St Mary’s Church Rodbourne – given a Grade II listing by Historic England in 1951. The British Listed Buildings website tells us that this is an Anglican parish church of C13, C19 and C20. Consecrated c.1250 although it looked much different then.
1848 saw it enlarged and restored.
As you can see from the photo, the church sits in a quite open situation on the northern side of the B4587. Pavements and grassy verges separated it from the road. A stone wall borders the graveyard and a gate at the western end gives access.
Church history
No written record of a church in the 13th century exists. But, the present building has incorporated into it, two carved stones, thought to be Saxon. It’s probable that they came from a Saxon preaching cross. And further, were most likely, formed in the pattern known as ‘The Tree of Spiritual Life and Knowledge’. This would indicate the presence of an earlier place of worship on this site.
over the grave of a previous vicar, Rev E R Knapp, near the South door.
In 1324 the Church passed to the monastery at Hailes, Gloucestershire. From there, there came a sporadic and itinerant exercising of a ministry. As far as anyone knows, the main concern of the Glocs owners was one of extracting as much as they could from it. Following the dissolution of the monasteries during the Tudor period there came a hiatus in parish records.
The Parish
St Mary’s is the parish church for Rodbourne Cheney – once a village called Hreod Burna after the stream that runs through it. It later became Reedy-Bourne – but listed in the Domesday book as Redbourne.
John Aubrey wrote in around 1666: ‘In the reign of Edward, the Advowson was in possession of Ralf Le Chanu. He being the possessor of the manor, under Richard, Earl of Cornwall. On the death of Richard, the crown granted the Lordship and Advowson to Hugh le Despencer, Earl of Winchester. By whom, in 1323, the advowson and some lands were given to the monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire.’
The 1848 restoration
An 1845 description of the church’s nave put it as ‘much disfigured with hideous pews and galleries.’
And the south chapel was described as ‘damp, dirty and disused’.
An appeal, dated 5th May 1848, stated that Rodbourne Cheney’s population had much increased. Much thanks there to its vicinity to the railway station of Swindon’s new town. At that time, part of the church was regarded as being in a dangerous state. And the whole in a dilapidated condition.
In order to achieve that, and to meet the needs of the growing population, it was felt necessary to lengthen the nave and build another aisle. The consensus was, that this would enable the church to afford comfortable sittings for 434 persons. Rather than indifferent accommodation for 246.
The estimated cost of the work hit £1500. Though even before the launch of the appeal the parish had itself raised £500 – quite an achievement. Before the year ended they’d raised the money and got the church hallowed.
The restored and enlarged church featured the commodious north aisle and west tower with Norman and Saxon stones built into it. All serving as the abiding evidence of the unbroken succession of Christian worship on the site for over 1000 years.
