1. Centre of Nave

1124 is the earliest known reference to the church though there are many others in the early years of that century – the vicarage itself was instituted between 1186 and 1189. Some of the foundations of that twelfth century church were discovered beneath the south arcade of the nave during restoration work of 1879, (a few stones with late Saxon or early Norman decoration were reused when the tower was built in the fifteenth century).

Where you are now standing, roughly on a line between the north door and the south porch, marks the full length of the original nave dating from that time, and the church was only extended to its present dimensions between 1330 and 1340. The first three piers of the southern half of the nave with the arches and wall above them are almost certainly of the twelfth century – the earliest part of the present church. The vertical seam above the third pillar probably indicates the point from which the extension started.

In addition to the extension of the nave, the high windows (clerestory) were added, together with a new roof. This latter work was done in three stages, shown by the arrangement of the roof timbers, which are supported at the eastern end by alternate long and short brackets and at the western end by long ones only. The style of the window mullions also differ between the east and the west halves of the nave; the six eastern-most windows in the clerestory on the south side are also slightly lower than the western ones on the same side, and they appear to have been completed earlier. It may be that here, as in other churches, we have some evidence of the way in which the Black Death in 1349, which reduced England’s population by half, disrupted the work of building and resulted in a different style when work was resumed.

Almost all traces of the mediaeval painted decoration were removed in the nineteenth century when the ancient plasterwork was removed from all the walls, though faint traces of colour can still be seen on some of the south piers, on two of the brackets to another beam at the east end of the nave, and – the best example – on the first or eastern-most roof beam of the nave dating from the fourteenth century, which shows the central figure of Christ with the twelve Apostles ranged on both sides.

Royalist troops were quartered in Brailes in 1643 during the Civil War and subsequently extensive repairs were undertaken in 1649. Much of the extensive restoration undertaken in 1649 was replaced in the restoration of 1879 which included the almost complete rebuilding of the north arcade and clerestory. During this restoration much original material was re-used.. It was in this latter period that the three-decker pulpit and box pews were removed and the current seating installed. The ancient plasterwork was stripped away, revealing the honey-coloured stone beneath, and Victorian stained glass was added to the east window. ‘An ugly gallery painted black and with a partition of lath and plaster’ which blocked the western arch of the tower was removed at this time and, as was the fashion in those days, an organ installed in the chancel. It was completely overhauled in 1996 and again in 2001. It is worth noticing that the capitals of the north piers, like the older ones on the south, are all of slightly different design. The roof timbers also were renewed in the nineteenth century which is also when heating was installed and the old box pews replaced.

2. The South Aisle – Front

This south arcade and aisle were added to the original church in about 1280 and a complete roof truss dating from the 1300s is visible in this aisle at the east end above the Lady Chapel altar. It seems likely that there has been an altar at this spot from early times; for example, Richard Earl of Warwick, (‘Warwick the Kingmaker’) founded the Guild of Our Blessed Lady in Brailes in 1433 and one of the prime functions of such a Guild would have been to maintain the decoration and illumination of a chapel or altar in honour of Mary, the mother of Jesus. (There was already in Chelmscote a chantry chapel similarly dedicated – to the Blessed Virgin Mary).

3. The Chancel Arch

In the fifteenth century a rood screen and loft were inserted in the front of the chancel arch, and although these were removed during the Reformation, stairs (now blocked by modern masonry) gave access to both loft and screen, for the placing or renewing of candles in order to illuminate the rood, (the figure of Christ, with Mary and St. John on either side). The doorway giving access to this loft can be traced in outline high in the north wall of the chancel to the west of the organ chamber arch. The chancel arch itself was increased in height only in 1879. The present choir stalls, lectern, and seven branched candelabra also date from the nineteenth century, and it was at this time that the old three-decker pulpit, dating from about 1640, which at one time occupied a central position on the chancel steps was removed, its upper part still forming the present pulpit.(See the photographs on the pillar nearest the north door).

4. The Chancel

The whole of the chancel was rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and the original roof of this period is said to be preserved above the lining visible today. To the fourteenth century also belong the splendid east window of five trefoiled lights, a superb fishnet stonework design of reticulated tracery, (the stained glass from the Victorian period shows five scenes of Jesus’ life from the Last Supper to Pentecost). Also from this time are the two windows in the north side and those directly opposite them on the south side, and the priest’s doorway. All of these are of red-brown sandstone. Note the two arrow head mason’s marks on the jambs of the two easternmost windows. The large four-light window on the south side was added c.1450 and is a typical example of the perpendicular style.

