St Deny Stratford Dingly

The second church on my visit to this area and a wonderfull little church to visit. Could find no history on the church but I did take a photo of a paddle in the church with some history on it so I have copied some from that

Your first view of St Denny which is in a pretty setting

"The church in origin is probably one of the oldest in Berkshire. There was a small part of the church that was here before 1066; the present building appears to be an enlargement. The form you see now appears to be an enlargement a little before and after 1200.

The wooden Bell Tower was not built onto the walls but started at ground level inside them and dates to around 1400. The chancel was rebuilt probably on the foundations of the original one  in the 18^th century.

In 1870 a major refurbishment was undertaken which included a new porch and windows with some older features regrettably being destroyed

In 1956 the church was redecorated and refurnishing undertaken including new  clergy stalls, lectern, altar rails and credence table

Other items of interest are the Norman font, wall paintings dated to the 13^th century that were uncovered in 1870, decorated bricks which are probably unique in England. There are a couple of brasses, one to Lady Margaret Dyneley (1444) and John Lyford (1610).

The altar a plane example of a Laudian Table dates from 1630. The royal coat of arms above the chancel arch is of William & Mary is of a fine quality. The kneelers were made by the Stratford Dingley WI for the silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in 1977.

St Deny who the church is dedicated to is the patron saint of France and was martyred in the 3^rd century. It seems likely that the church was dedicated to another saint and rededicated after the Norman conquest"
Most of the internal phots were taken with an iPhone 8+ as well as my DSLR

 

The marker here was placed there to mark the Millennium and has a sundial on the side .

Right the bell tower with wood cladding on the outside

Looking towards the porch

The church looking from the South side

Going around East and the chancel end. My first though in seeing this was that it looked  18th century and after reading the history it seems I was right

The East end the windows look typical of the time it was built

Going down the churchyard a bit to get a shot of the North side

Around to the West end showing the tower just offset to one side

The porch  from the outside and 

 inside   

Inside looking along the nave

Inside the chancel from the arch

The nicely dressed altar

Looking back to the bell tower support frame

On either side of the East wall of the chancel are memorials

Closer view of the bell tower support frame which looks to have suffered from insect damage

The tiles on the arch really stood out for me with the the decorated bricks on  the North side, I have never come across the like before

Above the coat of arms of William & Mary which could well be late 17th century.

Left a memorial to Rev Edward John Westwood

The Valpy Family Memorial listing various members who died in different parts of the country and world

Near the font you can see the village Roll of Honour from both first and second World Wars

Beneath hangs a poppy wreath

Three more small memorials in the chancel

Painting over one of the aisle arches

Beside of of them you can make out the figure of what may well be St Christopher

Around other parts of the wall of the nave you can see exposed wall paintings

This has to be the brass of Lady Margaret Dyneley (1444) behind a glass frame

The North aisle which at one end has a nice little kitchen area, seen a lot of these in churches

Some of the beautiful of oil lames converted to run electric lights

I love how the hang in the church

The Norman Tub Font

The churchyard is quite large for the size of the village

This is the South side near the church

Couple of tombs

The North side has an extension at one end

The East end where more important people of the village like to be buried

This must have been quiet a large family vault but the iron rails have been removed

Another view of the North side

and one looking North from the West end

With that I will leave you with this view of St Deny

Till Next time have a wonderful week

St Mark's Englefield

Englefield was to me the name of a ward at Fair Mile Hospital when I was a youngster as I remember my parents talking about it. I never realised it was a village let alone where it was. When I grew up I found out the wards in the hospital were names after Berkshire Villages. I found out where it was after driving past on many occasions on my way to the M4. Last year I  read a blog on the church by a lady who writes A Rich Tapestry and I marked the church down for a visit. St Marks is the First church I visited this year and starts of the Church Explores for 2020. Now Wikipedia has no history on the church but you can read the History of St Marks on the church website so rather than me plagiarise their work I would suggest you visit the link.
St make came to the limelight in 2017 when  the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton, married financier James Matthews at St Mark's and the Duke & Duchess attended the wedding along with their children

The church is up a private drive to the house, you could park nearby
The church sits in it's own walled off area
Walking around the church past the West end of the South aisle

Looking up at the spire

The spire is off on the north side of the nave

Looking along the North side towards the Lady Chapel which sticks out in the side

Looking back from the East end

The East end with Lady chapel on one side

The East end of the church

Back on the South side showing the aisle and the porch

When you enter the church you come into the South aisle

When you go into the main aisle you look down to the Chancel arch and chancel

The altar from behind the rails

The altar with it's beautiful embroidered covering

Behind the altar is this wonderful painted screen

On either side are paintings of I presume Matthew, Mark Luke & John

The main one showing the Good Shepherd. I suspect the altar came right up to the screen once but like most other churches it was borough forward leaving what you see under the paintings

Over to the left is a tomb with covering. It is flat with no effigy

On one end there would have been a brass here showing who was buried in the tomb.

A wood screen partition's off the Lady chapel

Nearby are the choir stalls

which are on either side

Floral display beside the altar

The pulpit is on one side of the chancel arch while the other an eagle lectern

Beside the pulpit is this rather stunning memorial

Looking out from the pulpit along the nave

Panoramic shot showing the South aisle and nave

Inside what turns out to be the Lady Chapel though I must admit I thought it was private chapel

The floor is covered in tomb slabs telling you who was buried there.

The wall on the West end has family memorials on it

The one memorial that does stand out is this one

It is to John Englefield he is kneeling opposite his wife Margaret. it shows his son behind and daughter behind his wife

Above them they lie in repose

You can read the inscription underneath

Over to one side in the East end is what looks like a Holy Water stoup

Over to the South aisle where memorials can be seen on the South wall

There are also a couple of tomb recesses the first one

holds what is thought to be the lady of the Englefield family

The second a knight

he is in armour and may have had a shield at one time. he is through to be the chief representative of the Englefield family and is though to day to the 13th or 14th century

Left a memorial in the nave and left one in the South aisle

at the back of the South aisle is the organ and while I was taking photo sin the church a couple of guys walked in. I though they were to tune the organ but one sat down and started to play. The other fellow who was older than me was teaching him. Well It made me stop for a while to listen to the organ. I was reluctant to leave but I had other churches to visit. I felt very privileged to have heard the organ play, sorry I did not have presence of mind to record some of it

at the front of the South aisle you can see these triple window and the altar. In front of which are more tomb slabs, some dating to the early 1600's

At the back is this font which dates back to the 13th century, it was found buried in the churchyard 50 years ago. The font on the left is most likely Victorian and is at the back beside the altar. No doubt the Victorians buried the older font

Above the West nave window

On the North wall you can see a couple of bequests from various people

and this nice looking memorial




















  The North aisle has a couple of windows with more modern stained glass 

Looking back at the West window in the North aisle

The detail of the centre glass in the North aisle windows

The Chancel window

Outside is quite a large churchyard

With some art near one of the tombs

Not far from the porch is this Memorial cross and to the left is a Tomb chest

There are a lot of older headstones and tombs you can see

and the odd cast iron marker cross

On the North side of the church you can see more headstones

looking South across the East end of the church

four differing types of marker crosses on graves

There are a number of more modern headstone near the boundary wall on the East side of the churchyard

 Family graves near the East wall of the Lady chapel

These two from the Benyon family

Looking over towards the Lych gate

Three more tombs near a path that will take you to a gate

Three headstones near the West end

A look along the North side of the churchyard

I will leave you with this view from the North West corner of the churchyard showing St Marks Church.

Till next time may I wish you a a pleasant weekend