Pembridge Church of St Mary Belfry (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Pembridge.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO39115808
Latitude 52.21765° Longitude -2.89267°

Pembridge Church of St Mary Belfry has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

It has been suggested by several writers that the detached belfry at Pembridge Church is built on a lowered motte and that the corner posts of the bell tower are the remains of a timber motte tower. However, there is no firm evidence to substantiate this theory. (Shoesmith)

The Belfry (Plate 154) stands detached to the N. of the chancel and is a timber-framed structure of 14th-century date. It is of octagonal plan and of three diminishing stages with hipped and pyramidal roofs covered with stone slates and shingles. The lowest stage has stone outer walls of varying thickness, and in the S.W. wall is the doorway with moulded jambs and a wooden lintel. In the E. wall are two rough openings, in the N. and N.W. sides a loop-light, and in the S.W. wall a square-headed window originally of two lights. The second stage is supported on four main oak posts with cross-framing which does not appear to be original, as the posts have cuttings for raking struts now removed; this stage is square, as is the small top stage, which has diagonal framing in the sides. (RCHME)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1301249
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 106160.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1566.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Historic England Viewfinder
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 233
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 254-5
  Longton, N., 1966, The story of Pembridge and its church
  Pevsner, N., 1963, Buildings of England: Herefordshire (Harmondsworth) p. 267
  RCHME, 1934, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 3: north-west p. 161 no. 1 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- (Stirling-Brown, R.), 1995, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 63 p. 14
  1994, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 62 p. 20-21 (plan)
  Marshall, G., 1943, 'The detached church towers of Herefordshire' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 31 p. 132-140
  Whitehead, F., 1901, 'Pembridge church and belfry' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club p. 137-140
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dalwood, H. and Bryant, V. (eds), 2005, The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey 1992-6 Download online copy
  Tyers, I. 01/1999, Tree-ring analysis of the bell tower of the church of St Mary, Pembridge, Herefordshire.. English Heritage Ancient Monuments Laboratory. 1/99
  Morriss, R.K., 05/1998, St Mary's Bell Tower, Pembridge, Herefordshire. An Archaeological Survey (Archaeological Investigations Ltd. 364. Rep No. 36)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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