On the south side of the chancel there are three sedilia on three levels, corresponding to the three steps occupied at a mass in the middle ages by three officiating clergy – the celebrant, the deacon and the sub-deacon. They were restored in 1879 which is also when the stone reredos and altar were presented by Canon Thoyts, whose family built the church in Winderton.

The high altar has a coloured cloth (‘frontal’) (see below) which is changed according to the season of the church’s year. There is a superb millennium frontal used during the Trinity season, for which full details are provided in a separate booklet.

5. The North Aisle – Front

Just as the eastern end of the south aisle has the Lady Chapel, so there are strong indications that there was a corresponding chapel at this point. It was most likely here that there was a chantry chapel founded in 1348 by Thomas de Pakington (of Brailes) with two priests appointed to sing mass daily at the altar near the grave of Pakington’s father, and to pray for Thomas Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick, his ancestors and his heirs, and for Thomas Pakington himself, and it seems probable that over the next two hundred years this chantry chapel became known as the chapel of St.Nicholas mentioned in 1554. Entry would have been through the large arch, still visible although filled in with stone when a vestry was formed, a small door being retained. In support of the supposition that this was the site of the chantry chapel, it should be noted that one of the vestry windows is of fourteenth century design and closely resembles the windows in the chancel, without an interior sill and continuing to the floor. The other altars, to St. George, to St. Michael and to a third saint whose name is no longer decipherable have locations that are not known.

The vestry was added in 1649, the year which saw the end of the Civil War and the beheading of Charles I. While it seems unusual that a vestry should be built during the Commonwealth period when the only vestment worn was a simple preaching gown, extensive rebuilding took place which suggests that like other Cotswold churches, Brailes had suffered some severe damage during the war, (Royalist troops had been quartered in Brailes in 1643). In what is now the vestry there used to be the staircase to the rood loft, inserted into the lower corner of a window earlier than the rest of those in the north aisle and blocked up when the rood staircase was made. The outline of the entrance can be seen to the south of the vestry door about four feet from floor level; it is now incorporated into the chimney flue.

Inside the vestry there are several objects of considerable interest. The vestry table – still in use – is an early eighteenth century design, in oak with carved fluted square legs. There is also a remarkable fifteenth century framed oak chest with elaborately carved front and wheel ornaments, and which shows signs of having originally had two locks, one at each end. When these were replaced by the single lock, the sockets were skilfully filled and recarved. The lid is a later restoration.

Also in regular use are a Communion Chalice and Paten, of simple design bearing the inscription ‘BRAYLES 1659’. The year is of particular interest, for it was then that the brief nine month Protectorship of Richard Cromwell occurred. It was a time of great turbulence for the Church as for the country as a whole and few churches replaced their altar vessels. Within a period of eleven years England saw the execution of Charles I, the rule of two Lords Protector and the Restoration of Charles II, with all the consequent changes in the Church of England. A larger Paten, given in 1784, is, in fact, according to its hallmarks, at least a century older. In addition there are also two flagons, a silver one of the nineteenth century and a pewter one of 1700, and five pewter alms plates dated 1708. A silver alms dish was presented in 1920 in memory of Dr. Findlay, a former churchwarden.

6. The North Aisle

A well-known matchstick model of the Church was completed in 1979 and was placed in St. George’s through the generosity of the maker, Mr. Fred Hall of Shipston-on-Stour and at the wish of the P.C.C. It took Mr. Hall seven years to construct, contains approximately 250,000 match sticks and is fully described on the wall nearby. His wish was that the model would help to raise funds for the upkeep of St. George’s, and for this purpose there is a box for donations by the main door.

7. The West End

The imposing tower, with its splendid internal arch and deeply recessed west window, was added in the fifteenth century, and the original spandrills of the arch of the west door were reversed and recut on the inner side. These, with the inscription ‘1649 Churchwardens’ were replaced in 1879, but may be seen standing under the tower arch.

You will also see on the floor a portion of a carved stone column, measuring 26 inches by 9 inches (66cms x 23cms) and depicting foliage and a sow suckling five piglets. It was recovered from the churchyard, and although the date is uncertain, from its carving it is thought to be either part of a Roman column or of a mediaeval cross.

