Highnam Church and Nature in Art Visit Report


On Tuesday 12 th March 33 members visited Holy Innocents Church, Highnam and Nature in Art, Twigworth.

The coach set off from the Beeches bus stop at 10am, in the pouring rain, but with the hope of it clearing up as the day went on. It is only a relatively short drive to Highnam and so we were soon in the dry of the church – which is spectacular Victorian gothic.  We had a very interesting talk by one of the church wardens, on the history of Thomas Gambler Parry, the man who commissioned the church, and painted all the beautiful and intricate frescos that fill the chancel, roof and much of the nave. We also learned about his wife and family, and that one of his sons was Hubert Parry, who wrote the famous hymn Jerusalem.  After the talk we had coffee and biscuits and time to look around in greater detail.

From there we drove on to Nature in Art, Twigworth where we had a very good buffet lunch in their café.  Afterwards Simon Trapnell, Director, gave us an excellent talk on the inspiration behind the museum/gallery and the history of how it all came into being. They receive no Arts Council funding, so amazingly are completely supported by their Friends and entrance fees, plus revenue from the café and workshops they run. We then had about a couple of hours to look around the sculpture in the garden, visit the Artist in Residence, the main collection and also the amazing photos on display from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We left at 4.30 and had a good run home, soon arriving back in Cirencester.