Friday 21 August 2015

St Mary the Virgin Wheatley



This was one of those chance visits in that I happened to be in the area at the time and took the opportunity to get some photo's round the village. The one place I found first was the church of St Mary the Virgin


You enter the churchyard though this lychgate






 Which has an inscription over the are to Rev Arthur Sturges MA Vicar 1889-1907 

The path takes you to the porch





The feature of this church is the wonderful spire which is not one I have seen in Oxfordshire before.




Below in is the old entrance door





Going to the east end shows a good view of the church and south aisle








 On my walk round the church I came across this memorial to the fallen from the first & second wars




The top part listed the names in the stonework




The bottom not so long listed them on a plaque














On the arch of the porch you can see these wonderful headstops which are becoming eroded 



The west end of St Mary the Virgin






The north side and north aisle











The churchyard has quite a lot of old graves in











I came across on war grave in the west end of the churchyard




I must admit to coming into the churchyard via the churchyard gate from a footpath on the east side where you see the newer part of the churchyard




but walking along the east end takes you to the older part 




where you pass this line of tombs which are very similar. I did not check to see the names though





This part of the churchyard is on the west end




one of the ivy covered tombs
and a cross which is almost covered in ivy




looking south at the west end shows mixture of graves and is where I came across the war grave












This headstone is near the line of tombs on the east end




On the south side near the lychgate you will find the older graves


Some broken others eroding
When I first got there I tried the door expecting it to be shut but there was a lady who I think may have been cleaning and allowed me a few moments to look around and get a couple of photos.  I did not like to hold the lady up from locking up and going home so made do with these few photo's I took.

 The south aisle as you come in

 going across to the north aisle and from the look a nice stone pulpit

 The Nave.


 I'll leave you with this backdrop to the altar I spotted and managed to get a photo of
Have a wonderful Sunday




12 comments:

  1. These small British churches are very interesting (and beautiful, I think). Thanks for your article.
    (I reached up to his image through Inspire Sunday.)

    Have a greay day !!

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  2. The gate leads to so many treasures. Another beautiful church Bill. Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  3. I always love an old stone church and this one is no exception. However that covered entry way is a real eye catcher.

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  4. Thank you. I so enjoyed the tour. Reminded me of the churches we visited last year in the Cotswolds. The spire was very unusual as you said.

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  5. very cool. love the headstones! ( :

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  6. That is a lovely one! Thanks for the tour.

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  7. Thank you so much for sharing a tour of this church. I loved it.

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  8. A very comprehensive and throughly enjoyable presentation of this church and grounds.

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  9. Another beauty Bill. Love the country churches in England.

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  10. As always a very informative visit

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  11. Great tour, Bill. There is one gravestone which is now going to be the focus of much interest the grave of the father and mother of the current prime minister of England. He was apparently killed. In an auto accident in 1981 and her mum died shortly thereafter.

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    1. I never realised that when I visited or I would have looked more closely. I was only in the church a few moments to get the photos so never looked at the memorials. I'll try and return sometime

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