Shire of Gems -continued-

Continuing my project to visit all the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) properties in the historic county of Gloucestershire..by bike

#churchcrawl #cycletour

The Churches:

Shipton Sollars:
https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-churches/st-marys-church-shipton-sollars-gloucestershire

Eastleach:
https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-churches/st-michael-st-martin-church-eastleach-martin-gloucestershire

Shorncote:
https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-churches/all-saints-church-shorncote-gloucestershire

Shire of Gems guide:
https://cdn.visitchurches.org.uk/uploads/images/Churches/Guides/Bristol-and-Gloucestershire-County-Guide.pdf?v=1728918961

Hello, good morning. I’ve just gone 7:20 a.m. on Monday the 14th of July and I’m on Yate Station in South Glosser. I’ve just ridden up from my hometown of Bath about 16 miles to this station. I’m continuing my project a sh of gems visiting all the churches conservation trust properties in the historic county of Glstershare. Today heading up to Gloucester. I’m going to do about a 68 mile road eastwards. It’s in a kind of bow which will then come down to Chippenham station tonight and I’ll get a train home visiting three churches. Well, it’s just gone 8:00 a.m. I’m heading out of Gloucester towards Chman. Thinking about it, I probably could have got the train up to Chartman, but I I realized afterwards. So, I’m probably going to hit Rush. The first church is at 15 miles. Well, I’ve got to say getting out of Glouester was easy. There’s these fantastic cycle lanes. Really well sought out. It’s almost like riding along a carpet and it’s segregated from the pavement. So, you know, there’s no conflict between pedestrians and cyclists and you’re well away from the road. And I’ve just realized where I am. I’m just passing this place called Saffron. They design and build the undercarriage for the Airbus. That’s a pretty amazing bit of kit, isn’t it? So, I wasn’t expecting to be filming riding between Glouester and Chaplan. As I said, this cycle pad’s fantastic. It’s quite well used as well. A few points of interest so far. I set the alarm for 400 a.m. I like a couple of hours to get up and have a coffee and some breakfast and wake up properly. And I first thing I noticed was it was still dark at 4:00 a.m. When I was on holiday a month ago, it was light by4 to 4 in the morning, probably before that, but that’s when I was tending to wake up. The other thing is I came along the bath to Bristol psychopath and you could just smell burning and then I came across this really quite substantial fire damage down the embankment of the old railway line which the cycle pass follows into a field. That must be thousands of pounds of damage there in the crop field. Uh coming up to traffic lights. You really do have to wait here cuz they’re quite busy junctions. Yeah. My first thought was possibly somebody had been a bit irresponsible with the barbecue cuz we’ve just come to the end of this big heat wave. And then it looked more like it had actually started in the on it looked more like it started from the embankment of the railway. So, I’m wondering if it is sparks from the Aven Heritage Steam Railway. I don’t know. I’m not pointing any fingers. And then just as I passed underneath the M4 on a fairly busy commuter road, a deer ran out from the left hand side, ran along about a couple of hundred yards in front of me, and then turn right to a hedge. Look like it’s familiar with the gaps. That That was really quite nice. I’ll just wait there because it does say red bicycle symbol. It’s still fairly early and I’ve just made my way from Gloucester to Chartam along that fantastic almost carpeted cycle way. Mostly cycle lanes through Chart them few back streets. I had to really scrutinize the GPS to make sure I was following the track GPS track and now we’ve just come up through this lovely park and going to get on this minor road towards Kings Hadley I think. So, our three churches today, I’ve screen grabbed them. It’s St. Mary at Shipton Solers at 15 miles. Then there’s St. Michael and St. Martin at East Leech 33 miles. And then All Saints at Sha Coat at 49 miles. As usual, there’s probably quite a lot of glare. I’ll put a screenshot up of this. We’re going to on that list. We’re going to number 13, number three, and number 14. There you go. I’ve circled it in the bottom southeast corner of Gsters. So, we’re now coming up to 10 miles. So, 5 miles to our first church at Shipton Solars. That way, we’re up in the glorious Cotsworlds. Now, can you see that brown sign there? We’ve just crossed over a busy road. This is our first church, I think. Anyway, it says