Woolljopt HaturaliHts' fulh Club. 



THE CHURCH OF KEMPLEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



11THE following "description of the mural paintings at Kempley Church, 

 '^J^ Gloucestershire, visited by the Woolhope Club on May 28th, 1878, written by 

 J. Henry Middleton, Esq., architect, of Cheltenham, was read by Mr. G. H. 

 Phillott at the meeting. The only change made from the original description is 

 that the few Greek words and the Latin passage from Durandus have been 

 "turned into English" by the President of the club "for the benefit of the 

 country gentlemen." 



BUILDINGS. 



The church of Kempley consists of a Norman nave and chancel, built 

 probably at the end of the 11th century ; their sizes are rouglily — nave 34 x 19, 

 chancel 18 x 14 internal measurement. All the walls of this early part remain, 

 with the west and south doors, the narrow chancel arch, and four of the original 

 windows. In the 15th and 16th centuries a western tower was added, a wooden 

 porch built on to the south door, and two perpendicular two-light windows were 

 inserted in the nave probably in the place of original Norman windows. The 

 dedication of this church is not quite certain, but tradition ascribes it to the 

 Blessed Virgin, and this view is supported by the legend on one of the bells, 

 which is " Dilifjc Virgo Pia quos congrego Virgo Maria." Another bell has the 

 following legend : — " Jesu campanam tibi semper protege sanam." Both these 

 bells date from the reign of Edward III. 



CHANCEL. 



The cliancel, wliore the best preserved paintings remain, is covered by a 

 plain round barrel vault built in rubble. Such vaults arc common in monastic 

 and military buUdings of the 11th and 12tli centuries ; but, excepting the chapel 

 in the Keep of the Tower of London, I do not remember another English instance 

 of a church being so roofed. This vault and the chancel arch have both been 

 seriously damaged by settlement, and a crack along the crown of the vault has 

 much injured the painting on the soffit. 



PAINTINGS IN THE CHANCEL. 



The whole wall surface of the chancel has been painted, and most of it still re- 

 mains in a remarkably perfect condition, considering its great age. Tlie comparative 

 freshness of the paintings is chiefly owing to their having been thoroughly covered 

 with repeated coats of whitewash, and thus preserved from the effects of light and 



