Tredington (St. John the Baptist)

TREDINGTON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Tewkesbury, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 2½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Tewkesbury; containing 163 inhabitants. It is situated on the Swilgate rivulet, and comprises 900 acres, of which the surface is level, and the soil a stiff clay. The Birmingham and Bristol railway runs through the eastern part of the parish. The living was formerly reputed a vicarage, and belonged to the priory of Llanthony: it is now a perpetual curacy; gross income, £54; patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol; impropriator, the Vicar of Tewkesbury. The church is a small structure, erected in the middle of the 12th century, and having a wooden tower: the nave is separated from the chancel by a low semicircular arch with exquisitely chiselled ornaments. In the tympanum of a semicircular arch over the north door, is a very ancient relievo-carving representing three figures, the central one seated, and holding a pastoral crook in the left hand; on either side is a kneeling figure holding a book. The interior of the edifice was renovated and much improved in 1845. In the churchyard is the shaft of an ancient cross, resting on a basis of four steps. Many of the springs here are impregnated with saline particles.