WELLINGTON

Some background

WELLINGTON S.Margaret of Antioch is a recent and unexpected addition to the group. For despite the shared boundary with Canon Pyon, Wellington has always looked south towards Hereford rather than west, and it lies close to the A49. At 44 households in 1086, it was not as large as its neighbour, but from 1891 its population has consistently been higher. The hamlets at the Marsh and Auberrow are more compact, and the village boasted two almshouses and a mill. Wellington has been able to survive as a village and S. Margaret’s is geographically a “village church” in a way the others are not. Even the Visitation Returns of 1387 show a contrast with the other parishes of the group —parochiani dicunt quod omnia, ut asserunt, stant bene ibidem: “the parishioners claim that everything there is all right.” The church is also the largest and lightest of the four, just as ancient as the others but, because of its dimensions and lack of focal points, potentially more flexible. Slightly off-putting, perhaps, are the remains of high-level access to a now disappeared rood screen.

Architectural notes

WELLINGTON church has a complex history. Built of sandstone rubble with stone slate roofs, it appears to be late 12th century (four-staged tower, nave and south doorway), 13th century (chancel), 14th century (south porch —note the small female face), 14th or 15th century (tower top), 15th or early 16th century (north transept and aisle) and 18th century (bell ringers’ door). Restorations took place in 1883, 1887 and between 1912 and 1913.

Inside, the waggon roof of the nave is 15th century and has been restored less heavily than its companion roof in the north transept ; the chancel ceiling is late 19th. The corbel braces of the north aisle have carved heads  originally from the 15th century. There is a blocked 12th century window west of the porch. The chancel arch is rounded and flattened, and therefore probably earlier than its late 12th century pointed companion beneath the tower. There are fragments of 15th century stained glass in the tracery of the chancel’s south-west window, a 13th century piscina in its east wall, a 15th century oak credence in the south wall, and an arched recess, possibly for a tomb, in the north wall. Though the font is 14th century and the pulpit is a Jacobean top on a Victorian base. The building has spacious feel and, apart from the chancel and tower arches, there is nothing that immediately draws the eye. There are three mediaeval bells in the tower.

The church is listed Grade 1 and much of the information has been taken from the listing description.