it’s open all day and I’m hoping this is St. Mary’s at Shipton Solers cuz it was supposed to be at 15 miles and my GPS says 14.97. So, you don’t get much more precise than that, do you? Right, let’s pop up and have a look. Gosh, just hear the roar of that road along there. This is St. This is St. Mary’s at Shipton Solace. Beautiful location. Just about to drop down into this little wooded dip, but you can see all the Cotswwell scenery along there. I’ve been just marveling at it as I’ve come along some quite nice roads. I’ll try and get some shots of that later on. But this is the first of today’s three churches. St. Mary, Shipton, Solers. These are churches which are cared for by the church’s conservation trust. Tells you a bit about it here. This church is cared for by the church’s conservation trust. The national charity protecting historic church is at risk. Although no longer used for regular worship, our churches remain consecrated and open to all. Whether this is the door to get in Oh, yes it is. I thought maybe it was a north door and the main porch is around the back. Never make assumptions. Right, take my hat off and we go inside. Okay, let’s pop in and have a look. Oh, that’s right. It said there were wall paintings here. No need for lights actually cuz you can see it’s morted and painted in that light yellowy pastel color bathed in light. I thought maybe the main porch was round there. I think that’s the south. Does that open as well? Yeah. have a look around shortly. I’ll just read you a brief bit. I’ve downloaded just a few notes. I don’t want to bombard you with too much information. It’s the locations more today, but clearly those wall paintings. Gosh, very old pull pit by the look of it. Another one of those churches. You normally go up into the chancel here cuz it’s built on a hill. Simply you’re going down into the chancel. Wow. That red at the back. All these carvings skill and the craftsmanship. Pina pouring the holy wine down I think after a communion. Step up to the altar but step down from the nave into the chancel. That is quite unusual. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it but haven’t seen that many. And his usual early morning. Look all those rainbow colored lights on the floor. Just wonderful. Sign of the times. The pews have been taken out. Just modern wooden seats that can just be formed for use and just turned if they needed to be a coffee morning, social, that sort of thing. And you can really just put out the number that’s required. Really saves having that empty field in the church where half the pews are empty. Okay, let’s see when the last people across there. Some fancy crit in there. Can’t read that right. How beautiful March there. So you can see not many hair. May 14th of June, 17th, 18th. I think that’s the 23rd and the 30th of June possibly. Try to make mine as clear as possible. There’s a lot of debris coming off the roof actually. Dust and debris. 14th of July. AndyC bath sunset CCT Church. So this will be the first of three today. Gosh, you can just hear the noise even through these thick walls. St Mary’s Church, Shipton Sonies. This church was begun in the 13th century. It has twice been allowed to fall into ruin. The small chancel arch is 700 years old. The doorway roof and front are 500 years old. The two chairs and pullpit were carved in the 17th century. The pull pit still has the old hourglass. One window has fragments of 15th century glass. The south window in the chancel is 20th century and is a rebus picture to Mr. Fieldhouse of Shipton who restored the church in 1913. The altar is of stone. Outside the church is a Celtic cross there. The arch. So this is the guide that I’m pretty much following. I’ve got it downloaded on my phone from the internet. Tells you about all the churches. That will be our next one. Sh of gems. And then it tells you a bit about each church. So you can download this all on the internet and there is the map. So we are there. I think that’s number 13. Going to go to number three and then finish at number 14. It’s quite dark in here. So I’m struggling to read and then just head down to Chippenham to get the train back. That’ll be down by the motorway. So from this guide online, I grabbed a few notes for each choice. just a couple of sentences. So here it says Chip and Solace St. Mary a small 13th century church in a pretty Cotsworld hamlet with fragments of wall text and pretty stained glass. St Mary’s survived a time as a cow shed in the 19th century. That’s the wall paintings they’re referring to. I find wall painting wonderful. The traffic you can hear is a main road going left to right. We just crossed it that way. I think we’re going to carry on down this way. Got 18 miles to our