Thursday 6 March 2014

St Thomas of Canterbury


St Thomas of Canterbury in  Elsfield is only a few miles out of Oxford. The village is small and you would think you were well out in the countryside rather than a few miles from a city. Unfortunately for me the church was locked so I could not get to see the inside like the other church I visited not so far away at Woodeaton

The church sits atop a small hill which over looks Oxford







Looking from the east end of the Churchayrd











The chancel window looks to have some very nice stained glass in from what I can see of the outside






Looking over at the church from the south side of the churchyard it looks as though the chancel was added at a later date




From the noth side a new estension has neen added which blends in well with the church, I presume this is the village rooms mentioned on the bord at the entrance to the church yard











The nice thing about the churchyard are the snowdrops which grow round the place
The first sign of spring.




Looking round the churchyard you can see lots of old headstones







Along with a couple of tombs 












The Author  John Buchan
has his ashes buried in the churchyard and only lived a few hundred yards down the road at the Manor






 Some graves have footstops 












This one sits by itself under a window on the north side



Where you can see more older headstones and memorials














At the east end of the churchyard you can see a new part has been added many years ago









I have now revisited the church and you can now see the interior  buy clicking the link

 Enjoy your Sunday


6 comments:

  1. love the flowers on the last shot. love all the stain glass windows. & very enjoyable setting. ( :

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  2. «Louis» always looks forward to your inSPIREd Sunday posts!

    Re your comment about the church «Louis» posted, he agrees with you! Its architecture is reflective of the age in which it was designed and built - the "Space Age", thus it is no surprise that it more closely resembles a space satellite as a church! «Louis» suspects that, typical of the churches designed and built in that era, it has atrocious acoustics, but as he has not attended a service there, he cannot state that with certainty.

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  3. The snowdrops are a real treat at the end

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  4. Hello Bill! Nice to see you again on Taphophile Tragics! :) This looks like a beautiful place to visit --- especially with those spring flowers coming up. :)

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  5. Great post, fantastic pictures!

    Beneath Thy Feet

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  6. St. Thomas's is a lovely old kirk Bill, so interesting to see how it has evolved over the years but good to see that the graves have stayed the same. Wonder if it has a strong congregation ?

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