St Jon the Evagelist Fernham was a bit of a last moment visit as it was only a short distance from the turn off to Little Coxwell where I was heading. the big disapointment for me was not being ablet to look inside as it was being used as a children's nursery during the week, it is unlikely I will be revisiting. There is a little history on Wikipedia
"Fernham was part of the Church of England parish of Shrivenham until 1846, when it and neighbouring Longcot were formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Evangelist was designed in 13th-century style by the Gothic Revival architect J.W. Hugall and built in 1861 as a chapel of ease for Longcot. St. John's parish is now part of a single Church of England Benefice with the parishes of Ashbury, Bourton, Compton Beauchamp, Longcot, Shrivenham, and Watchfield. In 2008 the parish controversially spent a £90,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to strip St. John's of its Victorian pews, lay a modern floor. and reörder its interior for secular uses as a village hall."
Fenham church from across the road
Above Left the West end and Right the side view of the porch
Right the South side from the churchyard
Above the porch leading to the church.
South view of the nave
Another view looking West along the South side. I note a satellite dish on the chancel end. Normally I would walk along the East end where there are a few headstones but at the time there were a lot of children playing being supervised by the carers, I felt sorry for the little mights as the grass had been worn away and it was mostly mud
A single grave at the West end of the church
The Commonwealth War Graves of Private R Richings and Private J Warner
The churchyard along the North side of the church.
Over on the South side near the East end an area has been made into a remembrance garden
It is one of the nicer ones I have seen with headstones and tombs surrounding it
Right looking East
This is the far East end of the churchyard, just out of sight is the children's play area among a few headstones
I loved the way this grave had a couple of bottles on it
Left near the remembrance garden a cross from someones grave, Right the beer bottles and Flowers mark a grave with a Remembrance cross showing they were in the forces
I will leave you with this shot of St John the Evangelist from steps taking you to the church.
Till Nexttime I wish you all a wonderfull weekend
9 comments:
The war grave particularly draws my eye.
What a pretty little building, I don't think I have ever before seen a church with a satellite dish on it; modern life, I suppose! Better that the building is used by the community than sold on. The bottles of beer made me smile, someone's tribute to an old friend, a lovely personal touch.
In medieval times people stood up for services and churches were used for all manner of community purposes, so they're actually closer to traditional ways than people might think. It looks a little like some of our little fenland churches that were built in the nineteenth century, though they don't have towers because of the nature of the ground which won't support heavy structures.
It's a shame you couldn't go inside to take a look. At least the building is still being used by the local community and the churchyard reflects that too in different ways. Have a good week Bill.
...this is lovely! I've seen a few graves with bottles here too!
Hello Billy!
A beautiful historic church. I like English cemeteries.
Grave with beer bottles? Probably a gift from Friends who came to "visit".
Hugs and greetings, Billy:)
Beer bottles? That seems a bit extreme to me.
I never like to strip out the fitments but hopefully they kept any interior memorials. Still, looks like you might not ever find out!
St John's is a sturdy looking church Bill and even though you couldn't go in you did get many lovely detail shots for us to enjoy. I totally get the beer bottles, men sharing a beer with a mate that has passed ✨
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