Shobdon

Shobdon is one of the most interesting churches in Herefordshire. Originally there was a spectacular Norman Church, filled with carvings similar to Kilpeck. It is possible that the carvings at Shobdon were earlier than Kilpeck. This beautiful church has been destroyed by the Georgians. They did preserve a small section but then decided to place it at the top of a hill to be part of a promenade walk. This has now lead to a lot of weathering and has ruined most of the carvings but thankfully there are antiquarian drawings to give a sense as to what they would have looked like.

The church itself was completely transformed and from the outside it looks fairly typical. When you get into the nave then you can see how different it really is. It has been done in a style called Strawberry Gothic or Rococo Gothic. It has been called something out of a fairy tale or a Disney film because its so dissimilar to most other churches.

It is rather upsetting that the choice was to almost complete destroy the Norman Romanesque Church. These photos below show some of the damage that Shobdon has experienced. The lighting was not friendly on this shoot so apologies for any poor photographs.

Part of the original church

The left hand side of the original part of the church

The right hand side of the original part of the church

Close-up on the arches showing the amount of weathering

The exterior tower

The pulpit

The western end

The eastern end

The lion font

Whilst the Georgians were renovating the church they also decided that they didn’t even want the very beautifully carved font shown above which features lions walking it. They didn’t even put it anywhere special just left it outside! Thankfully now, the lion font is back indoors where it is safe from erosion.