St John the Baptist Ichen Abbas

St John the Baptist is the third of the Ichen Vally Churches I visited on my walk though there has been rectors since 1280 this church looks like it was rebuilt in Victorian times

Th Lych gate leads you into the churchyard then onto to the church

Looking towards the church from the gate

On the left as you go through the Lych gate is this memorial which is dedicated to Christopher Byron Simpson. Under hsi name is listed the fallen  of the villave from both ward

The church as you walk along the path to it showing the porch on the north transept

going further around the churchyard you see this angle showing the south  transept

which has had an extension added at one stage

on the west end is a bellcote

It's a bad craftsman who blames his tools buy my tripod was not helping me today. this view looks to the south transept which has had a floor added.

looking west along the nave

 and this is the chancel with altar behind

 View along the nave across the transept to the chancel

and one from by the altar to the nave

The altar is set back in a small chancel which is more like a recess

There is some nice stained glass in the church though the one on the left is a tad out of focus

The banner and memorial you see here are  in the west end of the nave near the above windows

These are a couple from the North Transept where you come in

One thing I noticed were the amount of memorials  on the walls from family ones to personal to a son killed in foreign land

The lighting in the church is a memorial

The Powlett Memorial

Above is the Silva memorial and the one on the left is a family memorial  though I note Captain Noel Simpson was one of the Old Contemptible of the First World War

Memorial to 2nd Lieut William Ronald Corrie who dies from wound in the First War

There are three Rutherfoord Memorials to sons killed

the third one was called Thomas and he died of Malaria in Syria during the Palestinian Campaign. 

The War Memorials to the fallen from the first & Second World Wars

Brass memorial to Rev Septimus Gillson MA

This was interesting and a tribute to someone who was it seems the last person who was hanged in the UK for Horse Theft

On the way out you can see these memorials in the porch

Seems a shame that memorials that are in such good condition for their age are hidden from sight.

Going back outside to the churchyard you can see a lot of headstones

Some family graves

Crosses & headstones of differing sizes

Some newer was snowdrops growing  near them

Others quite clearly old and some forgotten

One John Hughes the last mad who was hung for horse theft in England, remember the framed cutting from the church

some of the newer graves near the entrance to the churchyard

looking down to the Lych gate

Dove on a cross
 

Couple of graves of pilots who were killed. A father & son who were both in the Navy and Paul Anthony Kelly who was in the RAF

 This headstone of Judith Anne Lawrence is off the path and could be come lost in the Ivy

This old wooden memorial looks though it  could be on it's last legs

I'll leave you with this final photo of a corner of the church with snowdrops growing by the graves.
Have a wonderful weekend.