Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire

The motifs on these pages are from the church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck in Archenfield, which has some of the most interesting carvings of any of the Herefordshire churches.

Kilpeck Church in 1838, by Henry Barrett Lewis

Although we do not know when the first church was built at Kilpeck, there may have been one as early as the 7^th century.  It was known as Lann Degui cil pedec in about 850 and as it lay south of the Worm Brook it was in  Ergyng - modern Archenfield.  It was therefore at the time in a territory which owed allegiance to the kings of Gwent.

As an Archenfield place, Kilpeck was recorded under the lands of King William in Domesday.  Like all Welsh-speaking lands it owed limited services to the crown and paid tax in sesters of honey.  As with all Archenfield entries (with the exception of that for Llanwarne) there is mention of neither priest nor church.

South east view of Kilpeck Church in 1841, by G R Lewis

The reason for the omission of the Archenfield churches is presumably because, being in the Welsh diocese of Llandaff, they did not fall within the English tax system.  The priest at Kilpeck at the time of William the Conqueror was Morcenoui: in the local tradition he was succeeded as priest at Kilpeck by his son, Enniaun.

In the early 12^th century the diocese of Hereford seems to have seized the Archenfield parishes, and despite the protests of the Bishop of Llandaff, managed to hold them and holds them to the present time.

It is from the time of the transfer of the Archenfield churches from the Control of Llandaff to Hereford that the present church at Kilpeck dates.

Interior of Kilpeck Church in 1841 by G R Lewis

The style of the church is very distinctive: essentially ‘Romanesque’ it incorporates Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and ‘Celtic’ elements. The church is and example of the work of what has been called the Hereford School of masons.  An even more elaborate example of a church in this style once existed at Shobden in North Herefordshire and was consecrated in 1143.  It is not known if Kilpeck is earlier or later than Shobden. 

Kilpeck church is adjacent to Kilpeck castle

Images courtesy of Hereford City Library