Explore Churches

I would not call myself a religious person but I think if any one asked me why I liked visiting churches I would not be able to put a finger on it. I was brought up a Catholic and my Mother being Irish was quite devout and would always drag me along even if I did not want to go. My father was Church of Ireland an odd mix considering they came from the South never went to church though each night he would kneel by the bed and say a prayer. I would always go to Mass on a Sunday with Mum (I should say I was dragged along as I would rather stay with Dad) even when I got to adulthood I went or took Mum along in the car, by then most weekends I would be away with work or my hobby of motor racing and miss Mass but Dad would take her. Years later I go my Father passed away and Mum had him his funeral at the Catholic church. I then made sure she went to Mass on Sunday even after I got married though when I moved away for a while or went off to work abroad there were times, I could not take her. Mother passed away and I lost faith and stopped going to Mass on Sunday.

But there was always a draw to a church for me, many times when I was working abroad working, I found myself near a church and would always visit be it of my own faith or another I felt at peace in one. 

Sometime around 2008 I came across a new website called Geograph UK where photos were collected from the grid squares of the Ordnance Survey map needless to say I joined in and to date have contributed over 38000 photo's many of them of Churches which if I was anywhere taking photos I would always visit. 

In 2012 I started my Blogs. I have never given a reason form my starting this blog other than I came across a blog on Taphophilia a translation of this is Tombstone Tourist which I confess I tended to be when visiting a church, back then it was called My Grave Place but after a few years I felt it was too macabre as I had been featuring more churches so it became the Church Explorer I’d become a Church Crawler as I found out and I had quite a collection to show, but after a while I  found I needed to visit more to write about and turning to my favourite OS maps I noticed how many were around where I lived at least fifty.  Going to visit Wales provided me with even more. The diversity of churches is amazing all being different is some way. The architecture is what I like the most and my greatest joy is going into a church and finding it dates to Norman or Saxon times. Wall paintings and a bonus to see and I was pleased to see a few near where I lived had them. 

Religion is something that is personal to everyone and many people do not have any but I always maintain you do not have to be religious to visit a church just appreciate the building and peace with in.

You may have noticed that on the bottom of my posts an avatar showing a purple church on a black background. I was looking for something to use for a calling card I could give to people and leave at Churches I visit. I came across it along with many other avatars but I linked the simplicity of this one
After changing the background colour and that of the church I ended up with purple to use on a grey background for the card. On the blog I added black because it showed up better.

Now While I look at the Ordnance survey maps to find churches to visit I have been using a couple of other methods to find out more about them. you may notice on the right hand column of the blog a list of links.  A church near you is the Church of England Website and will tell you who looks after the church with some phone numbers that might be useful, if your lucky there is a website to visit to tell more.
Now what I did not realise until I visited this site but the avatar I used belonged to  Explore Churches. which was one of the sites that came up on researching a church, it is also part of the National Churches Trust and  is very useful in that there is a map showing churches which are under their umbrella. The website gives a lot of information what to do as we are stuck in at the moment with Virtual visits, Favourite Churches by famous celebrities, the one Ben Fogel liked was St Mary the Virgin Fawley which is not that far from where I live and one I visited last year. If you notice that Yew Tree in a churchyard you will find an feature on the oldest ones in the UK.
The Map shows churches in your area and when I checked it out I found that quite a lot of the ones shown in my area I had visited. 

One of the oldest a few miles form me is All Saints North Moreton which surprised me when I first visited the church in how old it was the The Stapleton Chantry Chapel is well worth seeing especially the stained glass window

A few miles away is another superb church which is St Andrews East Hagbourne

another superb old church where a good friend of mine used to play the bells, he died last year and his wish was to have his ashes scattered from the bell tower he played at, I could not tell you if this happened.


Another which I visited is  St Botoph Swyncome 
which is quite out on a limb in the county but seems to have quite a congregation who go there. The church has a window that commemorates the death of Alfred Taylor and his wife but I feel the Commonwealth War grave of Sergeant J.H.Barnet in the churchyard  is bumbling, the poor guy died when the plane he was gunner in crashed nearby, he died in the crash but what must have been devastating  is that his parents lived in the village.

