St Matthew Llanelwedd

St Matthew's has defied me once again to look round the inside so it will just be an external tour till I get to see what is on the other side of the door. The church itself dates back to the 14th century and has a 14th century tower on it. It was heavily restored in 1877 and is an example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture.

This view is looking across from the west side of the churchyard

The South side with the entrance porch

The East end of the church with the chancel window

The imposing looking 14th century tower

Looking East to the porch

The churchyard beside the path on the North Side

Not sure what this is, could be an old font near the East end of the church

These grave slabs are now on the South wall

In the porch is this memorial

The entrance porch and a tombs beside it. There also seems to be a lot of slabs hung on the wall of the church

Looking across the South side of the churchyard to the porch

The ivy is getting hold of this memorial

Quite a lot of grave crosses in the churhyard

This is one of my favorites 

There are a few more headstones becoming lost in the ivy

these two are under a tree
 

But I will leave you with this shot for now,

Have a peaceful Sunday

 

You can read more about the church here on Britain Express or on the CPAT website

Old Sarum Cathederal

Until I visited Old Sarum I never knew it was a hillfort let alone have a cathedral there but the place is huge and the place dates back to 400BC. The Normans took it over and built a Motte & Bailey Castle along with a Royal Palace and Great Cathedral. It lasted 300 years till the Salisbury Bishop fell out with the Wiltshire sheriff causing the removal of the church to where the present Salisbury is now.English Heritage now own the site and the outline of the cathedral is still there

This is a model of Old Sarum Cathedral which is part of a bigger one at Salisbury Cathedral picture is from Wickipedia  so it will give you an idea as to what I will be showing you in the rest of the blog.

The picture shows the Cathedral from the North so the chancel is on the left hand side beside that you can see the cloisters. 

This is what is there now just the outline

there is an information board telling you about the Cathedrals 

an another telling you about the fellow who had it moved.

 This looks from the east end of the site where the chancel & altar would have been

This to the old east gate of the castle 800 years ago I'd have been looking at a huge support pillar had I been stood in the same place

This view would be looking down the nave to the chancel

which they think looked like this according to the board in the photo

The information is on the right and you should be able to read it if you click on the photo

 Same view only from outside the west end wall

The South Transept 

If you remember the first picture you can see a building in front of the North Transept, well this is what is left of that.

This was the Vestry or Treasury  there were windows as we can see from the dips in the stonework, just beyond you can see the outline of the Cloister

the place was supported on these pillars

 Small alcove in the wall

Looking along to the Cloister end of the vestry

 This was one of the windows that let light in the place

The outer wall of the Cathedral and part of the cloister looking to the Vestry

and this was part of the cloister with the vestry at the end

The new cathedral can be seen in the distance and that is where all the robbed stone from the original went so if you visit the new one you will also be walking in parts of the old one

Hope you have enjoyed my little trip round Old Sarum Cathedral
Have a good Weekend

St Mary Builth Wells

Some of the following photos were taken a few years ago on one of my visits to Builth Wells. The visit was cut short as you can see later in the blog. All the photo's were taken handheld with out the tripod. I have now added photo's from my latest visit

The churchyard at St Mary Builth Wells. John Wesley preached in the churchyard on the 3rd May 1743

One of the paths through the churchyard

St Marys church  from across the churchyard

The churchyard looking towards towards the church hall, the spire if from another of the towns chapels

Going in the porch you can see this tomb effigy

Latest photo of the effigy which is John Lloid of Towy 1st Sheriff & Justice of the peace in Wales & servant of Queen Elizabeth I. He died in 1585

Really nice tomb slab which dates back to 1606, must be the oldest I have seen




The entrance to St Mary with the font to the right
 

Inside you can see this bell which was cast in 1764 and rehung in 2002 for the Queens Golden Jubilee. The plaque on the right tells you more

The Font with carved cover near the entrance

 

There is also some great stained glass windows in the church, this one I think is at the back

This is a rather impressive window which depicts the nativity

The centre rose in the nave end of the church
 

These are the windows showing the Annunciation and the Birth of Christ  which were in the last shot

This one is has an inscription. "Dedicated to all little ones, in Memory of Harold Carpenter.

This stained glass window is in  the South Aisle

The nave looking towards the chancel
 

Last time  when I went to take photos of the chancel I noticed a coffin and promptly stopped what I was doing. At this point I felt I was intruding and after saying a prayer left the church. I felt some one should have been with the coffin and after regretted not staying a while RIP.

 This time I was able to get a photo of the chancel

 and the chancel window

The carved wooden Altar

View back down the nave to the back of the church

Eagle Lectern which is looking to the Roll of Honour

 The carved wooden pulpit

The churchyard looking across to the South side of the churchyard












Looking across to the North side of the churchyard

Looking up to the Church tower which dates back to 1300

Panoramic done by Google Awesome

Have an enjoyable Weekend