Garway, Herefordshire

The church of St. Michael, Garway lies in the Welsh Marches not far from the famous church of Kilpeck. It is one of six churches in England attributable to the Knights Templar. There would seem to have been a church on this site before the Templars rebuilt it in about 1200 to their design. The Templar church originally had a circular nave - supposedly copied from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The Romanesque (Norman) chancel arch is from the Templar church. The nave has been rebuilt in the standard rectangular form with the circular nave foundations being hidden until their excavation in 1927.
The carving of the 'Agnus Dei' is now high on the west end wall. It was probably moved to that position at the time of the rebuilding of the nave. The chancel and side chapel are part of the original Templar building. In the farmyard next to the church is the dovecote which was part of the Templar's Preceptory.





Photos:
The foundations of the circular nave can be seen on the north side.

The chancel arch




On the outside of the chancel there are scratched carvings on many of the stones.

The carving of the 'Agnus Dei'

Garway, Herefordshire 2

More strange are the hand carved symbols over the piscina in the Templars chapel. These are a fish, the 'winged chalice' and a lamphrey
The carved head on the chancel arch is also of interest. In the heresy trials the Templars were accused of worshipping Baphomet - the horned god!
For readers of the Da Vinci Code this church is a 'must see'!