next church. Really stunning in the Cotswwell village of East Leech. But this is pretty spectacular here actually. Open bell tower. I love the fact that it used to be used I love the fact that it was used as a cow shed for a while. I’ll just show you around the churchy shard. Is that lavender? That wonderful light. I bet that looks good lit up. Cold winter’s night. I’m just looking at all these gates. They just don’t seem to lead anywhere. That one leads into a paddock. That one over there leads into a farm. So, I guess that’s the farm that used this as a cow shed in the 19th century. step there whether there was a style there once upon a time. Wonderful old Cotto doll. It’s a wonderful Cotswwell stone roof. You can see it bowing in places. Open bell tower. Just go into a fine chicken ends. Little orchard by the look of it. So going by the guide book. Going by the visitors book. You don’t get many visitors here. I really like this one actually. This is nice. See the bell there? Single bell in the open bell tower. be the chance of window. Then the countryside is very rolled in around here. And then I think we’re going to dip down into one of these steep wooded valleys. And then the next church, East Leech, 18 miles. Hopefully that’ll be a good place for lunch. It’s a stunning location. There’s the other side of the bell tower. Okay. Right. Let’s press on. It’s only just gone 10:00 a.m. So, I’m doing okay for time. Right hand turn. Oh, look at this. Over a little forward as well. Yeah, it’s so low. I’m going to go through that cobbled look as well. Always a bit wary of for just in case there’s algae on the bottom. You slide and go down. I’ve seen it happen. Not to me, but I saw fun go down once. I’ve seen photographs of other cyclists as well. That small little hamlet was down in a wooded dip. You saw me cross over the ford. Now we’re climbing back up onto slightly higher ground. You should get some good roll in views either side of this road once we get to the summit which is so typical of cycling in the Cotsworlds. Can you see how tall and yellow and parched the verge grass is? Everything’s so dry. Coming into Compton Abdal. Looks nice. I’ve just seen a sign for North Leachch. Fairly bigish market village stroke town. It’s on the Fossway. We cross the Fossway shortly. Right in the heart of Compton Updale. The little stream coming down flowing off the hills. Look at this. How idyllic is that? I bet that’s had a few visitors in the last few days with this really hot weather we’ve been having. Beautiful, isn’t it? Got it nearly all to myself on a Monday morning. Couple of fine vehicles have passed me. Although the cot is quite lumpy, hilly, once you’re up on these high elevations, you quite often stay up here for quite a long time. If you’ve got the wind behind you, it can be remarkably easy cycling in the Cotsworlds. Conversely, if the wind’s against you or you’re going across the grain of the land, it can be brutally hard. this morning. I’m lucky so far anyway. Morning. Just dropped down off that escarment and cross to Frostway. This is North Leech. Going to see if I can get a fizzy drink here for lunch. some chocolate really because there won’t be much at the lunch shop. I don’t think there’s a shop there. Absolutely lovely zooming along these roads. Not much traffic. Just past the cyclist going the other way. The wind is picking up today. Maybe coming out on this camera. There’s no windmuff on this one. But there is rain forecast around about lunchtime. So I’ve got a cape with me just on the off chance I may need it. I’ll just hold up for an hour or so if it does rain. Well, before I know what’s what, we seem to be coming into East Leech. Certainly approaching it. I’ve been seeing signs for it. That’s the location of our second church today and probably lunch as well. Now I’ve stocked up. Coming into his less. We’re going to turn left down here into a village and then we’re going to come back after lunch. Go that way. So this is a dog leg. A very pleasant dog leg. In fact just taking this very little minor road. Just going to take us down to the trip. The roads go everywhere really. sat on this big hillside. Can you see Can you see that big tower over there? That’s arms houses or an old school. I’m not sure. This is the outside of the pub and my truck is taking me along here. Not quite sure what he’s coming this way, but it’s what the GPS is doing. He’s got a lead somewhere cuz there’s cars here. Look. Oh, I see. He’s just cut a corner off. Beautiful place. Now we’re going to drop down to the river. War memorial there. We’re about to cost him everywhere. And our church is going to be off to the right. I think I’ve just seen it there. That’s why I’ve rooted the garment