Jennifer and I were invited to Hereford Cathedral and had the pleasure of meeting the Dean and Precentor. Among the many things we learnt was the abundance of beautiful and very historic churches in the diocese, many of them built at stunning locations. I took note of them and made a point to visit them and the surrounding landscape some time in the near future.
And a crisp and beautiful day in early February I set out for the first visit: The Church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck in southwest Herefordshire, about 5 miles from the Welsh border. The frost was still covering the ground, when I arrived, which created beautiful opportunities to catch the surrounding landscape as well.
Pevsner descrfibes Kilpeck as “one of the most perfect Norman churches in England.” And on a website about Great English Churches I found this comments about Kilpeck church: “Amongst students of church architecture few churches are as well-known as Kilpeck. To the public, few places could be more obscure.”
Kilpeck Church dates from around 1140 and has changed little since. It is awash with the most elaborate carvings, many of them distinctly un-Christian. Monsters, dragons and warriors compete with more traditional Christian iconography. If I was a child attending mass here, I would feel very scared. The carvings were made of a local, soft, red sandstone, but are still very well preserved.
The church has a nave, a chancel and a round, semicircular apse with the typical Romanesque rounded archways. The building is very modest in size – what else can you expect of a country church 900 years old? But it holds a very rich collection of beautifully preserved carvings and the views from both church and castle are to behold.
And next to the church are the remains of a castle, probably built by William Fitz Norman, whose son built the church. After having seen the same pattern with the ruins or moat of a castle next to the parish churches in Eardisland, Pembridge and Lyonshall, I could now see it again here in Kilpeck.
