St Nicholas, Ozleworth

St Nicholas of Myra is the church of Ozleworth, a hamlet in the wooded valleys about 2 miles east of Wotton-under-Edge, in the South Cotswolds. It is a small Norman church in a round churchyard, built about a six-sided tower that stands in the middle of the church, an unusual plan. The Churches Conservation Trust cares for it, and it is listed Grade II*.

History

The listing gives the church as probably a foundation of the middle of the twelfth century, and the Churches Conservation Trust thinks it began as the nave of a small chapel. The round churchyard may be older still: the Churches Conservation Trust suggests a curved enclosure like this can mark an early, even pre-Christian, site.

The six-sided tower

The tower stands between the nave and the chancel, irregularly hexagonal in plan, with sides of uneven length. Its upper stage has a two-light window on each face, divided by a central shaft with a scrolled capital in an arched recess. The Church of England's heritage record thinks it the only hexagonal tower in this position left in the country; the other in Gloucestershire, at Swindon near Cheltenham, stands at the west end of its church. The carved south doorway and the west tower arch are thirteenth-century work.

Later changes

The chancel was lengthened in the fourteenth century. In 1873 the Revd W H Lowder lengthened the nave and restored the whole church, and most of what you see inside is his Victorian refit. When the parish no longer needed it, the church passed to the Redundant Churches Fund, now the Churches Conservation Trust, which keeps it open.

What to see

Walk round the outside first to see the tower rise from the middle of the roofs, then go in by the south porch.

• The south doorway of two orders, inside a porch whose outer doorway has stiff-leaf capitals, and the thirteenth-century west tower arch
• The font, of the thirteenth century and plainly, almost rustically, carved
• In the east window, a fragment of medieval glass showing the head of a saint
• In the south-west window of the tower, four Flemish glass panels of the sixteenth or seventeenth century
• The Victorian refit, with red needlework panels of lilies on the east wall and the same pattern painted on the wall behind
• The round churchyard itself, one of the clues to the site's age

Visiting

St Nicholas is open every day from 10am to 4pm, and entry is free, with donations to the Trust welcome. The church stands on the private Ozleworth estate, so access is to the church and churchyard only; keep to the bridle path and do not wander into the park. There is electricity but no heating, water or toilets. Visitors who cannot manage the path can arrange in advance with the estate office to drive to the churchyard, where the way to the porch is flat. A dry day is best: the first part of the path down can be muddy and slippery.

Getting there

By car, take the A4135 east from Wotton-under-Edge to its junction with the B4058 and follow the signs for the historic church and Newark Park. Park in the clearing on Blacksmith Hill by the Ozleworth estate gates (what3words reviewed.pianists.courts; GL12 7QA) and from the wooden gate follow the bridle path downhill and round to the left to the churchyard. The nearest bus stop is at the Ozleworth turn on the B4058, about 3.5km away on foot, served by bus 40 between Stroud, Nailsworth and Wotton-under-Edge from Monday to Saturday only. The nearest station is Stroud, with taxis.

On foot, the Kingscote, Ozleworth and Lasborough walk from the Hunters Hall Inn comes down to the church before it turns along the wooded floor of Ozleworth Bottom, 7.5 miles (11.9km) round.

Nearby

The same walk passes Lasborough Park, James Wyatt's Gothic house of 1794, and the little church of St Bartholomew at Newington Bagpath beside its castle mound. In Wotton-under-Edge, St Mary's Church is the town church, and in Westridge Wood above North Nibley Brackenbury Ditches, a hillfort on the edge, is scheduled as a monument. For a meal, the walk starts and ends at the Hunters Hall Inn at Kingscote, and the Royal Oak is in Wotton.