St Michael & All Angels Clifton Hampden

This is not my first visit to St Michal & All Angels, I had been here before to take photo's then returned in May 2013 to find the grave of  Dambuster  Dave Shannon. At the time I did not take any photos in the church as it's quite dark so I decided to return another time with my Trip. The only bit of history I can find came from Wikipedia .
  The oldest parts of the church include the arcade of the south aisle, which was built in about 1180. Elsewhere in the church are three 13th century Early English lancet windows. The south aisle ends in a Decorated Gothic chapel that was added in the 14th century. The Perpendicular Gothic arcade of the north aisle is later. In 1843–44 the church was rebuilt to the designs of George Gilbert Scott, who ornamented the chancel as a memorial to the benefactor who funded the restoration

 The church sits on a rise over looking the River Thames and the Village of Clifton Hampden

After going through the stone lychgate you are faced with a climb up these steps which take you past the memorial on the right

I might add it's not the only way in, there is a path leading from near the shop that you still have to climb but takes you through this wooden Lychgate 

The path from it will bring you out round the back of the church

Wandering round you  can see the North side if quite plain. To see the end o f the North Sile you climb down some steps

which if you look up you see the spire. Round the South side are the additions on the side

One of them the porch with takes you into the South Aisle

and onto the nave

One of the highlights of the church is this screen

This will take you into the chancel

 Using the flash show a bit more up

 Behind the altar is this mural of the last supper, did I say it was a mosaic

On either side you can see the twelve  apostles 

  

all dressed as Bishops

They are not the only feature of the chancel, you can see this modern tomb effigy

Who I think was the person who paid for its restoration















On either side of the chancel window you can see these painted tablets
 of the Ten Commandments

The Chancel window is not that east to get a good shot of but must look great with the sunlight in the morning

  View of the chancel screen looking through to the nave. Also in the chance is the church organ

  

The Chandelier in the Chancel

Off in the South aisle you can see the Lady Chapel 

 With a window showing the good shepherd and a statue of the Madonna & Child

Nearby another window with more modern glass in showing local wildlife 

 

One of the stained glass windows depicting St Michael.
To the right a window with a couple more saints

The nave looking down the main aisle

a differing view looking down from the pulpit

The pulpit I took the last photo from and the church font sat on pillars

There is quite a lot of stained glass

in the windows around the church

  A lot of it seems to show scenes from the life of Jesus or are of saints

The North Aisle

Along which you will find the odd memorial

and verse like this which is enamelled in steel plate

At the end of the aisle you find the War Memorial & Roll of Honour

and nearby this memorial which may well have held some thing

Go behind the organ and you find a vestry where you can see this wonderful picture of the Crucifixion

and not far away these tables with verse from scriptures on

On thing I failed to get on my first visit was the carvings of angels on the roof trusses

They were quite magnificent

Before going I took a couple more photos of the chancel screen and the glided Angels on it

It's a shame the sunlight was not with me on this day

Last view of the screen the we go outside

This is Clifton Hampton Bridge a former toll bridge you can see from near the porch

Go round the back following the path

through the churchyard

The churchyard at the East end is quite full of memorials unlike many others I have visited

On the right is the Memorial  of David John Shannon
of the Dambusters and on the right Major John Howard who captured Pegasus Bridge in World War II

Looking up the churchyard to the huge Cyprus tree

Back across the churchyard to the church from the Lychgate

Then looking across to the village, in the distance you can see the village school

This yew tree has grown up between the graves

While this fenced vault is now covered in moss

A look up the churchyard with a few of the more recent graves in the foreground

I'll leave you with this view of the church looking across the last of the snowdrops
Have a wonderful weekend