The glorious church in Madley is within a village and second largest civil parish in the English county of Herefordshire, 6 miles west of Hereford


The parish includes the hamlets of Canon Bridge, Wormhill, Winmoor, Lulham, Upper & Lower Chilstone, Upper & Lower Shenmore, Cublington, Great & Little Brampton, Webton and Webton Court. It is the birthplace of Saint Dubricius, 6th century evangelist of what is now the region of South Wales, born at the nearby hamlet of Chilstone, named after the 'Child Stone' that marked the spot . It is a fine medieval Church of England parish church replacing the original founded by St Dubricius, later remodelled. The church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the best known local examples of Norman architecture with gargoyles carved into the tower itself. The church stands in the centre of the village having an aisled and clerestoried nave with a north porch and a South chapel; a West tower, and a chancel with a crypt below it. The original church was built in 12th century but the present church is of the 13th and 14th century. The nave arcades are of six bays, carried on cylindrical columns with moulded capitals and chamfered, two-order pointed arches. The clerestory windows are plain pointed lancets. The aisles extend westward alongside the West tower. In the major remodelling in 1320, the four eastern bays of the North nave aisle were heightened and fitted with three-light reticulated windows, and a chapel with a four-bay arcade was added South of the South aisle. Repairs were made in the 17th and in 1833-35 and again in 1871-79. Further repairs were carried out in 1962-64 and in 1979.


Size: 4912px × 6688px
Location: Madley, Hereford, UK
Photo credit: © Philip Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

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