St Michael & All Angels Church | Edwyn Ralph

EDWYN RALPH
Dedication: St Michael & All Angels
OS Grid Reference: SO 645 575
Road Reference: Off B4214

Facilities:

Information:

It is not known when a church first stood on this site, but the present building of chancel and nave dates to around 1170. The tower at the west end is early 13th c. with the porch and vestry added within the last 150 years.

The walls and dressing are of local sandstone and the oak collared roof is covered with clay tiles.

The Chancel has a three light window at the east end (c.1320) with modern mullions and tracery in a two headed centre. In the east wall, there is a piscina of the same period.

The north wall contains two windows, one (c.1320) with two trefoil lights where restoration work has been undertaken, and an interesting smaller window dating to the early 12th c. with a fine rope design on its exterior arch.

The south wall was rebuilt in the 19th c. and has two windows with some late 13th c. materials used and contains the priest's seat. In the north wall, there are two 14th c.. recessed tomb arches, each surmounted by a carved head. Now empty, the arches once housed the effigies which were transferred to their present resting place under the tower during the restoration works in the mid 19th century.

The reredos, new choir stalls and the lectern were installed in 1885 under the direction of Mr John Aldred Scott, Architect, of London. All stained glass is of modern origin.

The Nave has mostly modern windows. The north doorway (now the vestry) is early 14th c. but constructed from mainly 12th c. materials. It has chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch.

The 12th c. south doorway was altered in the 13th c. using 12th c. materials and is of two orders - the inner plain and the outer roll-moulded with lozenge-ornament on the label. The 12th c. jambs have a plain inner order and moulded outer order with primitive decoration on the capitals and abaci above.
The roof of the nave and chancel is a seven sided trussed rafter type and in the division is the rare surviving rood beam where can be seen the sockets in which once the crucifix and the figures of the Virgin and St John where displayed.

The West Tower is early 13th c. and supports a tiled pyramidal roof and a slender wooden spire. There are two chambers with lancet windows and the upper chamber once housed four bells, although only two remain. One in situ, 24" diameter and inscribed 'God Save our King James 1603' and the other, which is broken and in storage, is dated 1587, 26" diameter and has an inscription in Latin.

The Effigies. Under the tower there are seven monuments of historical interest and undoubtedly, one of the most interesting collections in the county. The earliest being a mailed knight and his wife dates to around 1290. His head rests on two cushions, his legs are crossed with his feet on a lion and on his left arm is a large curved shield emblazoned with the arms of Zeddefen.

The knight with his two wives is about a generation later and, whilst wearing a similar costume to the earlier knight, the shield is flat, smaller and has no armorial bearings. At his feet is a lion and the lady on his left rest her feet on a dog.

There is also a rare 14th c. unrecorded dimunitive effigy of a lady, or possibly a child.

There is an incised slab, sadly in poor condition, to Maud de Edefin c1325. This is a rare and exceptional form of pardon monument and inscribed thus- 'Here lies the Lady Maud; she was the wife of Sir Thomas de Edefin. To whomsoever shall say a Pater and an Ave for the soul of Maud de Edefin the Lord Bishop of Worcester will allow thirty days of pardon, and the Lord Bishop of Hereford will allow sixty days of pardon.'
The Zeddefen line appears to have died out during the late 1300s.

Floor slabs and wall memorials in the church date mainly to the 17th – l8th c. and include a number commemorating the Burwall family, a list of donors and a stone tablet dated 1625 to James and Dorothy Pytt, married for forty-two years.

The font is modern.

Abandoned village
As often occurs in Herefordshire, there is an adjacent motte and bailey 90 metres west of the church where the original village was sited, prior to the Black Death in the 1300s.