History of Siddington Church
History of Siddington Church
There were once two churches in Siddington. St. Mary's and St. Peter's.
Names of incumbents are recorded for both churches from the mid-sixteenth century.
St. Mary's was demolished by the Act of 1778.
St. Peter's has three parts of the original Norman building.
The first is the South Doorway under the porch. The hood-mould has at its apex a demon's head with horns, and in the three recessed orders, fifteen beak-heads. The Tympanum shows what appears to be Christ in Majesty flanked by two kneeling figures, one St. Peter, the other possibly a donor but the central figure holds the keys, the figure to the left has a halo, the one on the right not, so another possibility is that it is St. Peter sitting in judgement.
The stone Font is also Norman and is a rather curious tall cylindrical shape, decorated with a herringbone band and an acanthus scroll at the top and a cable and saw pattern at the bottom, with diagonally interlaced tripartite bands bearing raised cubes between the interlacings.
The third Norman feature is the chancel arch, which has chevron mouldings and pellets on the hood-mould, with beast-head stops.
The Chancel has been restored and the reredos is 19th century in Early English style although the 13th century piscine and double sedilia are still in place.
The tower and the broach-spine above the porch were added in 1864. The tower contains six bells.
On the outside the whole of the north aisle has an embattled parapet, and according to Samuel Rudders, in his "New History of Gloucestershire" (1779) there was an unfinished tower at the west end