The Church Explorer

Saturday 9 December 2023

St Mary Magdalene Woodstock

Surprisingly Wikipedia has quite a short history on the church considering how old the town is.

"The Church of England parish church of St Mary Magdalene has a Norman doorway. The church has a turret clock that John Briant of Hertford made in 1792. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Blenheim, which also includes Begbroke, Bladon, Shipton-on-Cherwell and Yarnton."

^{Path from the from the road I park in, it takes you to the south side of the church}

^{Tower at the west end}

You will find an outstanding Norman doorway along the south wall

^{East end where the chancel is}

^{West end and south aisle}

^{Looking along the south side from the west end}

The main entrance is in the porch at the west end

^{At the boundary end of the churchyard you find a lot of chest tombs}

^{Opposite side headstones}

Looking down the churchyard

Collage of some of the chest tombs

Headstones and chest tombs looking south

Headstones on the east side of the path

Tombs and headstones over to the west side of the path

Tombs near the church

More near the boundary wall

Boundary end again with part left overgrown

Rood screen just as you walk in the church

Though the screen looking down the nave

Chancel arch with alter just in front

Inside the chancel with choir stalls in the foreground

Altar and east window

The altar and Reredo

Looking over the old altar to the Reredo

Looking back through the chancel to the nave

Pulpit over one the right side of the chancel arch

View out of the pulpit.

Some photos taken with my iphone

Nave which has been reordered with old pew removed and chairs replacing them.

The altar which is used for services just in front of the chancel arch.

Chancel

Alter and east window

Nice floral display at the foot of the altar

Closer view

The reredo along with alter cross and candles.

East window

These are on display in the chancel, and I can old presume they are part of a screen.

Eagle lectern

West window

The church does have a lot of stained glass

which can take some time to look around

Double windows

South aisle

North aisle with door at the end leading to a vestry

You can also see a lot of memorials on the south wall

Which I think have all been moved here a some time

some as you see are older than others

I just feel they were all grouped here to save space

No doubt this brass was removed from the tomb and put on display, the cover to preserve it and stop people taking brass rubbings.

Rev William was well thought of considering his life is written down on the plaque

Brotherton family memorial

Floor tomb

More modern floor memorial

East end of the south aisle

You can see a lot of head carving son the pillars

that devide off the south aisle

I thought keeners were used for keeling on not sitting on as these are.

They all depict some scene of person, Winson Churchill is buried in a nearby village though I have no doubt he did worship here, after all the main gates to Blenheim Palace are only a short distance away