KILPECK : CHURCH OF ST MARY & ST DAVID
(HEREFORDSHIRE)
Church Post Code HR2 9DB
Open to Visitors
Visited March 2026
It was a fine and sunny spring morning in March 2026; an early start to the day for what was to be a trip that I had looked forward to for many years, the destination being Kilpeck in Herefordshire. According to Google Maps it was 152 miles from my house to the west of Peterborough. We were heading there by car but Google suggested that I could have cycled it in 14 hours; which appears to be highly optimistic but will remain untested.
The church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck was described by Pevsner as being ‘one of the most perfect Norman churches in England’. Kilpeck itself is a small village that can be found some eight miles to the south west of Hereford, around five miles on the English side of the Welsh border. This is a small, peaceful village, with the parish as a whole, including neighbouring hamlets, recording a population of 475 at the time of the 2021 census.
There is a great deal of history here; with it being suggested that there was a Roman courtyard to the north east of the churchyard. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 with no church or priest mentioned at that time in lands owned by King William.
There was a castle here, which was situated close to the west of the church which was built around 1090. This was of some importance with King John staying here three times between 1211 and 1214. The castle fell in to decline after the Black Death in 1348/49 and was recorded as being in ruins in the 1530’s. There was also a Benedictine monastery here alongside the church from the 12th century which was abandoned in 1422.
This must have been a beautiful sight, with castle, Priory and church all standing together with the village being prosperous. However the Black Death and three years of famine affected the area greatly with the church remaining in its original form with no finances there to increase the church in size.
The church of St Mary and St David stands isolated a little to the north of the village; standing on raised ground. It is thought that the church was built around 1140, but it is suggested that there would have been a Saxon church here before that time; with mention of a religious site of some kind here back as far as 640AD.
Immediately on leaving the car on arrival there was a real sense of peace here and videos of the exterior were filmed to the constant background of birdsong; a solitary plane the only evidence of the outside world. It will never happen as this was a one off trip, but I would like to be in the church grounds here early in the day listening to the dawn chorus and also to be here at the end of the day; listening to the birds as they get ready for roost with a pleasing mental image of sitting in the grounds on a warm summer evening, a short time away from the world and its stresses, a cold drink in hand, listening to thunder rumbling off in the distance.
The church that we see today is a fairly basic structure of nave and chancel with rounded apse. A bellcote rises up at the west end, which houses two bells; there are no porches with the visitor entering in through a south door. Structurally the church is pretty much as it would have been when it was built in the 12th century with the exception of a window and door on the south side being added during the 14th century. An old engraving also shows that there was once a small window on the south wall that lines up with the balcony at the west end; this having been bricked up at some point.
There was Victorian restoration here in the 1840’s and the 1860’s when the apse was refaced and several periods of more recent restoration but the structure is pretty much unaltered.
The 12th century south door is wonderfully carved, with snakes, monsters, animals and warriors and was built by the Hereford School of masons. The door jambs are carved with snakes which have their tails in the mouth of another. This looks to be a variation in the Ouroboros, a serpent with its tail in its mouth which was an often used symbol for eternity and the circle of life. The left hand door jamb has two human warriors; the upper warrior holding a lance with the one lower down holding a double edged sword. At the top of this jamb we see two Dragon like creatures in battle. The right hand jamb has a green man at the top with two birds at the bottom; with serpents and interlace design throughout.
The tympanum over the door itself has the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden. The rounded arch is of three orders. The inner arch consists of a chevron design, with the inner arch comprising for the most part beakhead designs; within this order though we also see an angel alongside a phoenix and several serpents which have their tails in their mouths.
The outer order, which may have been added later as it doesn’t rest on the jambs, consists of fish birds and dragons along with things that look almost as if they are signs of the zodiac; curious upside down heads and more curious still, the upper parts of heads, with eyes and a forehead but nothing below that.
Just a quick close up look at three of the carvings; left and two serpents emerge from the mouth of a beast. Central we see a Manticore, which is a Lion with a human head and a Scorpion like sting in its tail. Right we see a curiously upside down upper part of a head!
A series of 85 finely carved corbels surround the church; an eclectic mixture with the Agnus Dei the Lamb of God, easily identifiable on the apse to the east. Why are there so many and why are they here? Well, grotesques have no specific purpose except decoration, unlike gargoyles which are there to divert water away from the walls. Some see these carvings as an apotropaic mark, helping to protect the church and those in it from evil.
One carving in particular is well known and regularly appears on churchcrawling Facebook pages. This is a Sheela na gig, a sexually explicit carving of a female; said to be a fertility symbol, although some suggest that they are also a symbol to warm the onlooker against lust or an apotropaic symbol to prevent against evil.
The Wikipedia page for Sheela na gigs features a photograph of the carving here, which can be found to the south east of the church. It shows a curious bald figure; one eye looking straight forward with the other peering off to the right, legs speared and holding open her vulva.
For the most part the carvings are in really good condition; but one has damaged which according to the church guide was caused by a Victorian woman who was offended by nakedness on one of the carvings but who evidently deemed the sheela acceptable!
