Dowles Church is a demolished

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the Parish of

Upper Arley Upper Arley () is a village and civil parish near Kidderminster in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, the village had a population of 741 at the 2011 census. Amen ...

in England. Only the ruined

Parish House A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, par ...

and

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

remain today. Dedicated to

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, the site of the church is approximately 1 mile outside of

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

and accessible using the North Worcestershire Path and the Geopark Way. It was constructed as part of the

Dowles Manor Dowles is a hamlet in the civil parish of Upper Arley, in the Wyre Forest district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is about 3 miles from the town of Kidderminster. The parish is divided into two parts by the Severn. History Dowl ...

estate in Dowles.

Appearance upon demolition

Dowles Church had a quasi-gothic appearance, surrounded by a graveyard and accompanied by a smaller Parish House. Its tower stood above a grey slate roof; supported by brick walls covered completely in ivy, permeated by windows traceried by red sandstone. There was a wooden porch above and around the door beneath the tower. Inside: an organ chamber was present that corresponded with the rest of the design through the sandstone that was used to detail the church. The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

had a circular design, and was likely younger than the church in which it was situated. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, however, was much older. It bore the date ‘1695’ and the initials ‘I.G.’ ‘I.B.’. A piece of framed artwork served as the

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

of the altar, inscribed ‘Fraunces ap Bowen gave this Gifter 1669’. On the south side of the chancel: there was a Jacobean bench for secular use, in contrast to the rest of the church. It too had an inscription: ‘Sit Down Ye Weary.’ There were two bells inside Dowles Church: * The first, by Westcote of Bristol, inscribed ‘R Northall Churchwarden 1823’ * The second, by John Greene of Worcester, ‘W. G. 1595.’

History

There has been a church on the site of Dowles Church since it was first recorded c.1217. Dowles Church (as it was demolished) was constructed c.1789 upon a much older church, thought to have been constructed sometime before 1217. The church was originally dedicated to

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, persecution of the Christians that the Roman Empire, Rom ...

, before being rededicated to

after its construction. The church was then modified c.1882, adding a semi-octagonal

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, new quasi-gothic windows, and converting the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and tower arches to the two-centred form. These details were all produced in red sandstone, a common rock in Bewdley. Later still, an organ chamber was added in red brick. It had traceried windows of sandstone, corresponding with the red brick and sandstone of the windows of the chancel and

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. The church was demolished c.1956 due to disuse. The surviving (now ruined)

was constructed alongside the church. Part of this structure and the church's

are still standing and can be visited to the present.

Parish House

Dowles Church had a Parish House separate from the church itself. It still remains (ruined) today. It is a common misconception locally that the remains of the Parish House are the remains of the church itself.

Graveyard

Urban myth in Bewdley says that a woman named Susan Wowen is buried in the graveyard. She was alleged to be a witch in the 1600s. Her burial and continued presence in the graveyard are unverifiable, as the names on some of the surviving graves are illegible, though there are plenty that can still be read. An example of a

mortsafe A mortsafe or mortcage was a construction designed to protect graves from disturbance, used in the United Kingdom. Resurrectionists in the United Kingdom, Resurrectionists had supplied schools of anatomy since the early 18th century. This was due ...

remains in the graveyard. By the size, it is thought that the grave belongs to a child. This is unverifiable due to the lack of a headstone adjacent to the grave.

References

{{Reflist Wyre Forest District Destroyed churches