St Peter and St Paul, Blockley

St Peter and St Paul is the parish church of Blockley, by the square in the middle of the village. The church traces its founding to about 800, keeps a late twelfth-century chancel and a west tower of 1725 to 1727 attributed to the Woodwards of Chipping Campden, and is listed Grade II*. It is open daily, and plays St Mary's, Kembleford, in the BBC's Father Brown.

History

Blockley had a monastery in Saxon times, and the manor belonged to the bishops of Worcester. The church's own account dates its founding to about 800. In 855 Burhred, king of Mercia, granted the monastery at Blockley to Aelhun, Bishop of Worcester, who paid 300 shillings of silver for it, the Victoria County History records. The bishops held the manor until 1648, and Bishop Cantilupe died there in 1266.

The Norman church and after

The Victoria County History dates the church to about 1180, and the church's own history says the Norman building was finished in 1189, about a century after it was begun. Its chancel survives, with scalloped capitals on its vaulting shafts; Historic England describes it as prepared for vaulting. A high altar was dedicated in 1285, the north chapel was added in the late thirteenth century, and the north aisle and many of the windows followed in the fourteenth century. In 1636 and 1637 the south side of the nave was remodelled and the clerestory built, with a porch dated 1630 carrying a sundial.

The tower and the silk village

The tower was rebuilt between 1725 and 1727, and the listing attributes it to Edward or Thomas Woodward of Chipping Campden, and Edward Woodward also carved a wall monument inside. The church's history says galleries went up in the late eighteenth century to hold the people the silk mills brought, and that they and the box pews were taken out in 1925. A north porch was added in 1871.

The Rushouts of Northwick

Sir James Rushout bought the Northwick estate in 1683, and the family held it until 1912. Their arcade of monuments, from 1698 to 1878, stands on the east wall of the north aisle, and about two thousand skulls were found beneath the Rushout vault, the remains of an old charnel house.

What to see

Start outside with the tower: four stages, a round-arched west doorway, Gothick belfry windows and crocketed pinnacles, a Georgian design on a medieval church. On the south side is the porch of 1630 with its sundial.

Inside, look for:

• the late Norman chancel, with its scalloped capitals, a fourteenth-century piscina and three sedilia;
• two brasses: Philip Worthim, a priest who died in 1488, kneeling, and William Neele, vicar of Blockley and rector of Bourton-on-the-Water, who died in 1510, set in the back of the sedilia;
• the fifteenth-century oak screen across the chancel arch, the seventeenth-century carved pulpit and the octagonal font with a fourteenth-century bowl;
• the kneeling figures of William and Elizabeth Childe, of 1633 and 1622, at the east end of the north aisle, and the arcade of Rushout memorials beside them; the listing records busts by Rysbrack among the memorials;
• the wall monument on the south wall by Edward Woodward to Edward Croft, who died in 1717, and, on the north wall, the reclining figure of Anne Jenkinson, who died in 1659;
• the east window of 1838 by Richard Hulls, and the eighteenth-century plaster ceiling of the nave.

The tower holds a ring of ten bells, augmented from eight by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 2018, Dove's Guide records; the oldest two were cast by Henry Bagley in 1638. Several tombs in the churchyard are listed, the Elizabeth Pengree memorial at Grade II*.

Visiting

The church is open every day from 9am to 5pm, and entry is free. It tells the National Churches Trust that there is level access to the main areas, accessible toilets nearby and on-street parking at the church, and that it is dog friendly. A weekday is the quietest time to look round.

Getting there

Park on the street in Blockley, which has no council car park. Stagecoach buses 1, 1A, 2 and 2A run between Moreton-in-Marsh station, Blockley and Chipping Campden about six times a day each way, Sundays included (late October 2026); check the timetable before you travel.

Three of our walks pass the church. Blockley and Batsford Park starts on Bell Lane close by, Blockley and Norcombe Wood comes back through the village within about 70m of it, and the 9-mile walk from Chipping Campden to Blockley passes on its way through.

Nearby

The Russell Spring on the High Street is a few minutes' walk, and on Bell Lane, joined to the village shop, is Blockley Café. The Great Western Arms is the village pub on Station Road. St Mary's at Batsford is on the walk over the hill, and St James's at Chipping Campden is the wool church at the far end of the Campden walk. Our guide to Cotswold film and TV locations has more on Father Brown.