They are an eclectic mix with some ferocious; with one in the form of a pig having a person in its mouth. Others are less fearsome; two chicks huddle together looking upwards, perhaps waiting for their mum to come back with food. However, a closer look at this one shows that they are each holding a snake in their beaks! Close by a large bird looks on with a human head hanging upside down below it! Another bird shelters her chick.
Two human heads peer out from underneath a bear; with the neighbouring human head sporting a particularly fine moustache. One human head looks surprised; possibly something to do with the wasps nest attached to it.
A dog and a rabbit sit side by side. Two humans appear to be embracing, or perhaps dancing or wrestling; with its neighbour playing a rebec, a stringed instrument of the middle ages. One further looks to be a contortionist. Some appear to be carved with a less skilled hand and the excellent church guide suggests that some of the carvings might have been carved by apprentices.
The west end of the church is relatively plain compared to the grandeur of the south door; but has a window with rounded arch; intricately carved with an interlace design on the jambs. To the top of each side of the window we see a green man. Grotesque monsters project out from the west wall.
The double bellcote rises up, and was rebuilt as part of the Victorian restoration. Two bells hang here with the first cast by Taylor of Loughborough in 1986. I am assuming that was a recasting of an existing bell but I haven’t been able to find out any details.
The second is of real age, being cast during the 14th century by the Gloucester bell foundry which was active between the years 1330 and 1380.
Fascinating to think to what things must have been like here when this was cast. I would assume that it might have been cast pre Black Death, before 1348, as things would have been far more difficult socially and financially after the country was decimated; with the castle falling on to hard times after the Black Death and the priory to be abandoned within the not too distant future.
Moving inside, walls are whitewashed and all was simple and uncluttered, with walls free from memorials. The chancel arch is of two moulded orders with semi circular arch; with a further identical arch leading through to the apse, which contains the high altar. Looking to the west there is a gallery, which dates from the mid 17th century.
To take a look at things in a little detail; there are some fine carvings on the pillars of the chancel arch. There are two larger figures on the north and south pillars, with a smaller figure at the foot of each pillar. It is tempting to suggest that the four largest figures represent the four Gospel writers; Matthew Mark Luke and John but this would not work as one of the figures holds a key which would make this a depiction of St Peter.
With regards the figures lower down, one of these is a priest who is holding an aspergillum, a holy water sprinkler and the other holds a scourge. The arch leading through to the apse, the holiest part of the church, is free from decoration.
The apse is exquisite! The high altar is tastefully decorated with cross, candlesticks and an open Bible. There are three windows in the apse, all again with semi circular arches, which have stained glass dating from the late 1840’s restoration with two from Augustus Pugin depicting King David; one showing him playing the harp and one further showing him victorious, carrying the severed head of Goliath. A third window depicts the Agnus Dei the Lamb of God. There is some fine rib vaulting in the apse, with the ribs converging in to a series of four connected heads.
Looking to the west we see a gallery, which dates from the mid 17th century, a filled in two light window against the south wall which in its day would have looked out over the ruins of the castle.
I went up in to the gallery and spent a while just looking at the scene below me; trying to visualise what things would have been like in this church many hundreds of years ago. I spoke to a church warden once in a church to the west of Peterborough and he used an expression that I think is relevant here; he said that ‘the walls of the church resounded with the prayers of nearly a thousand years’. My goodness what these stones would have seen over the centuries!
The early Norman font was carved from one piece of stone and is supported by several pillars which are suggested to have come from exterior shafts from windows in the castle. Difficult to see because of the foliage in there but the metal pieces in the rim are part of a lock which locked the Holy Water away from inappropriate use; the Constitutions of Archbishop Edmund Rich in 1236 implemented a law which stated that church fonts must be locked to protect this Holy Water.
Interestingly there are memorial slabs on the floor of the apse to the Saise/Sayce family with thee word Saise in the Welsh language meaning ‘Englishman!’.
Making my way out through the south door out to the church grounds, again my thoughts turned to what things must have looked like in the past for those leaving this same door. To look out to the west and see the castle in its prime; in the days before the Black Death hit and the castle started its decline. The castle that King John had visited three times! John travelled with a huge retinue of people; what a sight it must have been. Perhaps King John would have entered the church itself.
There is nothing in the church grounds that is on any rarity of great interest but a chest tomb dated 1829 to the south of the chancel does have its own Grade II Listing. I was interested to see a very weather inscription on a gravestone to John Johnson who died in 1849 aged 70 years. It has script from Matthew Chapter 25 verses 6 which reads ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him’ which is part of the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. This parable teaches us to be spiritually prepared for the coming of Jesus. Script from Matthew Chapter 24 verse 44 is also included ‘Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh’.
What a joy to have finally been able to see this beautiful church after so many years. I had never photographed a church outside of England so we headed a few miles south west, across the border in to Wales, visiting the church of St Nicholas at Grosmont and St Bridget’s at Skenfrith; with each of these being open. It was a 300 odd mile round trip excluding the brief detour in to Wales. Was it worth it…heck yes! A gem that is to be treasured! The church at Kilpeck would be included in my top ten churches visited; and to be fair it would be high up in that list as well. An absolute must visit if you are anywhere in the area.