GALLERY – This was constructed in the 1701–1710 restoration for use by musicians. It was made of painted and gilded oak. The 1630s texts had to be rewritten at a higher level. When still an Abbey this was the Monks' Quire and a large lectern stood in this area.
FONT – This dates from the 1630s restoration. The Hugo Bissop inscribed stone was then used as base. Roland Paul replaced the base and reused medieval tile fragments. The nearest wall text complements the font: Suffer the children to come unto Me...
TOWER – Dore Abbey had a spire but this tower, using stones from the Abbey, was built in 1633, the date being carved on the stone doorway to the bell ringing chamber. John Abel built the restoration bellframe. Two bells were bought by the parishioners at the Dissolution. However, the modern six bells were originally cast in 1710/1712 by the first Abraham Rudhall at his Gloucester foundry. Four bells were recast: the treble bell by Thomas Rudhall in 1770, the tenor bell by Charles and John Rudhall in 1782, the fourth bell by Thomas Rudhall in 1810, and the second bell by Llewellins and James in Bristol in 1892. Two of the bells name churchwardens. The fifth bell carries the motto:
PEACE & GOOD NEIGHBOVRHOOD
POOR BOX – is dated 1639 and is inscribed:
H(e) that from ye poo(r) h(is) eyes will turn aw(ay)
T(he) Lord will turn His ...V...N yn later day yfro
The last line probably means: The Lord will turn His eyes from him in ye later day
Alms boxes, for charitable donations, became essential following the ending of medieval systems for poor relief. However, if you visit and wish to make an offering please use the more secure wall box by the main door thank you.
19th CENTURY
CORFIELD GRAVE and WINDOW – These commemorate the deaths of Jane Sophia (née Gwillim) wife of William Reginald Corfield, Captain of the ship Avonmore, and their children Harold Bertie (b.1873), Mabel Elizabeth (b.1875) and Gwendoline Avonmore (b.1876). Their ship was wrecked, and they drowned, following the 1877 earthquake centred on Iquique, Peru (now in Chile) which generated a Pacificwide tsunami with wave height of 24 metres (79 feet). Captain Corfield, who ran the blockade delivering goods including guns, in the American Civil War, brought his family here in an iron coffin for burial. (The grave is left of the Church path before the turn.)
ROLAND PAUL – In 1899 Roland Wilmot Paul (1864–1935), an architect, married Isabel Maude, daughter of Rev. Alfred Phillipps, Rector of Abbey Dore, and Isabella (of the Bulmer cider family). Rev. Phillipps and Thomas Blashill (1830–1905) member of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Hereford, had carried out some investigation of the Dore Abbey ruins. In 1892 Roland Paul commenced his excavations, his links with the Abbey continuing until 1912. He published his findings in The Builder. He saved early glass, tiles, stones and wood. Roland and Isabel Paul donated the reredos to the Abbey.
