Duntisbourne Abbots is an attractive small village of stone houses beside the River Dunt. The land originally belonged to the Abbots of Gloucester. The church is set on a rise above the village and is surrounded by a big graveyard. Neatly trimmed yews line the path from the lych gate.
The church was built on the site of a wooden Saxon church. The base of the solid square tower is early Norman and the oldest part of the church. The top of the tower with its saddleback roof was added later. The nave and north aisle is early C12th. There was a major restoration at the end of the C19th when the low chancel arch was replaced, gallery removed, plaster stripped from the walls, south aisle and organ chamber added and the south porch rebuilt. The pews and stained glass date from then. The chancel was replastered in 1960.
An old nail studded wood door leads into the church.
The church is unusual as the chancel has three arches, part of the Victorian restoration. The large central arch is supported by pillars with heavily carved capitals. On either side are smaller arches with trifoliate tops. The stone pulpit is part of the Victorian restoration. The chancel is bare apart from small altar with altar rail ad chairs for the priest.
Massive round pillars with carved capitals and transitional pointed arches separate nave and north aisle. This theme was copied when the south aisle was added in 1872.
At the back of the church is an early Norman font with trilobed ornamentation.
We found this rather an uninspiring church which didn’t fire the imagination, which may be the result of the heavy restoration by the Victorians.
The church is open daily. Roads around the church are narrow, so we parked on the grass triangle by the road junction.
