Past SWAG Visits
Wool in the Cotswolds - 28th September 2008
Northleach Church
In mediaeval times, Cotswold wool was in high demand owing to its high quality and consequently local wool merchants became very rich. Several were keen to display their wealth and one pair in particular, John and Thomas Fortey, lavished money on their local church of St Peter and St Paul in Northleach, later to become known as the 'cathedral of the Cotswolds'. Today, although it was modified in 18th and 20th centuries, the church retains many features from mediaeval days. Originating in the 12th century when it is believed to have been little more than an aisle, the church has been steadily modified and extended over the centuries with the Forteys' efforts in the 1400s transforming the place into a light and airey church by raising the nave and adding new windows (including the Cotswold Window in 1430), the clerestory and aisles. |
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The church boasts several fine brasses depicting wool merchants from the time, John Fortey in the north arcade amongst them - his is notable as it shows him with his feet on a woolsack (below).
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The font, with its carved heads and angels playing musical instruments, dates from the 14th century, as does the goblet-style stone pulpit, which survived the Reformation. The 20th century saw the addition of the East Window (a modern design of 1963 by Chris Webb), and the altar screen and rail by Sir Basil Spence in 1964. Also present in the two-storey porch are carvings of a pig, a cat playing a fiddle and three rats. These illustrate the rhyme by William Collingham:
The hog referred to the king, whose emblem was a boar; two wealthy landowners, Ratcliff and Lovell, were the rat and the dog and William Catesby, the Leader of the House of Commons was the cat. On the outside of the church on the battlements can be seen a large statue of St John the Baptist, patron saint of the wool trade. |
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Farmington
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The church contains several fine carvings, together with this Norman arch (left). | |
 The throwing pool
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Not far from Farmington, on the
lefthand side of the minor road leading north-east from the
village, is this restored sheepwash (Grid Reference
SP139158).
In the picture below, the sheep
entered
at the oval
(near)
end,
the
throwing
pool,
and left
via the ramp at the far end.
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All photographs ©2008 Philip Blackman
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selection of past visits Guarlford | Wool in the Cotswolds King Arthur's Cave | Clee Hill | Upton-upon-Severn Kilpeck and Abbey Dore | Knighton | Wroxeter Roman City Blackfriars Priory, Gloucester | Kempsey | St Mary's Church Kempley |
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