St Mary’s Church, Odda’s Chapel, Deerhurst

A 14-mile pilgrimage walk between Tewkesbury Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral along the river Severn leads past the door of these Saxon wonders

‍Highlights

• Saxon church with early devotional artworks
• Simple Saxon chapel

An English town can be counted lucky if it has a Saxon church: only 400 or so survive. For some reason, the tiny village of Deerhurst has two. Not only that, one of them contains a treasury of early Christian art and artifacts, and still operates as a parish church. The other is a simple, unused chapel in the care of English Heritage.

A moving piece of Saxon devotional art greets you the moment you step through the door of St Mary’s Church. Above the entrance to the nave is a lozenge-shaped relief sculpture showing the Blessed Virgin with Christ inside her womb. It would have been painted originally, but all colour has now gone, leaving the merest outlines of a mother’s love.

Its geometrical precision is striking in comparison to other rough and ready Saxon pieces. There is nothing similar in early English art, but it has obvious parallels with Orthodox iconography. The composition is known in the Eastern churches as a Panagia icon, meaning ‘all holy.’ God is contained within humanity: the medallion over Mary’s chest symbolizes Christ in the womb. The icon is usually symmetrical, the Blessed Virgin often depicted with her arms raised in the ‘orantes’ prayer position.

The church’s font can justifiably claim to be the finest Saxon example in England. It must also be among the largest—carved from a single block of limestone with an intricate spiral pattern. It was discovered on a nearby farm in the early 20th century, serving as a drinking trough.

St Mary’s might even have traces of the oldest church painting in England. A blank panel high up on the east wall has red lines still visible on the stonework. Even my camera managed to pick out faint traces, though it was only noticed in 1993. Experts think it shows a saint holding a book in a veiled hand. More research is being done. It is perhaps 10th century, comparable only to the church at Nether Wallop, Hampshire.

On the opposite wall at the west end of the nave is a striking double window with triangular heads. It connects with an upper-story chapel that is closed to visitors. The chapel once held the church’s collection of relics, which were displayed to the congregation from on high.

There is one saint connected to Deerhurst. St Alphege, the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be martyred, trained here as a monk in the late 10th century. He apparently found the regime at Deerhurst too lax and moved to live as a hermit near Bath. A 14th-century window in the south aisle shows him with a bishop’s staff.

Finally, as you leave the building, stop to admire the beasts’ heads on either side of the door. These two monsters were carved in the 9th century and retain traces of their original color. The detail is as sharply preserved as any of England’s finest Saxon monuments.

There is one more carving to admire on the outside of the church, though its detail is anything but sharp. Walk all the way around the building to the far southeast corner and look up to the top of the church wall, beside the neighboring house. It is hard to see from such a constricted angle, but there is the carving of an angel here, one wing the most recognizable part of a finely worked sculpture.

St Mary’s is first mentioned in 804 when the community was granted some extra land. The building is thought to date from the 9th century onwards, though experts are still puzzling over its Saxon quirks and mysteries.‍

Odda’s Chapel‍

Odda’s Chapel is an altogether simpler experience. This empty stone building has two rooms, separated by a chancel arch. It was built in 1056, the final decade of the Saxon era. Odda was a local earl related to St Edward the Confessor, whose death sparked the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The chapel was used as a farmhouse until 1865 when its ancient origins were recognized. Its domestic fittings were carefully removed during the 1960s and the original doorway reinstated. All that survives is the bare shell with its rough stone walls and narrow windows. A replica of the church’s foundation stone is pretty much the only decoration. This reads: “Earl Odda ordered this royal chapel to be built and dedicated in honor of the Holy Trinity for the good of the soul of his brother Aelfric, who died in this place. Bishop Ealdred dedicated it on 12 April in the 14th year of the reign of Edward, King of the English.” The original stone is now at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

For more on England’s Anglo-Saxon churches in general, including a list of 400 buildings, visit www.anglo-saxon-churches.co.uk. Two pilgrim routes visit this ancient site, the Tewkesbury Pilgrimage Walk and A Pilgrimage Walk from Tewkesbury Abbey.

Directions‍

St Mary’s Priory Church, Deerhurst GL19 4BX‍

www.deerhurstfriends.co.uk‍

W3W: wept.tram.koala

GPS: 51.9680N 2.1902W church

W3W: lads.victory.nods

GPS: 51.9670N 2.1919W chapel‍

Deerhurst is 3 miles south of Tewkesbury. From Tewkesbury, head south on the A38 and turn right at the junction with the B4213. Deerhurst is signposted off the B4213 to the right, after 2/3 of a mile. Both the church and the chapel are usually open every day. St Mary’s Church is obvious as you approach Deerhurst, and Odda’s Chapel is next to the village car park.