Ampney Crucis

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Summary
A prosperous village a few miles west of Cirencester, Ampney Crucis has a lovely village green with a war memorial, and a 12th century church with very good medieval wall paintings.

The name 'Ampney Crucis' needs a bit of linguistics to find its origin. It comes from the name of the brook that runs through the village ('Ampney', a tributary of the Thames) and 'Crucis' from the Latin for Cross; a reference to that fact that the village church is dedicated to the Holy Rood, or Cross. The village was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Omenie, a Latin form of Ampney, and later it was known as Aminel and Aminie befotre taking on the current form of Ampney.

The village is located just east of Cirencester on the A417 to Lechlade. Turn off the road beside the pub, and you immediately go over a small bridge across the Ampney brook. The village cricket ground is through a screen of trees to your right, and a lovely flower-rimmed green is to your left. Set back from the edge of the green is a war memorial (see photo). The road divides at the former rectory; uphill to the right is a residential area of pretty cottages. To the left is a short cul-de-sac which ends at the parish church.

Church of the Holy Rood, Ampney Crucis

The church is unusually dedicated to the Holy Cross, and dates to at least the late Norman period, though the tower is 15th century. Immediately opposite the porch door the blocked up remnants of a Saxon door can be seen. This is probably a remnant from a much earlier church. In the churchyard is a 15th century cross atiop a slender column. The carvings on the head of the cross are in quite remarkable condition, a testament to the fact that the head of the cross was hidden behind the rood loft stairs inside the church for several centuries to save it from destruction duruing the religious turmoil of the 17th century. It was found and restored in the Victorian era.