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The Church of St Mary Credenhill
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The 13th century stone built Church of St Mary’s is situated above the village of Credenhill five miles from Hereford City and on the side of the densely wooded hill from which it takes it name.
Credenhill Park Wood has on its summit an early Iron Age hill fort occupied by a Celtic tribe about 80BC.
The village, once an entirely farming community; has now partly become a dormitory town for the near-by city of Hereford. New houses have been built in recent years on a number of estates, but essentially it still has the feel of a rural community. Horses from the local equestrian centre can regularly be seen walking through the centre of the village and there is a large dairy farm at the far end of the main street. Credenhill has a population of 4000. This includes the members of the Special Forces camp which has its own church and chaplaincy.
Credenhill is part of a United Benefice of eight parishes with six churches. The benefice has a Vicar who lives in Credenhill and a retired associate priest living in Mansel Lacy. The Team also has a Local Minister, a Local Worship Leader and a Local Missioner. regularly take part in the services and we are also lucky to be able to call on the assistance of a nonconformist minister.
The Sunday services are held in church at 11 am each week: 1st, 2nd & 4th Sunday, Holy Communion, apart from on the 3rd Sunday which is Café Church at Headway. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month we hold a United Benefice service held at one of the other churches in the group. ( for full details of the times of services click on Calendar in the panel on the right). We use “Common Worship Holy Communion. We take our hymns from the “Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New”. We are fortunate to have a good and keen organist, who has instigated the beginning of a refurbishment of the organ, and we are now working towards completing the work when we can raise sufficient funds. St Mary’s does not have a church hall but we are fortunate to be able to use Headway for the occasional services such as Harvest Festival and a Carol Service at Christmas. As the village is long and straggling with the church at the far end up a steep hill these services have proved popular and fits well with our mission to be 'Church in Community'. Many parishioners find these easier to access. These functions are well attended by villagers of all denominations and none. The village has a Church School (St Mary‘s Primary School) and we do a weekly Bible story session with the whole school and nursery. The school come into church for their Easter, Harvest and Christmas services. We now also welcome the camp nursey for their Nativity service.
“How would you describe the services and congregation at St Mary’s?” I asked some recent newcomers. Back came the instant reply: “Friendly; definitely very friendly”
We have coffee and biscuits after the services at the back of the church when we make a point of welcoming any visitor or newcomer. We are keen to make sure that we use recyclable paper cups as part of our bronze award for Eco Church.
The old oak table now used as a communion table in the nave is believed to have been the original altar which was moved when it was replaced by one carved from oak felled on the Credenhill Estate and dedicated to the memory of the fallen in the 1st World War.
We now hold a monthly Café Church in the village at Headway in Trenchard Avenue. This is part or our mission to make our church accessible and our endeavour to be 'Church in Community'. “Messy Church” is held for all the churches in the Benefice at at Headway with tea for everyone who would like to join us at the end.
The mainly stone building of St Mary’s dates back to the 12th century. You enter through the 15th c part-timbered framed porch where above your head can be seen the intricately carved oak bosses. Restoration work was carried out in 1861 and again in 1876.
The earliest parts of the church are the 12th c.nave and chancel arch. Unusually the screen has three arches. The side ones were found blocked up during the 1876 restoration. Documents of c.1649 refer to “..a small oratory on the north side of the church” and there is evidence in the stone work of the position of the wooden partitions dividing the oratory from the nave. The chancel and roof of the nave are 13 c. The west tower and some of the windows are 14 c.
The font is inscribed “The gift of John Squires who lived at Colford 1667. It was presented to St Mary’s in 1885 by Eaton Bishop Church when they acquired a new bowl. It is not known what happened to the old one.