St Leonard Eynsham

 

Eynsham Church is one I had my eye on visiting for a while though it was not on my map list. After wondering a bout which church was easy to visit in these times I remembered I used to work in Eynsham and had seen the church on the occasion I went to the Village. In fact I past it everyday I went to work as you could see it from the road to where I used to work. Some history from Wikipedia :-          "The Church of England parish church, St Leonard's, was built the 13th century. In the 15th century, the nave was rebuilt, a clerestory and north aisle were added and the west tower was built. There are Mass dials on the south wall. The building has been restored three times: by William Wilkinson in 1856, Harry Drinkwater in 1892 and over a period of eight years in the 1980s.

The west tower has a ring of six bells. James Keene of Woodstock cast the third bell in 1653. Richard Keene cast the fifth bell in 1673. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast or recast the treble, second, fourth and tenor bells in 1895. The church has also a Sanctus bell that Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast in 1924.^" St Leonard's is a Grade II* listed building.

 St Leonard's church from the south side

 Getting a photo of the church from the square in front of the church was taxing with the sun behind so I have edited the photo to show it

It was a little better when the sun went in later

The porch looked as though it had a room over the top though the door was firmly closed

Nearby in a garden is the village war memorial

The names of the fallen surrounding the base

You cannot get a view of the west and and tower because of the ally you take to get to the back of the church. The east end (right) looked no better

On the left you can see the alley you take . The South door in the church

This is the churchyard as you come out from the alley

You also get an idea as to the size of the churchyard which extends way in the distance. Over to the right you can see St Peter's Catholic church

The churchyard extends east towards a boundary wall

One thing I did notice was Chest Tombs

More headstones looking east

Fenced in family vaults

A lone chest tomb among the headstones

The Commonwealth Ware Grave belonging to Driver C.A.Cattell

Further south towards the churchyard extension where the recent burials are

The Commonwealth War Grave of Leading Stoker Albert John Holloway

The churchyard path leading to the churchyard extension which was through the gate. The wall to the left has been remove

Along the path you can find theses signs part of the information on the Eynsham Abbey trail. The Abbey church was over towards the building in the distance The churchyard is in the Abbey cloisters

Beehives in the churchyard

The path leading towards the church

A cast iron grave cross

All this part of the churchyard is around where the Abbey church used to be

One of the more interesting chest tombs

Coffin shaped tomb slabs

Really old headstones

Last look across the churchyard

As our lockdown starts to ease off I look forward to when I can return to get photos inside the church.

Till Next time Have a wonderful weekend

Tomorrow is Psalm Sunday visit the link to see my post