St Mary Garsington

 

 With our month long lockdown now finished I thought it was time I went out to visit some churches, looking at where to go I decided on a one I had passed by many times and not that far away. St Mary Garsington

"The oldest part of the parish church of Saint Mary includes the tower, built towards the end of the 12th century in the transitional style between Norman and Early English. The chancel is pure Early English and was built or rebuilt in about 1300. St Mary's has Decorated Gothic north and south aisles, which were added in the 14th century and have four-bay arcades.

St Mary's was restored in 1849 under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke. Clarke's alterations included rebuilding the chancel arch to match the north arcade, adding gargoyles to the south aisle and much remodelling of the north aisle. St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building.

Inside, next to the entrance door, is a memorial to Garsington's most illustrious inhabitant, Ottoline Morrell, by Eric Gill.

The west tower has a ring of six bells. Richard Keene of Woodstock cast the treble bell in 1696. Abraham II Rudhall of Gloucester cast the second bell in 1720. Henry III Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire cast the third bell in 1733, presumably at his then foundry in Witney. John Rudhall of Gloucester cast the tenor bell in 1788. W&J Taylor cast the fifth bell in 1825, presumably at their then foundry in Oxford. The fourth bell was cast in 1732 but Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast it in 1929. The bells were restored in 2013.

Thomas Thwaites of Clerkenwell in London built the turret clock for the tower in 1796 at a cost of £172 4s 0d. It is a 30-hour clock and it strikes the hours on the tenor bell. Its dials still have only an hour hand.

St Mary's parish is now part of the Benefice of Garsington, Cuddesdon and Horspath.

The wedding scene in the 2006 film Amazing Grace was filmed at the church.^"

 

 

 First clear view of the church as you come out of the trees along the path

 

 

 

 

 

waling over to the boundary wall is the best place to see the whole church. The scaffold is there as they are working on the roof of the South aisle because some thieves decided they needed the lead flashing more than the church did. 

 

 

 

 

The chancel end of the church

The bell tower also with a scaffold tower on the side

North side of the tower

 

The North aisle also with scaffolding indicating this side got the same treatment

The door in the North aisle

View of the North side including the aisle

The porch, I did not go in as it was only open for the guys working on the roof 

 

You walk under these yew trees as you walk in the churchyard

 

The footpath curves around part of the churchyard at the East end of the church

Still looking East and you can see the length of the churchyard along with an extension over to the right

There are a lot of headstones to see in the churchyard though some are spaced apart

The extension where the more recent burials take place

Looking North East

 

 

 

You can see this large chest tomb at the East end of the church near the door

One of the more interesting places to see headstones is along the Ha Ha wall where they are used as capping

This one seems to be the oldest one I could see

A rather nice gargoyle on the corner of the South aisle

This on on the nave roof is keeping an eye on the roofer

I will leave you this week with a view of the church from under the haha

 it would have been nice to see inside but on this occasion it was not to be but I will return when I find it is open again.

Till next time take care