Because of the roadwork’s in the village I had to make a detour for my usual little shop. After completing that I decided to go out to the village of South Woodchester to find a nice capture for today.
This church on the hill is a grade 1 listed building called The Church of the Annunciation, a catholic religious house that was built in 1849, at a cost of just £9000. Then a huge priory was built onto it in 1850 and it was taken over by The Dominicans Fathers.
Unbelievably the whole priory was demolished in the early 1960 - 70's and the last Dominican priest, Father Piers Linley retired in 2009. So today just the church building remains. but it looks fantastic from every angle.
Below the church is the Wayside Cross and war memorial on land given by the Dominican Fathers and was started in 1916, with the first service with a dedication in June 1917. The area had to be widened to accommodate 3000 people attending the service which was nothing to compare with the first Remembrance Sunday in 1918, when 10,000 joined the service held by Cardinal Bourne. Remembrance services have taken place here over the years since.
So this is another pretty building with wonderful history to find in the Stroud Valleys.
