This was the third church on my visit to West Berkshire and is the second of the churches with a round tower that you can find in Berkshire and only a few miles from the last one. Normally I would give you some history from Wikipedia but that only comprises of a few lines so Britain Express comes to the rescue with a brilliant description so I would ask you to click on the link to find out more rather than me pillaging what they say but I will let you know that the church dates back to the 13th century
Above the main entrance to the churchyard is via this lychgate
Left inside you will get this view of the church
The Tower stands out being round and was rebuilt as original stone by stone by the Victorians
The pillar you see on the left photo looks like it could be a preaching cross
Heading along to the East end you see three East windows
Above looking along both South & North side showing the aisles
Above West towards the tower and left towards the East end of the North aisle
The round tower on the West end with door in the base to the bell loft.
Left a small protrusion on the North side
Above a view up the round tower
Left the North aisle
Above the clock on the top of the tower
Above the entrance porch leading to the church
Walking into the church looking down the nave you can see it is Victorian
Above the chancel withe the altar on the left
Above the tree East windows
Right the 13th century sedilia with brasses on the wall
Couple of views back to the Nave
Above the nave looking from the chancel arch.
Left the organ and right the carved stone pulpit
The nave as seen from the pulpit
The area at the back of the church in the tower has some interesting memorials
But this one stands out looking like a death mask of the person it depicts
The others look normal in comparison
This memorial is to a rev Sawbridge and his wife he died in 1836
Rev Henry Sawbridge who looks to have been the brother of the previous and who died in 1830
The roll of honour of those who died in the First World war
The memorial above is from the alcove under the tower and is fading badly but has some really intricate carvings on it
Left what looks like a family memorial and a candelabra
Above and left the North aisle.
Right looking East along the South aisle
The memorial above is in the North aisle
The Norman font with a 16th century memorial behind
Above a closer view of the kneeling lady on the memorial
Right outside in the churchyard
The Rogers family headstone which had weathered the years and is in really good condition
More headstones looking East
Above a couple of crosses on a cast iron one with a shroud the other leaning over badly which has a cameo of Christ on it
This row of headstones are falling over and becoming covered in ivy
This is right over in the far South West corner of the churchyard
Couple of crosses which are very similar so could well be a couple of family plots
The West side of the churchyard
This is the North side and apart from the cross falling over the rest look in very good condition
These are older headstones which have a covering of lichen growing on them
Couple of very old headstones which could be from the 1700's
Back to the South side
and looking West
Here I head off along the path to the side entrance to the churchyard
Where you can see this view back along the path
A last look from the gate and my tour is done. Till next time May I
Wish you a peaceful weekend
10 comments:
The round tower particularly draws my eye. What a beautiful church!
The reverend must've been quite an important figure there for a memorial to be there in his honour.
Damn... is this nice! ;o)
It's very beautiful.
How interesting! There are plenty of round towers in East Anglia, but none, as far as I know, with spires. And there's a sound reason for this. Round towers were probably built as a solution to the problem of how to build a tower when there was no suitable stone to construct the corners. From what I can see of it this tower is also build of small field stones. While this solved the problem the resultant tower was not usually of sufficient strength to support he weight of a spire, or in most cases a set of bells. I wonder how they built this tower???
Hello Billy!
Thank you very much for the beauty you present on your blog.
A beautiful church, its interior delights.
As always, great pictures.
Greetings.
Lucja
...a handsome church and graveyard with the details that I've grown to expect. Thanks for sharing.
The information on the Britain Express website tell us that the tower was rebult stone for stone by the Victorian craftmen and the spire was added then, but it would be interesting to see how they did it
Excellent post, starting out very strong with the wonderful picture with the lychgate. Thanks for taking us inside.
Another beautiful and interesting church, Bill. There is some intricate stone carving there. I was drawn to the pulpit and the memorials on the walls. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you a peaceful week.
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