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
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
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
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
I'll leave you with this shot of the Manfield family graves with the church in the background.
Have a peaceful Sunday
4 comments:
Lovely church. I love the Norman arch and I think this is a "first" for a font - with iron straps. Usually the problem with old fonts seems to have been that they were chucked out and rediscovered feeding the cows somewhere before being restored to the church. But it is somehow wonderful that they valued this font so much that they repaired it rather than getting a new one, and interesting too that the Victorians left it alone.
Another absolutely fascinating post!
In comparison everything in the U.S. is so young. «Louis» had to stop and ponder for a moment what is must have been like to attend service in this church in the 12th century.
«Louis» posted St. Dominic's, San Francisco for inSPIREd Sunday, a youngster in comparison as it was largely completed in 1928.
i love the arches & those old windows. you really do have some great beauties to share with us. thanks!! ( ;
That's a wonderful looking church and a really great tour. You certainly give a feel for the place. The tombstones seem in remarkably good nick!
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