St Bartholomew's Docklow

I passed this church which is along the A44 many times and one day a few years ago I stopped off for a quick look. Only history I can find is that there has been a place of worship here for around a 1000 years though this church is more recent from around the1700's, unfortunately for me it was locked the day I visited

The main entrance is through this Lychgate off the busy main road

Looks better from the back though I must admit the gate looks to have seen better years

Couple of views of the South side of the church

Going round the North past the belltower

Above East  end with Chancel cross atop, on the North wall are quite a few headstones which have become misplaced are leant against the wall

Some of the Gothic stile windows

The porch which is make of wood and inside I noticed swallows had nested in there

So this was my entrance to the churchyard, which I think is used for services and people can park up safely on the other side of the gare

After reading the dedication it was a pleasant walk through the churchyard to the church.

I walked past this tree which tunes out to be a King James Mulberry Tree planted by the Parishioners for the 2000 Millennium

In the churchyard a seat lost in the long grass

A grave with a small angle ontop

Some of the older headstones and a chest tomb

A casket tomb beside a tomb breaking up with time along with a weathered headstone

I'll leave you with this simple cross and dedication  to Wallace Bournes Aspeall
That is it for this 2016 I hope you have enjoyed the Churches I have taken you to, hopefully I shall return in 2017 with new churches for you see, till then

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

St. Laurence Warborough

I visited the church a few years ago and the photos show were all had held with my DSLR  The history below is shamelessly taken from Wikipedia
In 1086 Warborough was part of the large royal estate of Benson. The Church of England parish church of Saint Laurence was originally a chapel of the parish of Benson. There is a record of the Empress Matilda giving the benefice of Benson, including chapels at Nettlebed and Warborough, to the Augustinian Abbey at nearby Dorchester in about 1140, and for most of the Middle Ages Warborough was regarded as part of the parish of Dorchester. It remained part of Dorchester peculiar until 1847, but functioned largely as an independent parish from the Middle Ages.
Perhaps the oldest item in the church is the font, which dates from late in the 12th century.The chancel has Decorated Gothic features from the early part of the 13th century, including the east window and one of the windows on the south side. The other windows of the chancel are later Perpendicular Gothic additions. The nave and south transept are Perpendicular features from the 14th century, although the transept arch and window are Decorated. The Gothic Revival architects G.F. Bodley and Thomas Garner restored the chancel in 1881. The Perpendicular Gothic windows in the nave are likewise Victorian.
The bell-tower was rebuilt in 1666. Its two oldest bells were cast in 1618, and two more date from 1675. It had a ring of six bells, but in 1955 two new bells were cast and hung increasing the ring to eight.
One other point I should say is that we are in the Village of Midsummer where all the Murders happen or at least where it is mainly filmed.

Above the Lychgate leading to the church and on the left from across the churchyard St Laurence

The bell tower is impressive and I love how the recorded the date when it was built

The path above leading to the porch and beyond to the churchyard

The north side of the church

couple of views from different ends, the east end on the left and on the right the west end

Around the west end showing the 1666 bell tower 

Inside the porch

Some views of the churchyard, I'd have to find out about the tall cross

This wall memorial dates from the 1700's but has now becoming very eroded

View across the churchyard from a family Vault

The inscription on the book you see on the vault

Alongside the huge anchor

 Inside the church and looking down the nave towards the rood screen

On the left is the chancel window while on the right one of the many stunning stained glass windows in the church

The one above shows a monk playing an organ while a bishop reads from the Bible

one left one showing two of the archangels while the left shows a scene from the Bible

This one is more modern showing the good Samaritan

Need to find out more on these two windows, one looks like it is Pre- Raphaelite 

the other could be older

The partial arch means there was something there like a window at some time but I need to check what. On the right is the window on the above right in its Chancel setting 

The church organ and the pulpit

The lectern depicting a bird feeding her young

The very rare lead font which was hidden in Cromwell's time by being buried, the base is not original

And last the chancel window recording the Victory of World War One, there are no victors only looser's in war. That is it for St Laurence which is  not quite what I was hoping to bring you for my 200th Church Explorer Blog but I will return there and update  with some new photos of the church and churchyard as well as the inside

 Please Remember I am changeling the Blog Address from my next Blog and have a great weekend