Into Wales and another church I visited near where I stay is St Stephen Old Radnor
A beautiful old church which I found out has the oldest Organ in the UK still working dating back to 1540  and that was when Henry VIII was on the throne. the rest of the church is just as wonderful to look around

St David Cregrina is another beautiful old church worth visiting dating back to 1300 it looks like it has never been touched, the churchyard is well kept and worth looking around as well

The last church I will feature today from Wales is St Cewydds Disserth

I was not looking on a map for this one but happened to take a little detour with my wife on our way back from shopping and were going back to out caravan. We noticed a caravan site and went to see what it looked like (not for us, park homes) and drove past the church. I asked my wife if she minded if I went for a look and went back with my camera. I heard some singing coming from the church and nearly left but the choir who were singing had finished and started filing out. It was fine to go inside and when I did I was stunned, it was like walking back in time to the 17th century with box pews dated to that time and with dates and peoples names carved in the seat backs. To me it was a privilege to see this little piece of history. Up to the I had only ever come across a church like this once in Oxfordshire at Woodeaton.

Explore Churches is part of the National Churches Trust who help look after churches in need of help please have a look at their websites and see the churches they help

I will leave it there and next week tell you some on another trust that looks after redundant Churches.

Till next time please stay safe  

Agatha Christie

So the second blog I wrote back in 2012 was about the author Agatha Christie I never realised when I was younger that she live in part of the Village Called Winterbrook. Winterbrook became part of Wallingford a few years ago stolen from the village by the Council and Wallingford. The one thing they could not take was where she is buried which is at St Mary's Church in Cholsey. Many people visit the churchyard from all over the world and if you ask there are people who are willing to show you the grave and tell you some history on the church . The grave itself is over in the North West corner of the churchyard and had a large white headstone marking it

The Chruch Explorer

Normally I would be posting a new church this week but I managed to injure my back a couple of weeks ago and am only just recovering from it. This meant I have not been out to visit any new churches. I do still have a couple to write on and will publish it in a week or so. The blogs take me a good few nights to compile and I have felt like sitting for a couple of hours at the table to do it. Then what we are all going through took over and it does not look like I will get going any where in the near future. This will affect my other blogs  as well though with the Daily Photo I can dig back into my archive where I have thousands of photos so no worry there. You may also find I will be taking photos from around my garden and featuring more from around my home. Like everyone I just want it to be over with. Blogging is one thing I love doing and I feel many of you who follow my blogs feel the same. We are a community  that try to reach out to others. For the foreseeable future I am going to re-run my old church explorer blogs that I started with back in 2012 and see how things pan out. I hope we all come though this safely 

God Bless and keep strong

St Helen Dry Sandford

Continuing with visiting Churches near Abingdon a week or so later I went to Dry Sandford to visit St Helens Church. A little history form Wikpedia
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Helen is a 13th-century-style Gothic Revival building designed by J.B. Clacy of Reading and built in 1855. St. Helen's has lancet windows, a nave, chancel, rib-vaulted apse and a bellcote on the gable above the chancel arch. St. Helen's was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1867, but was united in a single benefice with St. Peter's, Wootton in 2000.^{" There is a sign out of view by the Lych Gate telling you the church was open but I was to be sadly disappointed with what I found a few moments later}

I thought the entrance was quite present with it's little Lych Gate

The church from the South side and left porch with the village war memorial in the foreground
I did wonder at the fencing around the church at the time

Above the faded poppy wreath on the memorial base

Right looking towards the West end

Going over to the North East corner to get this view of the church

Closer view showing the apse and vestry off to the right

Left/right  view of both apse and vestry

Along to the West end for a view along the south side and the porch

Above the entrance porch which is as far as I got because inside were a couple of notices one telling you that no one was allowed inside with out a approved member of the team.
  On phoning the churchwarden it transpired that the church was closed of repairs because of some structural problems in the church

After that it was a little walk around the churchyard looking at the headstones

The West end where you can see most of them

I had looked around for the War graves and found two. One of Gunner W.T.Coll and the other of Warrant  Officer H Gower RAF

On the North side looking east

And back West

Not sure how old the Yew tree was

Some older headstones

Above a mixture of old and more recent headstones
Left some of the headstone behind the fencing around the church

Two are Crosses  of people who used to go to the church

I will leave you this week with a view of the East end of the church and the board showing the restoration fund. If you visit there is a notice board with photos showing what repairs are needed and the churchyard is neat and worth looking around. As I am not sure when it will open again I can only show a link to a fellow Church Crawlers Website to see the inside of St Helen

Till Next time I wish you all a wonderful  week and stay safe

Just as a footnote with this panic over COVID 19 which people seem to be running around like headless chickens over I may find it harder to visit the inside of some churches because they are being kept locked over due to the fear of spreading the virus. One church I have to visit I have to arrange for it to be opened. I'm hoping churches will remain open and that I can visit but I do not know how it will pan out.

