St Philip & St James Oxford

 

 St Philip and St James now the Oxford Centre for Mission Studys was one of the last two churches I wanted to visit from the Book Oxfordshires Best Churches. My feeling when I first looked was it would not be possible to go inside, then I came across the Open Doors event in Oxford. After looking on the list I found the last two churches I needed access to were open needless to say I went along. Click on the link for the history and more information about the church. You will find stained glass over load this week, the church is full of it

 

 Some of the photos outside were taken with my compact. I used my iphone inside

 South side of the church, the gate leading you to the south porch was locked so I could not get any nearer to the church

South transept

Good job my compact zoom has a long reach to get this photo of the foundation stone

The spire which is one of the ones you see around Oxford

From over the Woodstock Road

The door had only been open a short while

Inside was not as cluttered as I thought it would be and I could see the altar

The rood which is on a beam across the chancel arch

The beam has an inscription across it

The apse with the chancel in it

The altar and rerdos

The Reredos really is stunning

 

Above the east window which is partly blocked off by the rerdos
 

Windows on either side of the apse

Ceiling view

Crown,

Apse 

Not sure what when wrong with this one It's a bit out of focus

This is the view from the pulpit

Looking back to the entrance 

Ceiling in the nave

Zoomed with my phone so best I could get

 The window, the zoom on my iphone 14 pro is not quite as good as I thought it was

The windows around the church show the stations of the cross

This is not something I have seen before, normally they are plaques on the wall

These show the Crucifixion and placing in the tomb

Three windows behind some book shelves 

I thought this was a roll of Honour, there are a lot of names on it

The door leads to an off ice now but used to be the north transept, on the left of the door is the Roll of Honour, the filing cabinet hides most of it

Carving over the top show I think Jesus in his mothers arms and below St George and St Michael

The capitals on the pillars 

Are beautifully carved

Candelabra with candels 

Look up and there is more stained glass to see

Priests chair

One of the high windows

The font cover is what I wanted to see

It really is quite stunning to see

I left this photo of the Madonna and child which I loved and is over the door to the old south transept

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful weekend 

All Saints Oxford

 

I thought I would publish this mid week as I have now finished writing the blogs on Oxfordshires Best Churches and I though it only fitting to do a short one on this church which is now called Lincoln Collage Library, as yet not one I have been inside. It stands along the High Street in Oxford so you cannot miss it and is not far from another church worth Visiting St Mary the Virgin. There is some history to read on All Saints Oxford in Wikipedia so it is easier to give a link rather than cutting and pasting a whole page. 

I should have take a photo of the church from the other end as well but will take one next time I am in Oxford

I noticed a small churchyard on my way back from St Mary. There were a few headstones and seating area

There might be an inscription on the other side 

 

Walk up Turl Street and you can see the other part of the churchyard that has a few headstones still

 

They are now in the small garden of the library

The churchyard which round the north side is left for nature though some one does some gardening

Till next time Have a peaceful week 

 

St Mary Capel Y Ffin

 

 This week the Church Explorer visits St Mary Capel Y Ffin the last church on his tour of the Clerics Trail. After leaving Hay on Wye and missing the turn at first I found myself driving along narrow winding roads over the Black mountains in torrential rain missing the views of Gospel pass and the mountain top eventually going back downhill to come out at Capel Y Ffin. This is quite short blog due to the size of the church and I did not want ti linger getting wet in the churchyard.

 The name Capel-y-ffin is Welsh, and means "chapel of the boundary" since it lies in the valley of the River Honddu close to the boundary of the historical dioceses of St David's and Llandaf, now Swansea and Brecon and Monmouth. The chapel itself is dedicated to St Mary and was built in 1762, replacing an earlier 15th-century structure. It originally served as a chapel of ease for the parish church at Llanigon, but is now within its own ecclesiastical parish. With an interior of just 26 by 13 feet (8 by 4 metres), the chapel is one of the smallest in Wales^[2] and reminded diarist Francis Kilvert of an owl. 

When I got there so stood under the trees to get a few photos of the churchyard and did not go around the whole churchyard as it was raining heavy and the ground would have been soggy

Turning right to the east side

 

This looks like the base of a preaching cross

 

Zoomed in  one of the church

The doorway which is quite small so you need to duck down

Nice greeting to visitors and a warning to watch your head

First look from the door

The altar, east window and pulpit

The altar is small and I like the view from the window must be worth seeing on a nice day

"I will lift up mine eyes up into the hills from whence cometh my help"

I found it amazing it had a pulpit so here is the view from it

From the altar looking back

 

Up on the balcony looking down

 

 

Going over one side

 

The seating on the balcony 

I saw reference to this at St Mary Hay on Wye now I knew hat it was about

The font which is most likely 15th century or older

Churchyard from the porch

Last look at the church

Caple Y Ffin on a wet day

I'll leave you with a collage. 

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week