Clear evidence, however, of a Norman church can be seen in the well-preserved south doorway with its chevron decoration and also in the lower part of the tower. The upper part of the tower is later and dates from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, with windows of that period, with trefoiled lights and vertical tracery. The tower is finished externally with an embattled parapet. The columns of the archway between the nave and the tower probably date from the late twelfth century. The arch of the small doorway at the rear of the tower, in the south corner, appears to be made from the two halves of an old octagonal font.

The six bells were cast at the Gloucester foundry by Abraham Rudhall in 1724 and were re-hung in 1884 by Taylor's of Loughborough. They hang in an oak frame, part of which dates from the seventeenth century and incorporates earlier beams thought to be medaeval. The inscriptions read:

An interesting entry in the parish records of 1756 states that the parish meeting asked Thomas Watkins to "find a goode harte of oak stocke for the sixth bell and a new wheel for the same", so running repairs were needed from time to time. The work was to be done "within the space of three weeks" and cost £2...7s. An eighteenth-century board hangs in the tower with a list of bell-ringers' rules and penalties for breaking them!

The church clock was installed as a memorial to those who died in the first world war, by public subscription.

Opposite the entrance to the tower stands a mediaeval oak chest of unusual length, with three locks. The two churchwardens and the Rector would each have a key, so that it could only be opened when all were present. Remains of an old 'cello were once found inside, from the days when simple instruments accompanied the singing from the gallery.

In 1864 the original church, a simple oblong of chancel, nave and tower, was much in need of repair, but far more than repairs were envisaged by the Rector, the Rev. Renn Hampden. He commissioned Sir Gilbert Scott to produce plans, and Collins and Collins of Tewkesbury to do a virtual re-building of the chancel, and paid for it himself. An oak roof and chancel arch were put in and stalls and screen restored. Some of the bench-ends of the choir stalls are in fact late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, and the lower part of the screen is fifteenth century in date, so these could have been part of the earlier church.

The neighbouring gentry and parishioners were then inspired to contribute to the re-building of the nave and a list of subscriptions for this purpose, ranging from one penny to one hundred pounds, can be seen in the parish records.

Much of the old materials were re-used in this rebuilding and also local sandstone from Ombersley and some Cradley stone, according to an article in "The Builder" at the time. But many features were lost, including the gallery at the west end, the box pews and an old wooden porch, similar in style to the lychgate, so possibly sixteenth century in origin.

The opportunity was taken to provide more seating by adding a north aisle to the nave. The original fourteenth-century windows were inserted in the north wall and at the same time the roof was raised, new seats added and the pulpit altered.

Following this extensive re-building, a fine organ, built by John Nicholson of Worcester, was presented by the Rector, and installed in 1874. After the Rev. Renn Hampden's death the church porch was added and dedicated, in 1893 to his memory.

The memorials inside the church are mostly of Rectors, notable local families and benefactors of the poor, but a doctor and schoolmaster can be found among them. In the chancel are two early seventeenth century tablets, one to Margaret Smith, daughter of Richard Pichard, whose family, one of the oldest in Herefordshire had settled in Cradlev as early as 1496. Morgan Powell, D.D., Rector in 1621, is remembered by a brass tablet which includes a strange word "sidons", of unknown meaning. He was one of the signatories of an interesting document, a glebe 'terrier', or survey, of church land and property, in Cradley, made in 1607.

A brass to John Brooks is also in the chancel. He was schoolmaster for seventeen years and died at Church Cottage, opposite the church in 1891, aged forty-three years.

A memorial in the nave to Richard Chambers remembers one who was chaplain to the Bishop, and Rector of the parish, for forty-two years. in his will of 1773 he left money to buy twelve penny loaves for twelve poor people over sixty "of Christian conversation and behaviour", to be placed in the chancel every Sunday "to the end of the world"! He also stated that if his son, Richard kept a pack of hounds or beagles he would not inherit Whitbourne Court; it would go to "his dear daughter, Margaret."

Richard Hill of the Hill House, lord of the manor in 1675, and his family, are remembered by memorial tablets in the tower. He left money for bread and clothes, for the poor of the parish, in his will.

Local families of the past, including the Cliffes, the Hales, the Yapps and the Racsters also have memorials in different parts of the church.

In the nave, near the tower archway, the font, dated 1722, is in memory of a Rector, the Rev. Thomas Bisse, whose brother was Bishop of Hereford. He had a great love of music, and was instrumental in inaugurating the Three Choirs' Festival.

The stained glass window behind the altar was presented by the family of Mr. Webb of Fernhill. In the south wall of the church is a window given in memory of the Shapland family of the Hill House, and in the north wall there is a window in memory of the Rev. Thomas Ayscough, Rector (1892) and his wife. This Rector, a learned man and keen historian, published several articles on the history of Cradley Church.

External features of interest include the sun-dial, constructed from part of a mediaeval churchyard cross of tufa stone and restored to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Some external walls have moulded stones inset, and head masks and corbels from the twelfth century. On the south wall of the church is a tablet recording the burial of Richard Nokes (1608) who left a 'stoke' or stock often pounds from Pitlocke Farm to benefit the poor.

The sandstone of the south-west buttress of the tower, three feet above the ground, is very much worn and these marks could be from scythe or sword sharpening, or even, in earlier times, arrow sharpening.

In the churchyard is the tombstone of one of the school-masters, William Jones (1866) who taught the village boys for fifty-eight years and was also a shoemaker. An early map of the parish, dated 1834, bears his name, so he was a useful man in many ways.

Many other tombstones in the churchyard bear local names recorded down the centuries from 1560 when the first entry was made in the parish registers. Some inscriptions make curious reading. A typical eighteenth century verse states:

Another, to John Saunders, in 1833, elicits our sympathy:-

The lych-gate is partly sixteenth century with restoration work carried out in 1988 and the great churchyard yew trees were estimated in 1888 to be over eight hundred years old and possibly older.

Through a gate near the tower of the church the Georgian Rectory replaces an earlier one, referred to in 1607 as having parkland, coppice-woods, meadows and a water and corn-mill.

The Old School, now the village hall, can be seen across the churchyard. This beautiful part fifteenth-century building was mentioned in James Turner's will in 1667. He left money to repair 'the church-house or school-house' and also to pay a schoolmaster's salary, from his estate at Vines Inn or Vinesend. The churchwardens' names from 1674, when repairs were done, are carved on a stone in the north wall outside the school - William Bullock and Richard Turner. The building continued as a boys' school until early this century, when the boys moved to join the girls at the National Girls' School, established in 1856.

Church Cottage, opposite the church, was occupied in the late nineteenth century by Joseph Stone and his family and the lodger, John Brookes. Joseph had been a shoemaker, schoolmaster and also parish clerk. At Church House, next door, lived Robert Morton, a carpenter. The cottage beyond the Old School was occupied by John Knott, an agricultural labourer, his wife, a gloveress, and their three children.

My Friends,

The Public Services at our Parish Church on Sundays, are :—

I especially invite your attendance at this latter Service, and at the Mission Room, on the Bank, at 330 pm

I am, yours faithfully,

EDWARD RENN HAMPDEN,