St Mary's Upton

This is a church I visited many years ago but at the time I could not visit the inside as the church was locked. It is not a big church by any standards but it does have some history dating back to the 12th century. The present church was restored around 1885. The village comprises of around 170 houses and at one time had it's own railway station until Beaching waved his axe.

You enter the churchyard through a pair of gates in the corner of the churchyard

though most of the view is obscured by yew trees

 but when you clear them you see a wonderful little church

It does have a bell tower though I thing it only has a couple of bells in it

Looking from the chancel end you can see it has three windows

and at one time three crosses but I think the chancel one has fallen off

 Going inside you can see the church is old 

 especially when you see the chancel arch which still has some of its 12century carvings on it

The 12 century arch

The chancel with the priests  chair in the centre

Look back down the nave to the west end of the church

A memorial to one of the rectors is on the chancel wall

 There are no stained glass windows in the church but I did like this one which I think is 12century

This the outside of the window

The pulpit also serves as the village war memorial listing the dead of the two wars on it.

The font has iron straps on it to keep it together

and of course it has a small organ at the back

plus what looks like a very old chest

The churchyard has many old headstones

many which date back over 100 years

                                                                       Like this one





that belongs to Fanny Jane Humpfrey who dies age 4

On the east end of the church you can see more headstones

like these two

A bit further along is the new cemetery for the village which is well worth looking round 

 as you can see interesting headstones like this belonging to Author & Journalist Richard Seymour Hall

I'll leave you with this shot of the Manfield family graves with the church in the background.

Have a peaceful Sunday

St Mary's New Radnor

I'm republishing this blog for Inspired Sunday Originally posted in April 2013
New Radnor is a small village along the A44 going through Wales It also has the remains of a castle on the hill over looking the village. I used to drive past on my way to my Caravan in Frorest fields campsite and every time I kept saying I must stop off and take some photos.

Near the church in the village you can see this war memorial

along the path in you see this small cottage.

And looking round to the right you see the church up on the hillside.

The churchyard has many old headstones 

Some older looking than others.

and some with wonderful carvings on

The church is not so easy to photograph from the outside with no wide angle lens but the chancel end looks impressive.

Nearby you find even older graves

 getting covered in moss and ivy

others in the shade of the trees.

Inside was a bit of an eye opener

The alter and cross in the chancel

 The Altar rail and kneelers

Behind the altar you can see the chancel window

even the chancel ceiling was stunning to look at.

 This was the first hand bier I had seen

 Like other churches there was a bequest on the wall

On the way back up the chancel you saw a organ loft with a pink painted organ

The pink Organ

 The church looks plain from the outside but inside is worth looking at.