Historic Church Tours 2021: Gems of Cotswolds

Explore some of our most charming churches in this idyllic Cotswolds setting.

Please note all tours will be assessed for Covid safety in line with any Government directions that apply at that point in time with full refunds available in the event of cancellation. 

Our first stop St Kenelm's, Sapperton, is renowned for its collection of ornate memorials dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In addition to the memorials there are a series of beautifully carved and highly unusual Jacobean pew-ends depicting male and female figures. Not originally from the church, they were donated by The 1st Earl of Bathurst from the banqueting hall of the nearby Sapperton Manor House when it was demolished in 1730.

Next we will travel to St Saviour's, Tetbury. This magnificent Victorian church was built in a fabulously ornate medieval style and was intended for the poor of the parish, who could not afford to pay for seats in Tetbury's other church, St Mary's. Constructed of local stone and Cotswold slates, it was designed by a local architect Samuel Dawkes, assisted by A W Pugin and John Hardman.

At St Michael & St Martin's, Eastleach, this picture postcard Medieval church stands in a gently sloping churchyard by the river Leach. The church is linked to it's sister church by a stone clapper bridge known as Keble's Bridge after its nineteenth-century curate John Keble, a much-loved poet and Oxford scholar.

Our final stop of St John Baptist - known as the 'Cathedral of the Cotswolds' - is one of the largest parish churches in England and has been a place of Christian worship for well over a thousand years. The church interior includes five chapels and an assortment of historical artefacts including a 14th century font, a 15th century pulpit, fragments of wall paintings, coats of arms, a collection of tombs and memorials, often very ornate, and the Anne Boleyn cup, given by Anne to a local doctor (Richard Master) who treated her, and presented to the church in 1561.