St James's Church, Kinnersley (Chancel Arch)

This Chancel arch was rebuilt in 1868 as part of the Church's refurbishment by Thomas Nicholson, but the wall decoration surrounding it is part of a design by George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) Bodley's elder sister married a brother of George Gilbert Scott, and possibly because of this association, he became a pupil of Scott in his architectural practice. He married, in 1872, Minna Reavley, whose family then lived at Kinnersley Castle, and his designs at Kinnersley date from the following year, and the arrival of the Revd. Frederick Andrews, who was Rector of Kinnersley between 1873 and 1920. Rev. Andrews himself coloured the designs, and the survival of his work is believed now to represent one of the few remaining examples of Bodley's designs.

Bodley's other work includes Holy Angels at Hoar Cross (Staffordshire), St. Augustine at Pendlebury, the Chapel at Clumber in Nottinghamshire, and St German in Cardiff. Both he and Revd. Andrews are buried in the churchyard at Kinnersley - their tombstones are on the west side of the Church.

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)