Saturday 20 February 2016

Saint John the Baptist Steadhampton



The information I have on the church is shamelessly taken from Wikipedia. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist dates from the 13th century and was rebuilt and enlarged by the Gothic Revival architect E.G. Bruton in 1875. Since the Reformation St. John's has always had the same parish clergy as St. Mary's, Chiselhampton. The Welsh clergyman and writer John Roberts was priest of both parishes 1798–1803.
The tower has a ring of four bells. Henry I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the treble and second bells in 1621. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the third bell in 1883 and the tenor bell in 1884. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable.
Now I had passed the church many times to thought I'd stop off quickly for a look. Unfortunately the place was locked so no internal views and since then the church has undergone a reordering so I doubt I will get what I want now if I return.

The view of St Johns as you walk down the church path where the entrance is in the South Aisle


























The main entrance to the church which at the time was locked, beside it you can see the village
 War Memorial







The bell tower is a little unususal in that the four corners have what look like urns on then









Looking up towards the top of the tower






The North side of the church with North aisle
















Door at the base of the bell tower











 The chancel end on the East side of the church
 





Anther view looking West along the North side


































The West end and south aisle, I took this to show a benchmark on the corner. There is one Commonwealth War Grave in churchyar to Private L.A.Cherry Gloucestershire Regiment 22nd June 1940 age 30







The main path to the gate


















Couple of headstones by the boundary fence












The main Churchyard out the back of the church roun dthe North Side

















These are a few on the East end of the church, the tomb on the right is quite small so must be that of a child









Here we look East past the War Memorial to the older part of the churchyard. That  all I took after being dissapoined in not seeing the inside I just did quick tour round. If I get a chance to revisit I'll post them here.
Have a great weekend





7 comments:

Tom said...

Once again Bill you have outdo yourself, these is lovely. Thanks

genie said...

When you see a cemetery like this one, you know immediately that the church is very old. This one is lovely. I am so sorry you were unable to go inside. I would have love to have seen the pictures from that view. I find the tower with the clock to be an interesting one, and those urn shaped sculptures are fascinating. Maybe one day they will reopen it and you finally get to go inside.

Marcia said...

I like that church. Thanks for posting.

Mo said...

Wikipedia very useful for us bloggers

Elizabeth Edwards said...

very quick, i have to get out of the way that I love your profile pic, minions are the greatest, you are away cool there! ( :

happy week, enjoy your days. thanks for linking up!

SpacerGuy said...

St Johns Church is a fine structure. I hope they fix the ringing bell technicality. I have a clock which rings but sadly I had to switch the chiming lever off because it drove everyone mad at night, lol.

Ruth Kelly said...

I too have used Wiki at times. I am amazed at how much these churches in England look so very much alike.