norman, was Keeper of the King's Forests (William the Conqueror), and it was he who founded Kilpeck's Romanesque church in about 1140. The church was given to the Abbey of Gloucester in 1143. It is said that Oliver de Merlimond, steward to the Lord of Wigmore, Hugh Mortimer, went on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. Upon his return, he built a church at Shobdon inspired by the Romanesque churches he had seen in southwest France. It is likely that Hugh of Kilpeck, who was a kinsman of Earl Mortimer, employed the same builders on his church at Kilpeck. The decorative style in both churches is clearly of the same school. The carvings that are Red sandstone draw their themes from the pilgrim routes in France and Spain and incorporate the artistic traditions of the Vikings, Saxons, Celts, Franks and Spaniards. Some reflect everyday medieval life, some depict mythical beasts and symbolic creatures, while others are abstract decorations
Size: 3408px × 5125px
Location: Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England, UK, Europe
Photo credit: © Alistair Heap / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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