Twigworth
Village
stone church in churchyard
St Matthew's Church, Twigworth
map of Gloucestershire
map of Gloucestershire
Twigworth
Location of Twigworth in Gloucestershire
Coordinates: 51°53′54″N 2°13′28″W / 51.8984°N 2.2244°W / 51.8984; -2.2244
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionSouth West England
Non-metropolitan countyGloucestershire
StatusCivil parish
Government
 • BodyTewkesbury Borough
Population
 (2014)
 • Total340
Time zoneUTC0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
Postcodes
GL1-GL4
Area code01452
Websitewww.twigworthpc.co.uk

Twigworth is a small village near Gloucester in the Borough of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. The population of Twigworth Parish was 340 people in mid-2014 in 170 households. A planning application for 725 new homes in the parish of Twigworth was approved in December 2017.[1]

The place-name 'Twigworth' is first attested in 1220, as 'Twigeworth', and is thought to mean 'enclosure made of twigs'.[2]

Parish church

Twigworth parish church, consecrated in 1844, is dedicated to St Matthew.[3][4]

The poet and composer Ivor Gurney is buried in the churchyard. Next to Gurney's grave is that of Michael Howells, son of the composer Herbert Howells, who died in 1935 of polio aged nine.[5] Howells later wrote a hymn tune entitled Twigworth for the hymn "God is love, let heaven adore him", one of two hymn tunes he composed in memory of his son (the other being Michael — "All my hope on God is founded").[6]

In 2019, following a decision by the Diocese of Gloucester, St Matthew's Church was closed for public worship and the ecclesiastical parish of Twigworth was dissolved and merged into the parish of Sandhirst.[7]

St Matthew's Churchyard
Twigworth War Memorial
Grave of war poet and composer Ivor Gurney

References

  1. ^ Discombe, Matt (22 December 2017). "More than 2,000 new homes could be built north of Gloucester". gloucestershirelive.
  2. ^ Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.483.
  3. ^ "St Matthew, Twigworth". Seven Towers Benefice. Church of England. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  4. ^ "St Matthew - A Church Near You". www.achurchnearyou.com.
  5. ^ Saylor, Eric (2017). English Pastoral Music: From Arcadia to Utopia, 1900-1955. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252099656. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  6. ^ "MUSIC / The sorrow that sounds like heaven: When Herbert Howells lost". The Independent. 11 October 1992. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Proposed closure of St Matthew's Twigworth and changes to parish boundaries". Seven Towers Benefice. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
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