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St Bartholomew's Church, Chosen Hill. Gloucestershire.

St Bartholomew's Church, Churchdown

On approaching St Bartholomew's one is slightly confounded by the situation of this ancient building. It sits remote from the village it serves, at the very top of the hill variously known as Churchdown Hill or Chosen Hill. A correspondent at the Gloucester Chronicle in September 1884 observed about the location as, "...not lending itself at all to modern convenience, it looks well enough for an artist to sketch, but less fitted for a place of worship".¹ Local folklore in many parts of the country suggest that it was the Devil's work having caused churches to be built on the summit of a steep hills, rather than the low ground, in order to deter worshippers from attending services. At Churchdown, the legend is further embellished; the church was to be built close to the village on a more convenient and accessible spot, but each night after the materials for the building works were laid out they would mysteriously disappear only to be found at the top of the hill then next morning. This was a sign that the church should be built there. One writer rather eloquently suggests;

More proasaically, another reason might be suggested for St Bartholomew's location if one ascends on many of the paths to the site. On reaching the top of the hill it is clear that this would have been a very strategic location commanding views in all directions, but especially on the approach from the north and south along the Vale of Gloucester as well as the Severn Valley. The hill was used by Iron Age Britons, the Romans as a site for a temple (supposedly), later to be surpassed with a pre Norman church, and later still a Norman Church. Even Cromwell saw the hill's strategict advantage drawing up his entrenchments and artillery batteries there at the Siege of Gloucester in 1643.

The view from St Bartholomew's looking east over the Vale of Gloucester towards the Cotswold Hills

1. Gloucestershire Chronicle - Saturday 06 September 1884
2. Rudge, T. Rev DD. The History of the County of Gloucester, 1803.