anyway. Wow, it’s lovely. This gate next. Yeah. Down to the porch is the silver CCT plaque. There you can see there’s an outer gate the porch. I think I’ve seen it. Yep. St. Michael and St. Martin. He sleeps. Loves up when you first walk in. Oh, it’s lovely and cool in here, that’s for sure. Wow. B tower at the back. Look. front right in front of us. Got that kind of damp musty smell. Can see signs of damp there, can’t you? Underneath the font as well, old guy. Visitors, but we’ll have a look at that shortly. Wonder who the gentleman is. I think I may buy one of their postcards here. Of course, you candle holders. I’d imagine there’d be little side chapel there. Then back to the traditional chancel up a step of the place of higher worship. Just a curtain draped around behind the altar. St. Michael St. Martin East that kind of looks at a place ancient old test from 1662 and the modern keyboard. Modernish anyway. More modern than that. Gosh, that old grand old Bible. Does it feel damp actually on the lectern? This is lovely. Got a lot of light flooding in through plain windows, but just a little bit of stained glass coloring on the edges. Okay, let’s see who the last person here was. Oh, I can read the writing better here. There was several yesterday actually. Two from Red one from Marbor, two from Canada, two somebody from Oxford, two from Chenham. That was all yesterday at Yeah. Okay. Today’s the 14th. I’ll put my entry there. I’ve just put there. I’ve just put 14th of the 7th 25 MTC number in group one Bath Sunset CCT Church Craw on bike. I found a seat I’m going to have my lunch on and we’ll read up what it says in the booklet and we’ll come back and make a donation there. So that’s the way I came in behind the church. I’ve just been in the porch, south porch, west tower. That’s a little chapel sticking out. Chancel would be out of view facing east. I’ve come down to this seat here. But look what’s behind through this gate. What a place for a picnic. Right down alongside this lovely river. I think it may be called the River Leech. I need to get Google Maps up just to confirm that. Lovely Riverside walk. Look. So, I’m going to have my picnic just to the right of the river. That seat’s got a little bit of shade. Look at that wonderful church set down here. Look. Wow. I’ve had a nice lunch on this bench right behind the river there. Been doing up a bit of reading. So, this gentleman here who looks very distinguished was John Keeble 1792 to 1866. and he was the priest and poet and the curate at East 1817 to 1825 oil portrait. Very distinguished gentleman. I think I’m going to take these two postcards. That one there. Look that lovely spring scene. That’s from the other side of the river. all those duffs. Then there’s a painting which just captures it so well, doesn’t it? So, I’m going to take the booklet and one of those postcards back, but I was just reading up the history just briefly. It says until 1935, East Leech Martin and its twin across the river Leech, East Leech Turville, were two distinct civil and ecclesiastical parishes. Since Doomsday Book of 1086, the two villages have had entirely separate manneral histories. It is because of this that there are two churches so close to each other. Such a beautiful place. I sat down. There was so many ladybirds. There’s just one there now. A couple of times I just felt a little bit of tickling on me leg or me knee and they were over me. There was just happened to be really careful where I stand. There’s one down there. Careful not to tread on them there. They were just abundant earlier on. There’s lots of the Well, there’s another one there. This is a nice little corner for them. So, yes, I’m going to take two postcards, leave a donation, and take the booklet and that one back. Look, another ladybird there. Well, we’re just leaving East Leech now and we’re crossing over the river Leech. Look how lovely this is. Roads seem to go off everywhere here. You may see from the roads actually we’ve had a bit of rain. Still a few spots coming down. It was forecast between say 1 and two about 50% chance. The sun’s coming out already actually. And it’s just after I finished my lunch. I dived in the church actually. So perfect timing really. Now we’re going to climb back out of the village and head back up that junction where we turn left on the way in. And when we go back up there, it’ll be a T junction. And we’ll be turning left to carry on down to our third church, our third and final church today, All Saints. And that’s at 49 miles. Just before I climb out the village, can’t resist coming down over the stone bridge, trying to get that classic shot of the church. Look how nice this is. Steps down. Look. You can see the gravestones in the churchyard. So, this