On the north wall of the tower there is a board bearing the Royal Arms of George I giving the date as 1722, the year in which Jonathon Carpenter became vicar. The installation of this board in this year may have been prompted to show loyalty to the Hanoverian cause because of suspicions that the Church of England had been sympathetic to theJacobite rebellion of 1715.

At 12:00 midday and mid-night: Wareham: (‘Jesus, where’er thy people meet’);

4:00am and 4:00pm: Lux Benigna:(‘Lead kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom’);

6:00am and 6:00pm: St.Agnes: (‘Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile’);

9:00am and 9:00pm: Eventide: (‘Abide with me; fast falls the eventide’);

On Sundays the tune at each of these times is St. David: (‘Christ is gone up’)

Access to the 142 steps up the tower and to view the bells and the clock mechanism is by arrangement.

What was described as ‘an ugly gallery painted black and with a partition of lath and plaster’ which blocked the western arch of the tower completely was removed in 1879.

The Tapestry Screen was dedicated on St. George’s Day 1990, after three years’ busy effort by the villagers of Brailes. It depicts village organisations, buildings, views and hobbies.

The pattern book font (seen on left) is of excellent fourteenth century work and the deep bowl shows that the practice of total immersion of infants in mediaeval times was general. This pattern book font is octagonal and each face is decorated with different window tracery designs, while beneath them are ballflower ornaments characteristic of the period. The plain base is probably a later repair and the cover was added in 1879. The carpet surrounding it naming the four rivers around Eden was made, with other needlework in the chancel, by the wife of the Rev. Thomas Smith, in whose memory the wheeled bier was given, (still in use).

8. The South Aisle

A display case in the south aisle contains the Town Crier’s bell, inscribed ‘Brailes Parish 1812’. To the left of the south porch door inside the church is a stone tomb in worn, white limestone – the recumbent effigy of a priest in mass vestments, which, from the style of moulding on the tomb chest below, has been dated at approximately 1450. It was originally sited outside the porch doorway, but was brought inside in 1933 to protect it from further weathering. There is no inscription to indicate whose tomb it may be, but if the dating is correct, it could be that of Robert Bandy, who was vicar 1433-1455. However, another local tradition claims the figure to be that of an unknown crusader.

9. The Porch

The broad south porch, 13½ ft. (4.1 m) square, with open-work parapet, was also added in the fifteenth century. Inside the porch, to the right of the window on the west, can be seen scratch markings which probably indicate that arrows were sharpened there in days when archery was commonly practised in the churchyard. The roof and doors were renewed in 1879. Over the outer doorway is a copy of an eighteenth century sundial recently lovingly repaired. A much older ‘finger’ sundial can be detected above the door on the left.

It is to the fourteenth century that we owe the design of the striking external features of the Church, for example on the south side the fine open-work parapet above the aisle and the varied carvings on the string-course below the nave parapet, including animal heads, a woman’s head, several grotesques and ballflower ornament. The stone crocketed pinnacles also all date from this time. It is almost certain that similar decoration adorned the north side, but this and an open-work parapet were replaced in the restoration of 1649. The external buttresses were added in the fifteenth century, presumably to check the out-lean of the chancel walls under the weight of the stone-tiled roof. The open-sided stone bell-turret at the east end of the nave was added in the nineteenth century. Some restoration work, mainly of external masonry, was undertaken in 1933-4. In 1968, the north parapet was restored, and over the years, a continuing programme of repair and restoration has been carried out, including the renewal of mullions, tracery and the pinnacles and parapet on the south side between 1996 and 2003, at a cost of £90,000. As the years go by further maintenance and repairs will be carried out, and any financial assistance we receive from visitors is much appreciated.

Probably the most imposing external feature of St. George’s is the massive tower, 120ft high. Although a few stones in the south wall of the tower bear traces of late Saxon or early Norman decoration, the tower itself was built in the fifteenth century dominating then as now much of the village and the surrounding fields. Apart from its height and its massive bulk standing in perfect symmetry with the rest of the church, the tower is the home of the Brailes Bells, one of the heaviest peals of six bells in the world:

The second bell, now the most ancient of the peal, was cast in the fifteenth century by Henry Jordan of London;

The third bell was cast in the nineteenth century;

The fourth bell with its inscription ‘I’m not the bell I was but quite another – I’m now as rite and sweet as George, my brother’, was cast in 1688 by Richard Keen, and again in 1900;

The fifth bell ‘Merry George’ was recast in 1671, as the rhyme on its side indicates: ‘I’ll crack no more so ring your fill; Merry George I was and will be still’.

