Saturday 29 August 2015

St Mattew Otterbourne



A few years ago before I started writing my blogs I was in Otterbourne where I had the chance to look round the village. One of the first places I noticed was the church of St Matthew. As it was in the evening I could not go in the church to see the interior so only took a few external shots. St Matthew was built built in 1837 to replace the old St Matthew which was falling down though part of it remained till the 1971, the churchyard is still there






First view of the church from the carpark by the village hall





Waling down the main street you pass this seating area






and a fine Lych gate





with inscription over the entrance





inside a seat with deadication



Further along you pass the village war memorial





with steps that lead from the footpath





nearby is the back entrance to the churchyard






which brings you round the West end of the church





waling round to view from the North side you get a good view of the bell turret





looking along the west end of the church





where you can see most of the churchyard







this is the South side with the entrance porch




when I went to the East end I spotted these three graves which I thought at the time has been pushed over. My thoughts were vandals and I wondered how senseless this act was 


I was right in a way, the vandals were Health & Safety and mushed over by persons unknown to me who are worried if they fall on some one the council will be sued. What a great world we live in.
I'll leave you with this view of St Matthew from the South East end of the churchyard and if you check the link you can get a peek inside as I doubt I'll get the chance to visit it again. Have a great Bank Holiday Weekend.





4 comments:

  1. I too see many grave stone that have been vandalized, why? I always thought that it was an American thing. Tom The Backroads Traveller

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another lovely church. Good story. Inside, another day ... :)) I especially like the image of the north face. The theme of the vandals ... this is incredible. (And should be unacceptable)
    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a nice day

    (I came here via Inspired Sunday)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loved the walk around. It's a beautiful spot.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's a beautiful church. The gate is very pretty as well.

    ReplyDelete

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