St Faith, Farmcote

St Faith’s chapel stands on a gentle slope above the Severn Valley in the small hamlet of Farmcote, two miles north-west of Temple Guiting. Built of local limestone rubble, it belongs to the late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman period and once had a rectangular nave and chancel. The chancel was removed later, but the Saxo-Norman nave remains along with a damaged doorway and a rare double bellcote. English Heritage has listed the chapel at Grade I for its historic importance. The building’s simple stone walls and low-pitched limestone roof still show the craft of its early builders. Inside, the chapel holds several notable features from different centuries. On the north wall of the sanctuary is a limestone chest tomb for Henry and Mary Stratford from the late 16th century, with Mary’s resized effigy. The Early English font has a circular bowl supported by four pillars, and a small piscina stands beside the altar. Most furnishings date from the Jacobean era, including an arcaded reading desk, carved chair, canopied pulpit and oak benches dated 1597. Beneath the 17th-century communion table lies the original 13th-century altar slab marked with five engraved crosses. The roof shows large curved medieval timbers and a Norman double-arched bellcote at the west gable end. One bell hangs within the nave, and the red tile floor was laid in the 19th century. Outside, the doorway carries Tudor rose spandrel carvings, and a blocked rounded-arched door appears on the north wall. The manor house south of the chapel was built by the Stratford family in 1320, linking the site to notable figures such as John, Robert and Ralph de Stratford.