would lead round to that gate that leads into the back of the church. How nice is this? Look at the dogs there. Steps down there. Nice bit of paddling. I would have thought there even a seat here. And we need to climb back out the village. Nothing extreme, just a little bit of a grind back up the hill. Well, I’m coming up to 45 miles done now. And the last trips at Sha Coach is at 49 according to my reckoning and the two previous ones have been spot on. You may hear the overpowering sound of traffic. I’m running alongside a very very busy road on the outskirts of Science. In fact, it looks like I’m going to come to a dead end along here. I’m not sure what’s happening here. My garment is pointing me straight across. I thought for a horrible minute it was going to try and get me across there, but it’s a bride way round to the right. Even on foot, I wouldn’t have attempted that. I’m hoping along here somewhere there’s going to be some kind of crossing. I mean, if this is a bride away for horses, there’s got to be something safe to get horses across that busy carriageway. Yeah, my garments just pinged. It was trying to send me across there. Clearly, I’m not going to attempt that. Not when it says driveway. [Applause] This is a bit like going alongside a motorway. I know which road it is. It’s the A417. Whenever you go anywhere near it, you know it’s very busy. So, at some point I need to get across this road. [Applause] The going’s been quite hard this afternoon. Been riding westwards into quite a strong gusty wind. Every time there’s a little shower or an attempt at some rain, it really is quite gusty. We may see what’s about to happen here. Actually, this farm track right away is going to become a farm road straight away. There you go. back on a metal surface. Still got that main road there. Can you see the little styles going across it, [Applause] but if I can show you the Garmin, I should have gone across there and I should be on that gray track up there. You can see that’s my that was the planned route up there. Can you see it goes up and then does a very sharp left. So, I’m guessing this brideway must go up here and do a very sharp left, taking the horses and pedestrians across that road. So, I we’ve overshot what I thought was a left hand turn going along past this big solar farm. At some point, we need to get on the other side of that busy road. Ah, what’s this? Looks like a bridge, is it? Yeah, we’re back on a minor road. So, I should have crossed this main road on foot across the central reservation down there a few hundred yards. Here we are about to join my route. You’ll hear a ping in a minute. Preston, I really am in need of some water. I’m not out, but I’m definitely having to ration it. I should have bought two water bottles today. There you go. That’s the ping. See, I’m back on course. I shouldn’t have come across there. Let’s just see if anybody’s got hose out here or there’s a shop or something. Well, weaving in and out around the edge of sign without going into it. This this convenience stores couldn’t have come at a better time. Top up water. I’m just approaching the final village with the final church. So, I’ve just come down that way. I’m going to do a dog leg down here. When I return, I’ll be going back that way. It says village only. There’s one of the brown historic church signs. And we’re right on the boundary of what they call the Cotswwell water park. I always call it the Cotswwell Lake District. So about a quarter of a mile down this nose road, you get to what looks like used to be an old village green. And here it is. All Saints. Gosh, look at that open bell tower. Looks like there used to be two. There’s still one on the left hand side. So tall the grasses are. Gosh, that looks a dinky little church. Let’s go and have a look. Go. I think it looks even smaller because it’s above all this long grass. Wow, this is a be actually. So, the notes I took this morning said, “Sha coat, all saints. A tiny 800year-old church with a pretty double bell coat hidden away down the lane. Monuments and the stone royal arms line the walls of its simple interior. two miles east of Kemble. So they call that a bell coat. What I keep calling an open bell tower. Right, let’s go and have a look. Oh, looks really old, doesn’t it? Simple interior. Lots of bird feathers in here. Of course, there’s a beer over there. Not a bottle of beer. A B I E R. One of those trolleys that they used to wait at the lich gate and they’d wheel the coffins in from the undertakers. Then they quite often be at the right height for the service coffin would stand there. Oldfashioned bear. I think these days the undertakers use foldable ones, don’t they? Or pull bearers. Got the same plate above the pool pit. Gosh, lovely curved beams. Almost these doors up into the chancel. Oh, different feels, different color. This is more pink. That’s more yellowy lime. The residue of some old wall paintings. up a step to the altar. Very simple alter or like this. I really do like small simple ones. Oh gosh, look at all the wall paintings there. Nowadays it really is just on the busy roads leading in and out of Sester, Kemble, Swindon. Then you got, as I said, all the leisure areas down there, the water parks, there’s lots of housing around it as well. So this was just down a nose through road to a village. Whether it led anywhere before, I don’t know. You just look at the congregation. They must have had once upon a time, say three or four people in each seat. 4 8 12 16 20 40 probably another 10 up there. 50. Gosh. Okay, let’s go have a look at the visitor’s book. Circular font. Gosh, lead plug in it. Lead plug. I would say quite often you see the the lead inside. You see the lead interior is quite often covered, don’t you? With lock on steel or wooden lids. Oh gosh, someone’s here yesterday on Saturday. Quite a few Saturday, Friday, Strnham, Swindon, Somerset, Lemur, Peru. Of course, it’s been London Strus Wingham Monzi Cheap Exper Lima Peru. Visiting my boyfriend’s favorite church. There’s my entry. 14th of the 7th 25 group one bath sunset circling all the CCT churches in gloss three today church the tiny attractive Cotswwell village of Sha Cope below the origin of its name in old which means the cottage in a mucky spot on. Oh, that’s great. Nowadays, its stone built dwellings are well cared for and the garden lovingly tended by their inhabitants. The village lies in the flat valley of the temps, barely two miles from the river’s source. Gos that close. Got to read that again. It means the cottage in the mucky spot on Tong Hill. Amazing line font with the plug. I’m going to have a wand around cuz the the church looks really nice, really wild with all the long grass. And in this amazingly scorched churchy shard. See the footpath area where the graves are have been wellkept. But everything else has been left to grow long. As I keep saying on my videos, that’s a deliberate choice. It’s to encourage wildlife. been I’m loving just being sat on that seat looking up at that lovely old church 800 years old very small there’s some swifts or swallows whatever they are nested in the porch I think there’s one just gone in they keep flying out there’s a couple of them actually really really like this place it reminds me one this reminds me of one down in the widy valley which is really really isolated. See? So the plan for today was a train assisted ride. Get up really early, be on the road 6, get to Yate Station for 7:15, 7:20, which is what I did for 7:30 train up to Gloucester and then I was there soon after 8 a.m. and just have a nice leisurely day doing this big bow heading eastwards from Gloucester down to Chipm. So I’m about 20 miles north of Chiplham here. I’m gonna ride down to the station, try and avoid rush hour. It’s now about quarter to four. So, I’m probably going to stay about four 20 miles down there. That’ll take me say to about six, something like that. And just find out when I get there. Just book the book a ticket and get on the first train. I think they’re every half hour or so. Even if I just miss one, won’t be long to wait. Every now and again, you’ll hear a big gust of wind through the trees. So, I’m just going to leisurely ride down to Chippenham, not bust a gut. If it’s windy like this every now and again when it does gust up for 10, 15, 20 seconds, you just literally have to grit your teeth and bear it on the road really and then it eases off until the next gust. So, 20 miles to Chipam Station in no hurry whatsoever. So, if it is windy, I really don’t care that much. Anyway, I’ll talk to you when we get to Chippenham station. Well, it’s just gone 6:00 p.m. and I I just got back to Chippenham. On the way back this afternoon, about half an hour, 40 minutes out of Chippenham. I started to flag a bit. Saw a post office in a village that I knew was there. Can’t remember the name of the village, but it’s a few miles about an hour north of Chipham and stopped in an ice cream, a coke, and a bar of chocolate. That seemed to do the trick. I’ve just I booked myself onto the half 6 train thinking the 9 minutes past 6 would be a bit of a push and I got here about 6 minutes past. So, they’re just announcing it now. It’s going to be any second. So, it’s about 8 minutes down that way to Bass, get off, and then it’s about eight or nine minutes to ride from Bas station to my home. Hope you’ve enjoyed coming along on this one. Thanks so much for watching. See you next time. [Music]