Iron Acton, Gloucestershire - Cross in Churchyard - postcard c.1910s

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Iron Acton is a village, civil parish and former manor in South Gloucestershire, England. The village is about 2 miles (3 km) west of Yate and about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of the centre of Bristol. The B4058 road used to pass through the village but now by-passes it just to the north.

The "iron" part of the toponym originates from the iron that used to be mined near the village. "Acton" is derived from the Old English for "farm (or village)^[2] with oak trees". Still today there is an oak wood in the village beside the River Frome.

The civil parish also includes the smaller villages of Latteridge and Engine Common.

The manor of Iron Acton was held by the de Acton family, which took its name from the manor, and which expired in the male line on the death of John IV de Acton in 1362. His heir to Iron Acton became the descendant of his aunt Matilda (or Maud) de Acton, wife of Nicholas Poyntz (d.1311),^[3] feudal baron of Curry Mallet in Somerset. His descendants remained seated at Iron Acton for many generations and rose to prominence under the Tudor monarchs. Sir Nicholas Poyntz (1510-1556) was a prominent courtier during the latter part of the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547). His portrait drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger survives in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. He added the east wing to the moated manor house of Acton Court, which addition was lavishly decorated to impress King Henry VIII, who with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, visited the house in 1535 during a tour of the West Country. Sir Robert Poyntz (d.1666), KB, MP for Gloucestershireand High Sheriff of Gloucestershire was the last in the male line of Poyntz of Iron Acton. He left no male progeny, only two daughters and co-heiresses, Grissel Poyntz and Margareta Poyntz.

The Church of England parish church of Saint James the Less is Perpendicular Gothic and includes a clerestory, south aisle and south chapel, two-storey north porch and three-stage bell-tower.^[5] The nave and south arcade are of three bays.^[5] The nave, chancel and south chapel all have wagon roofs and there is a fan vault under the tower.^[5]

The church was restored in 1878–79 under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect Sir T.G. Jackson.^[5] The high altar has a reredos designed by F.C. Eden and made in about 1930.^[5] Behind the altar of the south chapel is a screen also designed by Eden.^[5]

The altar at the east end of the south aisle forms the focal point of the so-called Poyntz Chapel, which is not a separate chamber or structure. This is not to be confused with the Poyntz Chapel (formally termed "Chapel of Jesus") built by Sir Robert Poyntz (d.1520) within The Gaunt's Chapel, Bristol.

Against the south wall is a 16th-century canopied tomb erected for a now unknown member of the Poyntz family. Of the three heraldic escutcheons comprised within the structure two are now blank and one bears the arms of the Acton family, from which the Poyntz's inherited the manor, A fess indented. No inscription survives. The tomb was covered with many layers of whitewash until this was removed in the 19th-century restoration.

Dividing the Poyntz Chapel from the chancel are a pair of stone effigies set on slabs at floor level. The figures show an armed knight of the 14th century beside a female figure, possibly his lady, but perhaps of a slightly later date. The knight is believed to represent Sir John Poyntz (d. 21 Sept 1376), son of Sir Nicholas Poyntz (d. 12 July 1311) feudal baron of Curry Mallet,^[7] Somerset, by Matilda Acton, his 2nd wife, daughter and eventual heiress of Sir John Acton (d.1312) of Iron Acton.^[8][9] Buried beneath an incised slab set into the floor in the centre of the Poyntz Chapel is Robert Poyntz (1359–1439) between his two wives, 1st, Ann (family unknown), 2nd (marr. pre. 1389) Katherine FitzNichol, daughter of Sir Thomas FitzNichol of Hill, Gloucestershire, many times MP for Gloucestershire. Two other tombstones commemorate Florence Poyntz (d.1598) and Hugh Poyntz (d.1604), son of Sir Nicholas Poyntz (d.1585/6) by Margaret Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby.^[10]