The tower clock has dials, each consisting of a slate 1¾ inches (4.5cms) thick and weighing 8cwt. (363kgs). In 1879 two cracked bells were recast,and all of them were re-hung. In 1957, some anxiety being then felt about the safety of the tower, the bells were lowered (see photograph) and re-hung again, and an electrical movement was installed to replace the old clock mechanism.

In 1910 the fine lych gate was erected by the family of Thomas Smith in his memory. This was the vicar under whom the restoration of 1879 was undertaken.

The churchyard is considerably larger now than it was in the middle ages, (when it was also the setting for all sorts of community activities). A number of small well-designed tombstones of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been ranged along the south porch and nave walls. The earliest clearly decipherable one is dated 1613.

Although in private ownership now, the row of cottages on the south side of the churchyard are the more modern replacements of houses which formerly belonged to the church and were often occupied by some of the elderly and poorer people of the village, somewhat in the style of alms houses. They were sometimes known as ‘church terrace’ and even simply ‘the houses in the churchyard’.

At the bottom of the path through the churchyard there is a small single- storey building on the left known as ‘The Free School’. This is used by children in the Sunday Club, and is available for church and village. This was formerly a Boys’ School in the early years of the last century, and before that may have been the site of the Grammar School dating from 1537, itself a new use of the former Guild (hall) of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded by the Earl of Warwick in 1433, and proscribed at the Reformation. (See below for more information). An alternative site for firstly the Guildhall and then later the ancient Grammar School is a building (now a private house) on the north-west corner of the churchyard.

Perhaps it is largely due to the good relations fostered earlier in Brailes between Anglicans and Roman Catholic communities by the Bishop family, that mutual kindness and understanding continues between all the churches in Brailes today. It is worth noticing a plaque on the exterior of the east wall of the church dated 1810, recording a memorial to ‘Rev John Austen, sometime Pastor to the Catholicks’ – an unusual feature.

More information from Wikipedia:

During the fifteenth century the 120ft (40m) west tower was added. It is an important local landmark and a Christian beacon. It houses a clock, a carillon and six bells. The clock mechanism can be dated fairly accurately at 1710; it was in working order until 1957 when it was replaced by an electric movement. The carillon mechanism (which plays hymn tunes four times a day) is of the same date and is now electrically driven. The bells are the second heaviest peal of six bells in the world. The largest, the tenor bell, weighs nearly 1.5 tons! Between 1953 and 1956, Canon Kemp arranged for the bells to be removed from the tower, refurbished and reinstalled. From Wikipedia:

The Church of England parish church of Saint George is the largest in the Kington Hundred and is locally called the “Cathedral of the Feldon”.^[2] Feldon is an Old English word meaning “the land from which the timber has been cleared away”.^[7] Excavations in 1879 beneath the arcade between the nave and south aisle are said to have found 12th century foundations.^[2] The south aisle was added in about 1280^[2] and is the oldest part of the present church building.^[8] The western part of the south arcade was added in about 1330–40 when the nave seems to have been extended westwards to its present length of six bays.^[2] At the same time the clerestory was added to the nave and the chancel was rebuilt^[2] with its present  Decorated Gothic east window.^[8] The north aisle may also be 14th century, but rebuildings and alterations in 1649 and 1879 have obscured the evidence for its original appearance.^[2] In the 15th century an additional window was inserted in the south wall of the chancel.^[2] St George’s is a Grade I listed building.^[9]

