Poor Souls' Light, aka 'The Bonehouse'

In the churchyard of All Saints’ Church stands a curious stone edifice; no-one seems quite certain what it is and there is more than one story concerning its involvement in the excommunication of Bisley.

Let's look at these one by one…

Purpose:

• Poor Souls' Light. One theory is that this hexagonal construction, with six arched nooks, was a place where, in mediaeval times, alms for the poor could be left. A lantern would have been placed within it, hence the name.
• The Bonehouse. This may have been a lid, covering a hole where bones were stored.
• Well cover. At one time, there was a well in the churchyard, and this structure may have been used to cover it over, to prevent any accidents occurring.

 This theory brings us on to the excommunication stories...

Whose accident?

The mason's misfortune. One story tells that, in the 13th century, masons working on the church were sitting around a well having lunch. As the clock chimed 1 o'clock, signalling the end of the lunch break, a mason called Pearse said 'There's one', and looking up, fell backwards down the well and drowned.

The priest's predicament. A priest, on his way in the dark to a poorly parishioner, disappeared, and his body was later found down the well.

Excommunication:

Whoever it was that fell down the well, the result was a papal decree that Bisley parish was to be excommunicated, and that burials were not to be permitted in the church grounds for a period of two years. Burials thereafter had to take place in Bibury, some 18 miles away, in a piece of ground there still known as 'Bisley Piece'.

It is interesting to note a photograph in Juliet Shipman's 'Bisley, A Cotswold Village Remembered' (p.61) of the Poor Souls' Light apparently standing in a slightly different location, just down the path that leads from the School playground. Would that have been the place where the well was? Are there any signs of it now? Was it filled in? The Norman font, with two fish carved onto it - now in the church - was found covering a well during the Church restoration undertaken by Rev Keble: was this the same well? Does anyone in the village have the answer?