St Mary's Church, Cricklade

Introduction

Excavations of 1964 suggest that the north chapel walls are founded on Anglo-Saxon work associated with the town wall. The church was further restored in 1908 and 1963-4 before redundancy in 1981.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of limestone rubble with a stone slate roof. The aisles have wide 19th-century three-light cinquefoil windows with labels. The chancel has 2-light plate tracery, also from the nineteenth century. The chapel is 13th-century with a mid-14th-century three-light cinquefoil window and angle buttress.

The church has an open south porch. The nave has 13th- to 14th-century three-bay arcades of 4-centred arches on octagonal columns. The tower arch is simple chamfered to the 13th-century tower, with small trefoiled gable stops. The nave has a moulded arch on the north to the chapel, which serves as an organ chamber.

The church has squints to the aisles. The chancel has a 19th-century roof. The east window of 1862-3 is by Galpin of Oxford. The font is a 13th-century inverted column base on a possible Roman capital as base, reset in the nineteenth century.

The pulpit is a mid-17th-century half-octagon oak with arcaded panelling. The altar table is dated 1627 with stretchers between turned legs and carved fasciae. The organ is by A.E. Pease of London. The church has 18th-century brass candelabra and an oak document chest.

Parish life

The parish serves the Catholic community in Fairford, Cricklade, Lechlade and nearly thirty villages. The parish provides preparation for the Sacraments. The parish runs activities for children. The parish supports charities. The parish provides visits to the sick and housebound.