All Saints' Church, Selsley

All Saints' Church stands on the hillside at Selsley, above the Frome valley south-west of Stroud, in the Five Valleys. Built in 1862 by the young architect G F Bodley for Samuel Stephens Marling, it holds some of the first church glass made by William Morris's firm, with windows by Morris, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown and Philip Webb. It is listed Grade I.

History

All Saints was built in 1862 for Samuel Stephens Marling, who commissioned it.

Bodley and the Tyrol

Marling is said to have wanted a copy of the church at Marling, now Marlengo, in the Tyrol, and Historic England records a watercolour of that church at Selsley. What George Frederick Bodley produced instead was French Gothic, in limestone ashlar, with a saddleback tower at the north-west corner. Bodley, who had trained under George Gilbert Scott, was at the start of his career, and Historic England counts Selsley one of his most important early works.

An early Morris and Company church

Bodley brought in the decorating firm of William Morris and his friends. Historic England counts Selsley among the firm's first church commissions, all for churches by Bodley, with others at Brighton and Scarborough; the church itself calls it the first, and says it is the only church in Britain whose windows were all designed by Morris and his colleagues. Philip Webb planned the scheme and drew all the animals; the figures were shared out among Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown. The windows follow thirteenth-century models, above all the chapel glass at Merton College, Oxford.

Marling's memorial

Sir Samuel Stephens Marling died in 1883. A large mortuary recess in the style of the fourteenth century, with a railed enclosure, marks his vault. Tablets to the Marling family line the south wall of the nave. A panelled north chapel and a west lobby with linenfold panels were added later.

What to see

The rose window over the west door is the one people come for: the Creation, designed by Morris and Webb, with a richly coloured Adam and Eve that the church counts among Morris's best small designs in stained glass.

• In the nave's south wall, three windows set in clear glass: Rossetti's Sermon on the Mount nearest the altar, Morris's St Paul preaching at Athens in the middle, and Burne-Jones's Christ blessing the children.
• In the apse, a sequence of the life of Christ: the Nativity and the Crucifixion by Madox Brown, the Visitation by Rossetti, the Resurrection by Burne-Jones and the Ascension by Morris, with Morris's Annunciation in the south chancel.
• A marble pulpit inlaid with coloured stone, marble shafts on the chancel arch, a boarded barrel roof over the chancel and a crown-post roof over the nave.
• Choir stalls with poppy-head and fleur-de-lys ends, and an octagonal font.
• Sir Samuel Marling's tomb recess, with a small panel of the life of Christ above it.
• Outside, the saddleback tower at the north-west corner, and the view over the Frome valley.

Visiting

All Saints is open in daylight hours, the church says, and entry is free. The main lych-gates are locked except for services, but the small gate to their right is always open. The church sits at the bottom of a long, steep drive from the road, which may be hard going with a wheelchair or pushchair; there is no published access statement. The church sells printed guides, £6 in 2026. Groups and coach parties are welcome and can book a guide and refreshments through the PCC Secretary. Sunday services are at 11.15am on the first three Sundays of the month, with evensong at 3pm on the fourth. Come on a bright afternoon, when the west sun lights the Creation rose.

Getting there

The church is on Pooles Lane in Selsley, on the hill road from Stroud to King's Stanley (satnav GL5 5LG or GL5 5LE). From the A419, turn up Selsley Hill at the roundabout by Sainsbury’s and bear right onto New Road towards King's Stanley; the church is about half a mile on the right. Park on the road beside the lych-gate. On foot, the Cotswold Way crosses Selsley Common, just above the church.

Nearby

The Bell Inn is in Selsley, a few hundred metres away. Across the valley stands Rodborough Fort on Rodborough Common, and south are the woods and lakes of Woodchester Park. In Stroud, St Laurence's is the town church. For the wider story of the firm, read William Morris and the Cotswolds and the Arts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds.