THE church of St Mary Magdelene has been a key part of the community at Hewelsfield for 900 years – and would surely have some fascinating stories to tell.

That was the thinking behind a two-day history festival held over the weekend.

It came about following discussions at the paraochial church council about what could be done this year in the absence of the regular flower festival.

Pauline Siddons, who was asked to organise the festival, said: “We have a flower festival every alternate year so we were thinking about what could we do.

“We decided to explore the church through 900 years because it is a Norman church.

“We thought we would have local history and our motto was: ‘if the chuch could talk’.”

The exhibition concentrated on the Norman, Tudor and Victorian periods with tableaux featuring costumes, documents, photographs and other artefacts, and much local history.

There were also a number of games for younger visitors.

The settlement of ‘Hiwoldstone’ is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and the church was built around the same time.

The parish is now the most westerly in Gloucestershire but was part of the Diocese of Hereford until 1540.

The living of Hewelsfield remains in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral.

Mrs Siddons said: “People have been wonderful in letting us have items for the exhibition.

“There has been a lot of interest in the local history and everybody loves the costumes.”

Among the aims of the exhibition was to show how central the church was to life in the village from the Middle Ages onwards.

“We set up the tableaux to show visitors the sort of people who would have come to this church.

“We have concentrated on the Norman period, Tudor – when it became the Church of England – and Victorian times with the registration of births, marriages and deaths.”