England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Winstone St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Winstone lies in central Gloucestershire about 6 miles northwest of the market town of Cirencester. Winstone is a small hill-top village in the Cotswold Hills which sits a mile west of the A417 road which connects Gloucester with Cirencester and which, in this area follows the ancient Roman road of Ermin Way. Winstone is not a large village and as such has lost most of its facilities with a quiet settlement occupying roughly a half mile of narrow lanes. Like most such settlements in the Cotswolds Winstone would have been primarily concerned with raising sheep for the local wool industry, an economy supplemented by quarrying the local limestone both for building stone and for use in walling the pastures. Winstone sits on porous limestone so there is little surface drainage but just over a mile west lies the deeply incised valley of the River Frome which undoubtedly takes the local drainage, flowing, intermittently, southwards and then west the Frome reaches the Severn just as its becomes an estuary. Winstone is sited at 240 metres above the sea, an impressive height for the Cotswold range, land rises just a little further almost reaching 280 metres before the plunge off the escarpment at Birdlip. Winstone parish was fairly typical sized for its area, covering around 1,400 acres it would have supported close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Winstone was held by one Ansfrid de Cormeilles and was a middling sort of place offering 11 ploughs and a mill.

The Church

St Bartholomew's church sits towards the east from the village almost a half mile east of the main centre of settlement. The church has very ancient origins, both nave and chancel are dated by Pevsner to the late 11th century, immediately around the date of the Conquest and showing styles both Saxon and Norman Romanesque. The now-blocked northern doorway is perhaps the most ancient feature of the church with massive stone blocks making it up. Like most churches alterations have occurred over the centuries, the first identifiable work being in the early English Gothic style when the southern porch was added in the 13th century. The major change of the medieval period was the addition of the rather stocky western tower, Perpendicular in style, probably 14th or early 1th century and featuring an unusual saddleback roof. The restoration of the 1870s by the Victorians was in Pevsner's words "severe" and the chancel, in particular, was almost completely rebuilt along with other major work. The narrow Croft Lane meanders southeastwards from the village centre ending with a farm gate at the church where a semi-circular parking area lies opposite the entrance.A metal gate, almost enclosed in hedging, grants access to a churchyard which several obstacles, mainly trees, which make for a much reduced set of angles available to the photographer.