Bullet Holes in the Church Wall
The small holes dented into the southern wall of the tower are said to have been made by Parliamentarian soldiers doing musket practice during the Civil War.
From Rev. Purton's speech:
During the seige of Worcester in 1646, a squadron of 400 dragoons, under Colonel Betsworth, was quartered at Kempsey and on July 2nd an attempt was made by the garrison to seize him there, which was unsuccessful. Noake speaks of a tradition then current in the parish that Cromwell "personally superintended the battering down of the old church, and flattened the nose of every statue then and there lying."
The landlord who gave him the information must have drawn largely on his imagination, for the old church is still standing and the nose of the one statute there is but slightly damaged. It is possible, however that Kempsey had good cause to remember the "crowning mercy" and there are bullet marks of the south side of the Church tower.
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