Saturday 28 November 2015

St Leonard’s Charlecote



My wife & I went to visit the house a month or so back and one of the first things I noticed going through the village was the Church so I persuaded her to let me visit after going round the house.
The church stands on the site of an earlier 12th century church on the edge of Charlecote Park. Most notable thing is it contains the Lucy Family Vault which dates back to 1595


The church as you see it when walking in the entrance to the churchyard





The west end where you enter the church and the rose window above











The south side with the belltower & spire


another view showing the south side of the church with the wonderful spire on the belltower

 Going inside the first thing you see is this view down the nave

 Then going into the chancel with its arched ceiling

 The altar with floral display and simple wooden cross. The East wall is decorated with an inscription on 


Look up and see this view of the beautiful stained glass window





Looking you you can see the wonderful arched ceiling. Over to the left is the Lucy Vault
 Where the remains of the Lucy Family dating back to 1500 are interred

These are some wonderful effigy's






This one has the graving  widow knelt by her husband
Sir Thomas Lucy is behind the pillars here. He died after falling off his horse






which is depicted here on the panel you see to the left











 He is leaning watching over his wife

There is a nice stained glass window in the Vault with scripture either side





There is certainly some very nice stained glass through out the church












  



Showing various scenes from the life of Jesus and some of the saints










 

 But the rose window in the west end is the most impressive





View of the choir stalls from the pulpit















The Nave looking from the pulpit










  Going back out to the churchyard you see these graves nearby





Round the north side are three tombs I presume of the one family





Further along older headstones can be seen



Going to the south side you see a mixture of old and new headstones




and if you look up you can see Gargoyles and Grotesques




On the corner a couple of angels
 This Grieving  woman was striking




The east end of the churchyard looked to have the oldest headstones 
Looking across to the west end of the churchyard

Have a wonderful weekend



11 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - that is breathtakingly beautiful! So much history too. My favourite photograph has to be the cheeky chappy leaning on his elbow - someone had a bit of fun with that!

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  2. Hello Bill !
    I love the Gothic architecture. The vaults of the church, stained glass, stelle, tombs are impressive. Fantastic photos.
    Happy week.
    Greetings from Poland.
    Lucia

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  3. Wow! What a beautiful church. Especially the interior. I loved the stained glass windows. Is the glass of the rose of a later date than the rest? I also liked the arched ceilings. The grieving widow next to the grave was very poignant.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Blessings,
    Lisca

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  4. This is one of the prettiest churches & yards you've posted yet! Stunning!

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  5. This one is big and beautiful Bill!

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  6. those grave hands are up ... i have never seen that? i thought i saw a man sitting up. i need to go back up there and take another look. always enjoy your posts. thanks for sharing with me and every one at InSPIREd Sunday. have a lovely week. ( :

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  7. What a beautiful church! I love the stained glass windows.

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  8. That gravestone is amazing. The church is very pretty -it looks to me as if it was probably extensively restored in Victorian days but they kept all the old memorials. Thank you for the lovely pictures! I have never been to the house, but it's on the (very long indeed) list of places I want to see!

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  9. Visited this church yesterday. What a lovely building it is, beautiful stained glass

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  10. I am currently transcribing the parish registers of St Leonard's from 1539 - 1812. It is fantastic that, because of your post, I can see the church, & the vault, I'm transcribing. Thank you very much for publishing all the photos. Bless you.

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