CHURCH.
Before 1095 Walter of Gloucester gave
the chapel of Quedgeley to the church of St. Owen,
Gloucester, which, with its dependent chapels, was
part of the endowment of Llanthony Priory by
Walter's son Miles, Earl of Hereford. (fn. 14) The chapel
of Quedgeley was called a chapel of the church of
St. Owen in the 12th and 13th centuries. (fn. 15) In the
12th century, however, the chapel was given an
endowment of land for its priest, (fn. 16) who was on
occasions called a vicar in the Middle Ages. (fn. 17)
Although the living had long been an endowed one,
in the 18th century it was claimed to be a donative,
exempt from archidiaconal visitation, in which the
minister had no freehold. (fn. 18) In 1843 it was augmented out of the impropriated tithes, (fn. 19) and was
thereafter deemed to be a rectory.
Margaret de Bohun was said to have granted the
advowson of Quedgeley to Llanthony Priory, (fn. 20) and
the right to nominate chaplains descended with the
ownership of the manor, the lessee of which was
charged with finding a chaplain and maintaining the
chapel. (fn. 21) When the manor and the rectory estate
were separated (fn. 22) the patronage of the supposed
donative descended with the rectory. (fn. 23) After 1843
the owner of that estate, Mrs. Curtis-Hayward, was
patron of the benefice, which had itself come to be
called the rectory, (fn. 24) and the advowson descended in
the Curtis-Hayward family (fn. 25) until it passed to the
bishop in 1963. (fn. 26)
In the 12th century Margaret Mautravers granted
a yardland and 30 a. to the chapel and priest of
Quedgeley. (fn. 27) The chaplain in the 14th century had
22 a. and the small tithes, (fn. 28) but such an acreage of
glebe was not afterwards recorded. In 1613 the
minister was said to have a house and c. 1 a. of
glebe, and also, in 1680, certain tithes and a rentcharge from some tithe-free lands. (fn. 29) The rentcharge may represent a rent for former glebe, which
would have been tithe-free, or a permanent commutation of tithes, or the result of an arrangement
initiated by Robert Greville, Lord Brooke (d. 1676),
whereby the great tithes were to be leased to the
minister for 70 years. (fn. 30) Sir William Dodington built
a house for the minister, (fn. 31) which was replaced in the
mid 19th century by a larger two-storied house,
later the rectory, of stone with a gabled roof of
slate. Later additions were pulled down c. 1962; (fn. 32)
the site of the earlier house was visible a little to the
north. The living, said to be worth £66 in 1603, (fn. 33)
was returned in 1650 as only a stipend of £12. (fn. 34)
It was worth £40 in the early 18th century (fn. 35) and
£60 c. 1775. (fn. 36) In 1843 Mrs. Curtis-Hayward gave
£115 a year from tithe-rents to endow the benefice,
which received the capital sum of £200 from Queen
Anne's Bounty. (fn. 37) The rectory was worth £185 a
yearin 1870. (fn. 38)
The chaplain of Quedgeley c. 1370 was a graduate. (fn. 39) In 1551 the minister's learning was not quite
satisfactory; (fn. 40) in 1593 one of two men listed as
curate of Quedgeley was a preacher though not a
graduate, while the other was 'not learned but in
life honest'. (fn. 41) John Makepeace held the living 1661-
1712, (fn. 42) but was said to have been out of his senses
for many years before he died. (fn. 43) There is no evidence
that any of the curates in the 18th century lived in
Quedgeley. In 1750 the curate also held a living in
Lincolnshire, and services then were held alternately in the morning and afternoon. (fn. 44) In the late
18th century at least one curate lived in Gloucester. (fn. 45)
There were frequent changes of curate in the earlier
19th century. The first incumbent after the living
became a rectory was for a time non-resident because of his health and paid a curate to serve the
parish, (fn. 46) but later lived in the parish as did his
successors. (fn. 47)
Margaret de Bohun gave 4s. rent and Robert
of the Field gave 4 a. to maintain candles. (fn. 48) In
1549 the Crown leased two half-acres of land
given to the church for the repair of the chalice
and for salt to make holy water, (fn. 49) and a lease of
1576 dealt with land called Lamp Half Acre, Salt
Half Acre, and Taper Land. (fn. 50)
The church of ST. JAMES, also called St.
James and St. Mary Magdalene in the 12th century, (fn. 51)
is a small building of ashlar with a Cotswold stone
roof. Before 1857 it comprised a chancel, nave,
south aisle or chapel opening from the nave, and a
tower with a spire at the west end of the aisle.
The nave extended west of the tower. The chancel is
said to have been of the 13th century, with an
inserted 15th-century window. (fn. 52) The south aisle
is of the 14th century; it opens to the nave by a
single chamfered arch dying into the wall, and the
east and south wall have each a two-light window
with restored tracery. The south window contains
fragments of ancient coloured glass. (fn. 53) The aisle
has a panelled roof with carved bosses and coats of
arms of the Barrows and the Arnolds. In the early
18th century the south aisle belonged to the Barrows
of Field Court in Hardwicke, (fn. 54) whose right to
attend Quedgeley church caused a dispute, and an
alleged riot in church, in 1532. (fn. 55) The tower appears
to have been built after the aisle, in the late 14th
century: it is of two stages, with an octagonal
broach spire in ashlar, and an external stair-vice
at the north-west angle. The tower arches to the
aisle and nave have hollow-chamfered orders. The
tower had served as a porch, but a north porch was
added before 1857. (fn. 56)
In 1857, to designs by H. Woodyer, the chancel
and nave were rebuilt and a north aisle was added, (fn. 57)
opening to the nave by an arcade of three bays in
13th-century style. The timbers of the trussed
rafter roof of the nave seem to have been re-used.
An organ-chamber and vestry were added on the
north side of the chancel between 1887 and 1891, (fn. 58)
and a timber south porch was added to the tower.
Of the 16th- and 17th-century inscriptions
recorded in the 18th century (fn. 59) there survive a brass
of 1532, in the chancel, for Frideswide (Fredeswid)
and Mary Porter, daughters of Arthur and Alys
Porter, a crude stone inscription over the south door
for Richard Barrow (d. 1563) and Elizabeth (d. 1584),
wife of James Barrow, an inscription for Richard
Barrow (d. 1651), and an elaborate mural monument for William Hayward (d. 1696) and his wife
Eleanor (d. 1684), the earliest of a number of
memorials in the church to members of the Hayward
family. In the churchyard a raised tomb with a
plain cross, thought to have been 12th-century, (fn. 60)
had been broken and removed by 1967. The plain
cylindrical lead font, perhaps of the 12th century,
has been encased in an octagonal stone font with
mosaic panels. (fn. 61) The pulpit and lectern incorporate
some decorative carved wood of the 15th or 16th
century. Five of the bells are of 1732, a sixth had
been added by 1870, and two more were added in
1891. (fn. 62) The plate includes a chalice of 1652, a
large plate paten of 1672, and a credence paten of
1691. (fn. 63) The registers begin in 1559 and are largely
complete.