St John-In-Bedwardine

I came across this church of St John-in-Bedwardine while walking down the A44 in Worcester to visit Worcester Cathedral, it was worth the visit. This is quite long with a lot of photos.

View of the church looking along the path. The churchyard itself seems devoid of headstones my thinking is that they were removed and it is now lawn.

This War memorial tucked in a corner is to those men from the parish of St John-in Bedwardine

 This the church looking at the bell tower and entrance

You are greeted by these stairs and memorial as you walk in the door

The memorial is to a hop merchants two sons though I find it rather macabre.

  Going through to the church you come out in this chapel and looking over to the left you can see this pulpit

Here you see the stained glass window of the chapel with memorials on the wall, on the right is the chancel

The superb altar and chancel window

There are some old memorials on the walls still with what looks like the original paint used though now fading, the one on the right is to a child who died in infancy.

 More stunning stained glass windows

Beautifully caved stone font on pillars by which you can see the tomb in the floor

 The nave and chancel  and if you turn round

You can see this choir loft which I found out had a balcony that extended down to the rood screens but was removed dues to age.

The organ like most I have come across is crammed into part of the chaple 

Here you look down the chapel to the organ, the font is on the right here, most I have seen are at the back of the church.

If you look at the pillar in this one you can see a hole which lets you see the chancel

So there you have it a beautiful church I did not expect to find and if you come across it the stop of and spend a moment there.

Wallingford Cemetery

A change from my usual  but I thought it time I showed some photos from a cemetery that is local to me. I could not say when the cemetery was built but I would think the early 1800s after the turnpike to Shillingford was built. The main entrance is just off the road past the bends by castle meadows.

This is the main entrance to the cemetery the road on castle street

The gates that would have been here have long gone.

Hidden behind the ivy on the left side you can see this ornate gate, there is another on the other side which is open. I wonder if the main gates that were once on the pillars looked like this.

As you walk through the gates you can see the cemetery with the older headstones

 They can be see on both sides of the drive

The words are faded on this headstone which looks shamrock shaped and has a harp it also has a matching footstone

The drive leads to these two chapels you can see on either side of the cemetery

This chapel is now used as a chapel of rest by Howard Chadwick

I can't complain as I have used Howard Chadwick on three occasions and found him the most the considerate undertaker you could meet

The twin opposite is used for services from what I can see

This view was taken through the chapel window.







 

The obelisk is a memorial to the Payne family round base you can see the names of the family carved on the crosses on the  back you can see this inscription.
 

 Not far away is this war grave, Jonathan Fowler died 14th July 2011 seeing the date makes me sad .

There are a couple of older war graves not far away

Some headstones are leaning over others sit under the shade of the trees

On one side of the cemetery a lot of headstones are lost in ivy

It relentlessly makes it's way up and covers the whole memorial 

Shaking hands I think the first I have seen

A upside down dove

Graves with footstones

Headstones which are so covered in ivy they look like trees

Across the way you find the new cemetery

 Which seems bigger than the old on but is now getting quite full

You can see these war graves in the new section and are from the second world war

While looking round the cemetery I came across the grave of John Gannon or Jack as he was known. He used to be the Pharmacist at Savory & Moore in Wallingford  when it was in the old shop in the Market place and when it moved across the square. When he died he left three daughters .

Leaving the new cemetery you can see the old one opposite 

Which seems more tranquil









 

Taken in more recently this is the Unconsecrated side of the cemetery

 Wider view looking to the chapel

 I think this is Grave D1 and may belong to Constance Campbell

 Have a peaceful Weekend