St Peter & St Paul Appleford

This was the last churches I visited at the end of March. It's another I had been to before but decided to return for an update on my photos  so some history on the church I found in Wikipedia.

The Church of England parish church of SS Peter and Paul was originally a chapelry of Sutton Courtenay.The nave is 12th century Norman and the chancel was rebuilt early in the 13th century. Surviving early features include a Norman door on the south side of the nave and an Early English Gothic door to the chancel.The east and north walls of the chancel have original Early English lancet windows and the south wall has a Perpendicular Gothic window that was added in the 16th century.

The building was over-restored in the 19th century. The nave was remodelled and extended to designs by the architect Ewan Christian, and in 1885–86 the tower was rebuilt and the spire was added to designs by the architect William Gilbee Scott.

The tower has a ring of six bells, but currently they are unringable. The fourth bell was cast at Wokingham, Berkshire in the late 14th century, and the fifth was cast by the same foundry in the late 15th century. John Warner & Sons of Cripplegate, London cast or recast the first, second, third and tenor bells in 1886, in time to be rung for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

Samuel Green built the organ in 1777 for Abbey House of Sutton Courtenay. It was moved to Appleford parish church at a later date.

SS Peter and Paul parish is now part of the Benefice of Sutton Courtenay with Appleford

Getting a good photo of the church is not easy due to the wall and closeness of the church to it

The tower & spire are impressive and look chunky

The north side could be better if the trees had not been planted

The East end is clear though you will find a number of graves there

I did not bother taking a view of the porch but instead went straight in the Nave

Got a bit of kilter here with the tripod showing the Chancel Arch but looking back down the nave shows it is long

The Chancel looks very busy with all the memorials in there

but I thought the altar looked very tidy with mosaic behind

Here we look back out of the Chancel towards the Nave

On the left is the pulpit which sits on a stone plinth. The organ stands in one of the arches off the chancel

Standing in the small pulpit and looking down the church lets you see this view

For a church of it's size it has it's share of memorials more than a few larger churches I have visited. The Roll of Honour is always one I will look out for

There is also another hand written roll giving the names of every one who served in the first war as well as the fallen.
On the right a Memorial to Charles Prebble

A plaque to Private Arthur Joseph Davis who died in South Africa in 1900

The two memorials here are from the Justice family

Along with this more elaborate one

Either side of the altar are these plaques, one with the ten commandments on the other the Lords Prayer & I Believe

Here you can see the top of the altar and beside it are the plaques, the two about I found hard to photograph so left them 

The only piece of stained glass shows the Lamb of God and stands behind the altar

Going back outside and look left you see the extent of the chuchyard on the west end

While looking back the headstones you see are some of the older ones

Down near the Tower you can see this fenced tomb

Near the yew tree are some old headstones, one with Ivy creeping on to it

There was one War Grave to Guardsman S.G.Broughton Grenadier Guards 18th June 1944

Over near the perimeter wall are a few more headstones

At the east end is this family vault of tombs fenced off

with rows of even older headstones

The east end of the churchyard looking North

Some of the older headstones

and a couple under a yew tree

That's it for the six churches I visited on Saturday from two benefices and by the time I got here the battery on my camera was very low and if I had completed what I had intended and got photos of the inside of the first I doubt I would have managed this one.

Have a Good Weekend