2015 Review

Like last year I thought I would do a roundup of my favourite Churches from 2015. Since I started writing this blog I have visited nearly 150 church's & cemetery's though out the UK. Last year I started a Google Map plotting the visits and locations with a link back to the blog, hopefully I will add a photo of the church as well in the future. In January the first place I featured was Headington Cemetery  which is not far from the John Ratcliffe Hospital in Oxford, in fact next door. The next place was  the Holy Trinity Headington Quarry where C.S Lewis is buried. It was one of the last ones I visited in 2015. Another church to feature was St John The Baptist Kingston Bagpuize

 one I have passed many times but never got to see, I still have to see inside as it seems to be kept locked. The last church that month was  St Peter & St Paul Wantage  which is a church in a very historic town.

February brought be to Burford a very historic wool town in the Cotswolds the church there is called St John's and dates back to the 12th century. The town place gets busy with tourists and the church is well worth a look round but I advise to get there early in the day as coaches appear and lots of people get out

 I did a feature on Church's & Chapels to fill in one week then went along to a local church to get some new photos for my blog on St John the Baptist Moulsford 

Then ended the month with a feature on St Georges Kelmscott where William Morris is buried and the manor he lived in is nearby.

In March I had been to St Cyriac Laylock a church which dated back to 1229 and has some wonderful features inside.

It was also when I featured three churches I have visited on Saturday that belonged to the same Benefice  St John Baptist South Moreton a church I finally managed to look inside after finding it locked each time I visited. All Saints North Moreton a revisit to a wonderful old church with superb stained glass windows  and St Andrews East Hagbourne another church I had bee dying to see the inside of and was not disappointed as the church dated back to the 12th century.

In April I featured another four churches I had visited during a 6 hour walk around and area of Hampshire. Had I the time it could have bee six as I would have needed to drive the last bit.

St Mary Easton was the first and a little taken back to find a work party in the church.

A short walk along the Pilgrims way was St Swithun Martyr Worthy 

A really nice church with a wonderful feature around the chancel arch of the ten commandments. The next church of St John Japtist Ichen Abbas  was a little further than I expected and the church though not that old was a pleasure to look round along with the bonus of having the grave of the last man hung for horse theft in the churchyard

The last church on the journey was St Mary Avington  a wonderful church which still had it's box pews

May saw me back in Wales at last with a revisit to St Michael Llanfihangel-Nant-Melan, the visiting of  Lost Church which was the churchyard of Llanfthangel Abergwesyn, St David Colva part of the clerics trail which I am trying to follow.

St Padarn which is quite delightful in it's simplicity

And finally St Cewydd Aberedw which for me was a revisit but this time I managed to view the inside

June saw me republish Dorchester Abbey a place which is high on my list to revisit and photograph properly with a visit to St Mary Builth Wells the following week. Week three and I did a piece on Old Sarum Cathedral   then a visit to St Matthew Llanelwedd which is one church that foils me to get into as it is always locked.
July I republished St Mary Pembridge which is a fascinating old church with a separate belltower.
Week two and it was a visit to St Mary Newnham Murren a church belonging to the Church Conservation Trust. It's local to be and I have been wanting to revisit for a while, it's just off the Thames Path so worth a detour.

 St Mauritius Alltmawr which is the third smallest church  in Wales it also has to be one of the more dangerous as the track leading to it is on a blind bend. Not easy to access with a car. was the next church.The last blog that month was  piece about the churches in Corf
August  saw me in Wales again with Old Llandrindod Wells Church  which had a wonderful churchyard to see

The next week it was The Holy Trinity Llandrindod Wells, the church that sort of took over from the Old Church. The church is well worth a visit for the Stained Glass windows

Week three was a republish of St Birnus Dorchester one of the few Catholic churches I have visited, it is one high on my list to return to to photograph properly.
Week four featured  St Mary Virgin Wheatley a nice old church which I had a few moments inside to capture. Surprisingly I got a fifth church in for the month and it was a republish of  St Matthew Otterbourne which sadly is just  the churchyard now and the outline of the church.
September saw three blogs because one week I was away for a break but the first was St Bartholomew's Church Holton a wonderful old church near Oxford that looks to have a nice inside to visit unfortunately it was locked and I could not say when I will get a chance to revisit.
The next two churches were in Wales St Teilos Llandeilo-Graban and a few miles away St Peters Llanbedr
October was the Highlite because I feature two weeks running Highgate Cemetery the second week being Part 2 It was a birthday present from my wife which I loved.

 The last two churches that month were St Bartholmews Lower Basildon another Conservation Trust Church with history and worth a look

then  St Peter & St Paul Yattenton which was a church I wanted to visit for a while and worth the effort.
 November and the first blog was Halloween which was just me messing around with the photos of headstones but I did end the month with some nice churches like  St Frideswide Frilsham 
and the gem of St Clements Ashampstead with its Mediavel fresco's

The month ended with a return to Hampstead Norreys on church I had visited in the past and only managed to look inside this year and  St Leonards Charlecote
Which was built on the edge of Charlicote park and well worth  the visit to see the Tomb Effigies there.

By December I had run out of Steam and only had one new church to give and that was St Margaret Catmore. One I only came across after visiting a nearby village, I spotted a brown sign saying historic church and looked it up on Google Maps. The first opportunity I visited. It's another Conservation Trust church worth a visit. if a little out of the way.

  So that was it for 2015 apart from republishing  St Peter St Paul Church Hanborough 

and Nuffield Church 

I have not really had much chance to get out for new photos of late but home to rectify that in the coming weeks