St Leonard Sunningwell

This was the last of the three churches I visited near Abingdon which I was happy to see looked interesting from the outside. Some history from Wikipedia :-
"The oldest known record of the Church of England parish church of St Leonard is from 1246. The nave and parts of the chancel date from this time, and there is one blocked 13th-century window in the south wall of the nave. The east end of the chancel was rebuilt late in the 13th or early in the 14th century with a Decorated Gothic east window. Late in the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic south transept and north tower were built and the nave was given Perpendicular Gothic windows and an embattled parapet. The Elizabethan polygonal west porch with Ionic columns is said to have been given by John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, who had been rector of Sunningwell St Leonard's in about 1551.
Samuel Fell was rector of St Leonard's from 1625 to 1649.
The west tower has a ring of six bells. Henry II Knight of Reading cast the tenor in the Commonwealth era in 1653. Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the second, third, fourth and fifth bells in 1857. Mears and Stainbank, also of the Whitechapel foundry, cast the treble bell in 1933.
In 1877 St Leonard's was restored under the direction of JP Seddon, a friend of William Morris, who designed the stained glass in the east window. The church is a Grade II* listed building."

Above the view of the church as you  walk though the gate
Left the apse here in the West end is the entrance porch

The porch dates back to the 1550's
I did not realise what it was until I found the door opened

Going around to the East the chancel window is Decorated Gothic

Around the South side you find the transept where you can see the tree figures in the window there

At the North East side of the churchyard you get a good view of the tower

Inside the porch which is quite large

A welcoming smell hits you from this floral display

Waling in the church you get a wonderful view down the nave

The chancel is well lit and the stained glass by JP Seddon shows the colour beautifully

The chancel showing the altar lit from the sun

Few iphone photos

The East wall and window with the altar screen over on the right

View of the altar screen and floral display

Above looking back through the nave towards the entrance.

Right a screen splits off the South transept which is late 15th century

Above the altar table with a picture of the crucifixion on the wall beneath the stained glass window

The stained glass is Victorian and depicts St Leonard in chains , the Virgin Mary and St Edmund Rich (1175- 1240) he was born in Abingdon also known as Edmund of Abingdon

Above a stained window in the church

Left the banner is in the South transept

Where you can also see this floor tomb near the South wall

Above the screen looking back to the nave, the North transept is screened off with a door and locked so I presume it is a kitchen and vestry now

Above the pulpit on the South side of the church and a view of the nave from it

Above one of the clerks desk, there is one either side along with choir stalls

Left the carved poppy heads on the pews

They are shaped like Fleurs′-de-lis

The floor in the chancel is where you can see some interesting floor memorials with dates going back to 17th century

I like the simple carved heads and skull on them. The floor around looks like it was done in the Victorian restoration

The lectern opposite the pulpit looks very sturdy

Above the Roll of Honour for both wars

Listing the local men who died 

The memorial of a very brave Captain Clifford Whittington Green who died from his wounds in 1915

A poppy wreath and keeler under the plaque

Above the font which had a wooden cover

There are quiet  a few memorials you can view in the church the bottom one in the left photo being that of Major Sidney John Heath who was killed in action in 1945 and is buried in
REICHSWALD FOREST WAR CEMETERY 

Above a family memorial of the Blower family dating to the 17th and 18th century's

An 19th century  memorial to Rev Henry Bowyer who was the son of Sir George Bowyer

Memorial of Rev B.G.Collett who belong to some interesting companies

Nice brass memorial to Richard William (Dick) Greening

On the way back out I passed these knitted dolls that the children in the crèche play with

When you walk in the churchyard look left towards the East end of the churchyard

Looking West you will see where the more recent  burials are

Further along the North side looking East

Looking North across an mixture of headstones

Above I liked the look of this headstone. Right the remains of a preaching cross base

Snow drops cover these graves

Moss covers the foot stone

Above Primroses by a headstone on the East end of the church.

Looking west along the North side

The commonwealth war grave of Gunner B.Carritt

The one memorial I did like was this one with four angels surrounding the grave, the moss gradually creeping up their bodies

I will leave you this week with a photo of the beautiful floral display beside the altar 

Till next time do have a wonderful weekend