Seend - Parish Church

Parish Church

Seend was a chapelry of the ecclesiastical parish of Melksham by the latter part of the 13th century, when Hugh of Trowbridge had succeeded Ingram as capellano parochiali ("parish chaplain"). Seend had its own churchwardens from 1663, raised its own poor rate from 1734 but was not made a separate ecclesiastical parish until 1873.

The Church of England parish church of the Holy Cross is built of rubble stone faced with ashlar. The oldest part may be the low west tower, which predates the late-15th-century Perpendicular Gothic nave. The Perpendicular Gothic north aisle is also late 15th century, paid for by the clothier John Stokes (died 1498). There are memorial brasses to Stokes and his wife in the north aisle. Over the chancel arch are traces of either a carved rood or a wall painting of the Crucifixion.

Holy Cross has a west gallery that was built early in the 18th century. It bears two dates: 1706 and 1726. The chancel was rebuilt in 1876 to designs by the architect A.J. Style. The font is Perpendicular Gothic. It was dug up and restored to the church in 1939.

By 1553 the tower had three bells; it now has a ring of six. Four of the bells, including the treble, were cast in 1636 by Roger I Purdue of Bristol. The fifth bell was cast in 1793 by Robert and James Wells of Aldbourne. In 1880 Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present tenor bell and recast one of Purdue's 1636 bells. In 1912 W. & J. Taylor of Loughborough recast Purdue's treble bell.