The bell tower is 120 feet (37 m) high and has the third-heaviest ring of six bells in England.^[10] William Chamberlain of Aldgate,^[11] London  cast the second bell in about 1440.^[12] Richard I Purdue (or Purdy^[2]), who cast bells at  Glastonbury,  Stoford and elsewhere ,^[11] cast the treble bell in 1624.^[12] Richard Keene, who had foundries at  Woodstock,  Oxfordshire  and  Royston, Hertfordshire,^[11] re-cast the fifth bell in 1671.^[2] The tenor bell was originally cast by John Bird of London,^[2] whose work spans the years 1408–18,^[11] but later it cracked.^[2] In 1877 William Blews and Sons of Birmingham re-cast the broken tenor bell^[2] and also cast the third bell.^[12] The fourth bell has been re-cast twice: firstly by Richard Keene in 1668 and secondly by Mears and Stainbank of the  Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1900.^[2] The sanctus bell was cast about 1700^[12] and is hung in a bellcote on the  chancel  arch gable.^[10] In 1877 after Blews cast the third bell and re-cast the tenor, Hooper and Stokes of  Woodbury, Devon rehung the bells.^[10] This work was not entirely satisfactory so in 1894 Frederick White of Appleton rehung them again.^[10] In 1957  John Taylor & Co re-hung the bells again, this time in a two-tier frame lower in the  tower.^[10] This frame was strengthened in 1993.^[10]

From 1764 until 1777 John Gilkes of Shipston-on-Stour maintained the tower‘s turret clock.^[13] In 1840 John Paine of Hook Norton supplied a new clock for £11 10s 0d.^[13] From 1584 until at least 1712 the  advowson of St. George‘s  parish belonged to the Bishop family, although most of the family were recusants.^[2] The manor house was built early in the 17th century ^[8] In 1726 a member of the Bishop family added the range that includes the Roman Catholic chapel  of St. Peter and St. Paul on the upper floor.^[2] The manor house and its chapel are a Grade II* listed building.^[14] A Quaker Meeting House, said to have been founded in the 17th century, was in existence in 1850.^[2] Brailes had two  Methodist  chapels.^[2] The one in Upper Brailes was built in 1863.

Brailes Charities

Painted boards in the church record a number of charities and details of their bequests. The oldest is the Willington Dole of 1555 of which £2 is still paid to the poor of Brailes. Another charity of about 1630, the Free School Foundation, from which £20p.a. was paid for church repairs, derives indirectly from a far older charity, the Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary, established in 1433 by Richard Neville Warwick the Kingmaker, to support a ‘Fre Scole of Gramer For the Erudycon and bryng upp of dyvers and many pore Scolers’.

From then, until its dissolution at the Reformation, it maintained two priests in Brailes besides the vicar, ‘One to be Organist and the other Schoolmaster of the Free School’, at a stipend of £8 1s 8d p.a. The lands and property of the Guild confiscated by the Crown at the Reformation, passed eventually into private ownership. Some however were bought by Barnabas Bishop, who applied its rents to the re-endowment of the school and the repair of the church. In addition to these charities, there are those of James Cooper 1678, William Prestige 1732, William Baldwin 1864, Finlay Gibson 1910, Mark Walker 1911, Richard Badger 1920 and E.J.Davis. All continue to benefit the widows, and poor and needy of Brailes. In 1969, the Charities Commissioners approved a scheme, which now unites all of these charities, except the Brailes Free School Foundation, under a single body of eleven trustees, and it is known as ‘The Brailes Charities’. By reinvestment of all existing assets in the Charities Investment Trust it has been possible to increase the annual in-20come available for the sick, poor and aged of Brailes, and to set aside many of the rather curious conditions, imposed upon the bestowal of these old charities. The Brailes Free School Foundation continues to support the parish church, the school, and a variety of projects that are educational in nature. Its now substantial income is of great benefit to the parish.

The Benefice & Patrons

The church and living of Brailes prior to the Norman Conquest was in the hands of Earl Edwin. Seized by William the Conqueror, the advowson of the living was conferred upon Roger, Earl of Warwick in the reign of Henry I, who in turn gave it to the Priory of Kenilworth. The canons continued to appoint the incumbents of Brailes until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1535. The last incumbent to be appointed by them was John Hill in 1489. After the Dissolution the Crown bestowed the patronage upon the Duke of Suffolk, but on the accession of Mary I, the living again reverted to the Crown who, in 1556, appointed Thomas Bastarde as vicar. The Deed of Presentment on this occasion described the patrons as ‘Philip and Mary – King and Queen’ since Mary had married Philip of Spain in 1554. By 1584 the advowson had passed to John Bishop and remained in his family until the death of Francis Bishop in 1712. In 1721 it was again sold and remained in private patronage until 1920 when it was conveyed to the present patrons, the Provost and Chapter of Coventry.