St Mary The Virgin Church | Dilwyn

DILWYN
Dedication: St Mary
OS Grid Reference: SO 415 547
Road Reference: Off A4112 - 6 miles SW of Leominster
Hours of access: 9am - 4pm GMT; 9am - 6pm BST

Facilities:

Information:

This is a large (village church, nave and chancel built together in about 1295 keeping just the tower of the original earlier building. Within a century a transept had been added and the clerestory raised to provide more light.

There is much intriguing detail. Why is there an Early English arch in a Norman tower? Why is the East window of the South aisle lop-sided? Why do the carved heads at the foot of the chancel screen match a similar head preserved in Weobley Museum? Is the recumbent knight a Talbot or Tyrrell (only the colour of the now plain shield could have told which)?

There are clues to earlier patterns of worship. Brackets for pre-Reformation statues have survived along with three piscinas. A seat (a lowered window cill), a stone sedilia and other traces in the chancel reflect days when as a collegiate church with six priests, St. Mary's served the surrounding townships and farms.

Also look out for the original Norman font, kept after its 14th century replacement; the coffin lid used four times; the medieval glass in a small chancel window; the fine Victorian East window – Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection.