Herefordshire Again - Part 3: St George's, Orleton

 

On the Friday B was busy gardening so I decided to drive to Orleton and visit St George's Church which has a font and a dragon carving by the Herefordshire School and some mystery carvings of human heads.

The name Orleton means "settlement among the alders". It has been thought that it was the birthplace of Adam de Orleton who became Bishop of Hereford (1316-1327).  He supported Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer in forcing Edward II to abdicate. Even after Edward III had Mortimer executed Adam continued to prosper becoming Bishop of Worcester and then Winchester.

Orleton and Connections with the Mortimers, Marcher Lords

• The manor of Orleton had belonged to Queen Edith, widow of King Edward the Confessor.  Following her death in 1075 the manor was granted to Ralph I Mortimer (d1115-27) and remained in the hands of the Mortimers.
• St George, the parish church, was first built in the C12th under Mortimer patronage and in the C13th and C14th it was rebuilt and enlarged.
• Orleton was part of Joan de Geneville's estates after Roger IV Mortimer died in 1425.
• Just before his death Edward IV Mortimer asked the Bishop of Hereford for the right to bury the dead at Orleton instead of them being buried at Eye Church.  The bishop sent two people to walk the route between Eye and Orleton and they agreed it was marshy and hard to travel so it was agreed the dead would be buried in future at Orleton.

St  George's, Orleton

As mentioned above the church is Norman in origin and most of the present building dates back to the C13th and C14th.  The C13th West Tower has a shingled broach spire with plain mullioned bell openings. The nave mainly dates back to 1340 and the windows have cusped, intersected or reticulated tracery.

First of all I had a walk round the exterior of the church and the churchyard which was full of wild flowers.

Germander Speedwell (or Bird's Eye as my grandfather used to call it).

It is always good to see a sign like this!

The churchyard cross dates back to C14th or C15th. It has octagonal steps  and a square base with a niche. The shaft is C18th and the wooden cross on the top is modern.

I loved this dragon weather vane.

There were primroses everywhere.

The timber North Porch is dated 1686 with the initials R S.

The round arched West doorway and door may date back to c1200.

Church Interior 

There are a lot of photos! I should perhaps have split this church into two posts!

The church was restored in 1864/5 by R W Drew (Butterfield's nephew). He also rebuilt the chancel in 1867. The interior fittings are mostly from the Drew restoration.

Looking down the nave towards the chancel.

Now we have one of the main reasons for my visit the C12 font characteristic of the Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculptors. It is a cylindrical bowl carved with an arcade of 9 bays with round moulded arches and each has the figure of a bearded apostle carrying books and some a short sword or staff.  St Peter is the only apostle that can be recognised as he carries his keys.  The figures have typical stringy folds and also the long jointed fingers that compare with work at Kilpeck church. The work on the font is quite rustic compared to other work by the Herefordshire School and it is thought it may have been carved by an apprentice.

The Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculptors carried out work between c1134 and c1155 in churches in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire.  They were a group of sculptors who may have received their training at Hereford Cathedral.  Their work was of the highest quality and among the finest of English Romanesque sculpture.  Their carvings drew on both Christian and pagan symbols and could be bawdy at times.  The main researchers on the School are George Zarnecki and Malcolm Thurlby. We do not know the name of the sculptors although two were referred to as "The Chief Master" and the "Aston Master".

The roof is C14th in form with tie and collar beams and was rebuilt in the C19th.

There are 2 Dugout Chests made from hollowing out a tree trunk.  The chest on the left is C14th and the one on the right C13th.  These chests were once used to store documents, vestments, the sacraments and possibly donations to the church.

Memorials

I found it hard to get a photo of this memorial as the words don't really stand out but I wanted to include it as it is to Thomas Blount (1618-1679) who was lexicographer, legal writer and Herefordshire antiquary.

Old clock mechanism with some parts missing from the early C18th tower clock

There are several theories as to who the carved heads on the walls and chancel arch represent.

1.  Traditional local stories suggest that the large male head on the North Wall is King Edward II who looks towards his wife Queen Isabella on the South Wall.  The smaller head by the king's depicts Pier Gaveston, the murdered favourite of the king. The figures around the chancel arch are at the peak Roger IV Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, and lover of Queen Isabella. One of the figures on the arch represents the Abbot of Wigmore Abbey and the other is Adam of Orleton, Bishop of Hereford.
2. Mortimer History Society experts consider that the royal heads are more likely to be Edward III and his wife Philippa of Hainault and the small head near the king is probably an unidentified church benefactor.  They do agree that the head at the top of the chancel arch could be Roger IV Mortimer but the two mitred heads could be any of the Bishops of Hereford.
3. It cannot be certain who they depict as most carvings of this period were generic and stylised and the masons were unlikely to have actually met the subjects in their carvings.

Sorry about the quality of the photo above of a possible Roger IV Mortimer.  This was one of the church features I really wanted to see and I couldn't get a photo when I was standing under the arch so I thought I'd take one further back from the nave and I promptly forgot! So the photo above is a very heavy crop from a picture of the whole nave!

Interestingly I have seen similar stone carved heads of a King and a Queen at St Peter's church , Wootton Wawen, although these were not painted and the church guide there suggested they were possibly depicting King Edward III and Queen Philippa of Hainault.

Next the other item I really wanted to see a carving of a stone dragon again by the Herefordshire School. The dragon is carved on a shaft and dates back to the C12th. It was probably once part of a door jamb or side of an arch.  It is badly damaged but you can make out the head and part of the body of a coiled dragon.  It may have been used in the C18th or early C19th as a weight for the church clock.

Early C17th Jacobean pulpit

Local stories suggest that the crucifix above the pulpit was carved by a Belgian refugee in 1916 as a thank you to the villagers of the Orleton for their hospitality.

Chancel

C13th niche between the two lancets of the East Window.

Chancel window in memory of the Rev William Edward Edwards Vicar at Orleton 1853-1901.

East Window - Memorial glass to Letitia Ann  Edwards, wife of the vicar, dated 1892.

There is an interesting local story about Miss Letitia who had two Herefordshire vicars as suitors.  She lived in Orleton and the Reverend W Edwards of Orleton was in love with her but then Henry Williams Baker aged 30 and heir to a baronetcy moved to nearby Monkland church as vicar and also courted her. (Henry Baker contributed to and helped compile "Hymns Ancient and Modern". I did a post on this church at Monkland a year or so back.)  Fortunately for the Reverend Edwards Letitia chose to marry him.

Looking down the nave from the chancel.

There are fragments of C14th glass in the next 2 windows including the heads of a tonsured cleric and a woman wearing a kerchief with a small amount of yellow stain on her hair.  There is also a roundel with vine leaves.

In the nave is a stained glass window by Powell and Sons dated 1939.

West Door leading to the porch.

Even though I was on my own and had no-one waiting in the car so I could spend as long as I liked I still managed to miss features!

ie getting a proper photo of the carved head of Roger Mortimer IV (I am still miffed about this!) and also a clock dial in the tower porch south wall dated 1830.  I shall have to return - I also noticed a rather lovely looking pub in the village called The Boot. I will take D with me next time and bribe him with a pub lunch!

On the Saturday we went for a walk around Kyre Park and I revisited St Mary's, Kyre as I didn't see all of the church on the first visit and I'll write about that in the next two posts.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. ( I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference:

"Buildings of England Herefordshire" Pevsner by Alan Brooks and Nikolaus Pevsner, The University Press, 2017

"The Parish Church of St George, Orleton, Herefordshire: An Architectural History" Adapted and updated from a pamphlet compiled by Reverent Peter Walter 1994 and updated 2023 by John Berry and Liz Mackay

"Medieval Stained Glass of Herefordshire and Shropshire by Robert Walker, Logaston Press, 2023.

"Tales of Old Herefordshire" by Kathleen Lawrence Smith, Countryside Books, 1990.