St Swithun Compton Beauchamp

The next church in my visit to the West side of Oxfordshire. The church seems to be in the grounds of  Compton Beauchamp house and I had to park on the drive to the church. First view of the church shows it is old. Some history via Wikipedia
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Swithun is 13th century and is built of chalk. The east window is a Decorated Gothic insertion and the north transept east window is early 14th century. The font is a Perpendicular Gothic addition. The mural on the chancel walls was painted by members of James Bacon's family, principally Lydia Lawrence.
The reredos, rood and altar rail were made by the artist Martin Travers in the 1930s under the patronage of the banking heir and publisher, Samuel Gurney, who lived at the time in the Old Rectory." 
The church is one of the  Oxford Diocese Pilgrim Project churches which from the look of things has now given me the excuse to visit another three churches

After parking up my first view of the church which again looked old and made of Chalk with the short tower

Wandering around to the South side

With vies across the tombs

The South side with one of the transepts

Above the South Transept which is a chapel and used as a vestry as I found out

The East end and the porch

Door is open so a good sign

The church looked quite compact inside

and the altar nearly took up the whole space at the East end.

Within the altar are the relics of the Martyrs St Vital & St Victorinous

The East window

View back towards the West end

Above the font which had quite a frame built around the outside and I was surprised to find out the font was 15th century

Left and right the murals you can see either side of the East window

I thought the wall paintings were old but reading the history it looks like they were painted in more recent times

Above the Chancel window and some of the other stained glass you can see

Saints on these ones

The walls hold many family memorials

Mary Cooper lived till she was 73

This is the Memorial of Anne Richards who died in 1771

It is quite ornate in detail

These memorials belong to the Langley Family

The memorial on the right it to Racheil Richards and contains and goes into a lot of detail on her life.

Left another to a baby who dies in 1618

Racheil Richards

At the back of the church you can see Lady Chapel.

The altar stone Possibly dating back to the original Norman building was discovered during the rebuilding. Under the altar contains a chest with a relic of St Placidus a 6th century Martyr 

In what is the North Transept is 14th century

I could only take photos from outside

The South transept does have an altar but also seems to be used as a vestry

The photos above are the best I could do and the memorial was taken with some difficulty

Above the rood which is 20th century

Left St Swithun and right a plaque with various bequests listed on it

Above a unusual shaped Royal Coat of Arms

Outside the churchyard is worth a few moments to walk around

Many of the graves and monuments are quite old

Around the South side you can see a whole lot of Chest Tombs

Behind a hedged area is a private cemetery of the manor

The Churchyard is bigger that it looks you will find when you go around the South side

When you go around to the North side there are family tombs near the Transept

This monument looks like it is made using rocks cemented together, unfortunately there is no name on it that I could see

I will leave you this week with this view of the churchyard with St Swithun in the background. 

Till next time I  Wish you all a wonderful weekend