Saturday 13 August 2016

St Agatha Brightwell



St Agatha is one of only four churches dedicated to this saint in the UK. It  was built in 1153 by the Bishop of Winchester, Henri de Blois and illustrates various architectural styles which have occurred over the last nine centuries. The only visible bit remaining of the original small Norman church is the south doorway. The tower, rebuilt of brick in 1797 after the original collapsed with its six bells, now houses eight bells. This history came from Oxfordshire Historic Churches Website 
 






Above the first view of St Agatha along the path leading to the church













Couple of different views of the tower where you can see it is a lot different to the rest of the church









This shot shows some of the older windows that let in light above the south aisle





Along the north side of the churchyard













another north side view














The whole of the north side of St Agatha


















 Quite an old rose bush near the porch
















This tomb is rather unique in that the arches are fronted by glass , I've not seen another like it










Looking back east along the churchyard










 








and the far corners of the churchyard










Round the west end are more headstones which are older














some which are a little overgrown













and other even more being covered in Ivy












One of the original churchyard walls which is made of Cob, something which you don't see much of












This was taken back in 2010 and shows the cob wall with thatch on and in a reasonable condition










when I looked at it this time it was badly cracked













Just about the far west end of the churchyard







This is the south side of the churchyard






where on the south side they have built an extension














Some older headstones





more from under the shade of the trees












One tomb still standing with slabs from another lent against it
















This part has not changed much since this one I took in 2010














The South side looks a little different though















Because you can see the Saxon door with the scratch sundial











The whole side looks a lot different






The tomb which is now in a corner and a corner in the West end of the churchyard








Above is a view you see along the nave  with North & South aisles either side. On the right the chancel



 









Looking back along the nave from he chancel








The altar with chancel window behind








Closer view of the altar and the chancel window













The altar cross & candle holders on the window sill














On the right of the chancel are these recesses










The choir stalls in the chancel





The choir stalls on the right side with prayer desk on the end









One of the candle holders in the church and the church organ














the choir stalls in front of the organ



Candelabra with electric lights in



The pulpit with steps leading to it
















and the view you get of the nave from it

















The South aisle which had a new altar under the main window










The window must really shine in the morning sun







Over to the right is a new stained glass window that lets colourful light in

















At the bottom you can read the dedication and on the wall is a plaque giving the details behind it















There are memorial on the walls but the more interesting one is on the right dated 1642















Memorial to Frederick Kiddle a past rector













looking across to the back of the South Aisle













Inside the tower with it's charity plaques and bell ringing commemorations
















Pained bannor in the tower






Another commemoration on the entrance to the nave

The Roll of honour for the village of Brightwell





At one time the church had a rood screen and loft because you can see the stairs that would have lead to it











The obligatory kneelers with the churches name






On the left is the North aisle which is used more for community use as a church room. Flowers by the altar always look good








Sun reflecting in through a window in the South Aisle





The church font  and  Coat of Arms
















Last view across the nave


I'll leave you with a flower display near the Chancel Arch
Do have a pleasant weekend











9 comments:

  1. Hello Bill
    Excellent relationship.
    The wonderful architecture of the church. I am delighted with him.
    Amazing is the old cemetery.
    Beautiful pictures.
    Greetings from Polish.
    Have a great celebration.
    Lucja

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bill, the interior is lovely. It's nice that you are able to enter your churches.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i enjoy all the shade ... around here is has been so hot & humid lately. nice! ( :

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can certainly see the different additions to the church because they used different brick and rock for each. It is a very interesting old church and I noticed that the one epitaph is in Latin. I was never fortune to have a relative listed within a church and the old grave stones are lovely but most of them are unreadable with time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is so much to see with this church, it's hard to pick one thing to comment on! This is one that I would love to wander through and see all the changed over the centuries. The scratched sundial and the loft stairs are interesting. As is the cob wall.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really love the windows and you captured them well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quite an impressive set of photos

    ReplyDelete
  8. My goodness! The outside looks like a fortress but the inside is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a shame about the state of the cob walls, I hope someone decides to rescue them. I particularly like those quirky little recesses, I wonder what their story is, perhaps something to do with all the centuries of alterations and additions. I think that my favourite bit is the sundial, though. Thanks for a superb tour.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting, I welcome comments but not spam which will not be published. I will try to return the visit to you. If you enjoy my work and would like to follow by email you can subscribe at the top of the right had column
PLEASE MAKE YOUR BLOG WORD VERIFICATION FREE