Kempley

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Kempley is a village in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the Herefordshire border.

The small village (230 residents) has two notable churches, dedicated to St Mary and to St Edward the Confessor.

The church of St Mary's has "the most complete set of Romanesque frescos in northern Europe" ^[1] in its chancel which includes the Christ in Majesty painting created in about 1120, also a fresco of a wheel of life, showing the life cycle of man, painted on the walls of the nave. St Mary's Church is owned by English Heritage and maintained by The Friends of Kempley Churches.

St Mary's churchyard is very beautiful in the early months of the year often being covered in wild daffodils in late February/early March.

St Edward's (1903), described by Betjeman as "a mini-cathedral of the Arts and Crafts movement", was built from local materials by local labour, under the direction of Randall Wells, clerk of works at All Saints, Brockhampton-by-Ross. The church was planned by the Lord of the Manor and major landowner, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, because St Mary's was too far away from the main centres of population in the parish at Kempley Green and Fishpool, and liable to flooding. The walls of the church are in Forest of Dean red sandstone.