The last church on my Ichen Valley walk was St Mary Avington which is not that far from the last one in Ichen Abbas. Avington is a small parish which was probably part of Avington Park beside it at one time. The church is set back off the road and you can walk past it without realiseing
You need to look out for this best kept village post by the gate.
where you will also see another Pilgrims way plaque. The path way is made up of old headstones, good way to recycle them
St Mary's Church Avington.
The churchyard looks quite bare when you look up along it
you could say empty even
but you can see why as these are all old headstone used in the path
there are a few ledf standing through
Looking towards the bell tower
One of the graves neat & Tidy. I wondered if you could get round the south side but on either end is a wall which makes me thing it was built by the park owner years ago
Inside made me gasp a bit though. The camera is set on my tripod which tells you the church is full of box pews and really well made ones at that
The altar sits behind nice wrought iron altar rails. I never though to take closeups of the inscription on the back of the altar
because I was too taken with these amazing memorials either side
Turn round gives this view to the organ loft at the back
I took a couple of closeups of the left hand memorial I thought the work so detailed
This is the stained glass window behind the altar
Stepping off the altar you see this gravestone to Lady Anna Eliza Brydges
She was born in 1779 and died in 1836 and was married to Lord Kinross when she died.
On the right is a candle chandler
There are a lot of very impressive family memorials
This one I only just noticed who it was, as I have come across his brother before.
Memorial to Elizabeth Emily Peel
Some of the detail on the memorial
Memorial to Dudley Hepburn Stent
& Edmund Mitchell Parfitt
which can be seen on the organ loft. The covered pulpit is a very nice feature
Looking down from the pulpit gives a better view of the box pews
and a nice view of the altar
no doubt this was the lord of the manors box pew
On the pulpit lectern was this bible
Above the box pew is the memorial to Lady Anna Eliza Brydges, I wonder if it was her personal pew. The out of focus photo on the right is the church font, they seem to like them small in the area.
A last look at the church then it was off on the last bit of my walk
But I took a couple of photos of the headstones I was walking on
There is even one at the gate as you go in
I did not get far on the walk as I spotted this cemetery nearby
This is looking down the cemetery, you can see the church about mid photo
Back of the Shelly Tomb
Ivy covered crosses by the wall
And the newer part of the cemetery which is in use now
An old family tomb
That concludes the Ichen Vally Churches I visted Hope enjoyed them
Have a nice weekend
