St John the Baptist Stanton St John

 

 Stanton St John is near Oxford and one of the villages I had missed visiting in the past, a couple of weeks ago I decided to remedy that and go visit a couple of churches around the area. Some history from Wikipedia

"The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist was built in the 12th century. The arcade between the nave and north aisle dates from this period and is in the Transitional style between Norman architecture and Early English Gothic. The chancel arch also is Transitional, but may have been rebuilt in about 1700. The chancel was rebuilt around the beginning of the 14th century and is a high quality example of the transition from Early English (its side windows) to the Decorated Gothic (its east window, which has unusual tracery). The south aisle was built late in the 14th century, with a clerestory above its arcade to light the nave. In the 15th century all but one of the windows in the north aisle were replaced with Perpendicular Gothic ones and the bell tower was built. The church furniture includes four early 16th century benches whose bench ends have unusual carvings of poppyheads, human heads and grotesque animals.

The tower has a ring of five bells. Ellis and Francis Knight of Reading cast the treble and fourth bells in 1652. Michael Darbie, an itinerant bellfounder, cast the third bell in 1656. Henry III Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire cast the second bell in 1716, possibly at his foundry at Witney. Abraham II Rudhall of Gloucester cast the tenor bell in 1724, completing the current ring."

Take from across the churchyard

 

Walking on the churchyard from the road you will get this view of the church along the south side

 

St John the Baptist as seen form over the wall beside the roadside  path

Looking at the bell tower from the south you can see the spiral staircase runs up the side of the tower

 

The west end of the church with the north aisle

Going around to view the north side

Onto the road where you get a good view the opposite side

Closer shot showing the east end of the chancel and north aisle

The south aisle and entrance

To the left a window that I noticed something interesting

A mass dial

Over to the left of the path is this part of the churchyard

The Commonwealth War Grave of Private R.W.East

Another path of the churchyard

The Commonwealth War Grave of Private W.Watts

The west end churchyard by the tower

Looking around the north side

Where you can find the village war memorial

Mixture of old headstones around the south side of the church

 

One of them I noticed had a skull on the top, the inscription below long gone

 

 I noticed lots of primroses growing around the north side of the church

 

 

While the south side had these grape hyacinths 

Next week I will show the photos of the inside.

Till next time take care and have a peaceful weekend

St Nicholas Church Ickford

 

This is not the first time I have been to this church, I visited briefly during lock down but intended to return for a more in depth visit. You will find some history off Wikipedia below the photo

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Nicholas dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. The nave was built in about AD 1210, with a porch in the middle of the south side. Relatively narrow three-bay north and south aisles were added in about 1230, with the south aisle absorbing the original porch and taking the porch's south wall for the limit of its width. The north aisle has one Norman and Early English Gothic 13th-century lancet windows, one of which has a later rere-arch with cusped spandrels, each with a carved rosette.

The chancel has two 13th-century lancet windows in its north wall. Near the westerly of these windows is a rectangular recess that may have been a squint. In its south wall are another lancet window and a 13th-century doorway. The Decorated Gothic east window is 14th-century and has reticulated tracery with ogees. The south wall of the chancel has at its east end a window from about 1350 that is said to have been brought from elsewhere, and towards the west end a 15th-century window with a depressed head. Some of the stained glass windows are 20th-century work by Ninian Comper.

The bell tower is substantially Norman but the upper stages were remodelled in the 14th century. The tower has a saddleback roof.

In the nave some of the seats are 16th-century and there is a west gallery fronted with 17th-century panelling. The pulpit and its tester are also 17th-century.

Restoration work was carried out on the building in 1856, 1875 and 1907. The large stone monument to the first Thomas Tipping used to be in the north aisle, but in 1906 was moved to its present position in the chancel. St. Nicholas' is a Grade I listed building.

The west tower has three bells. The treble was cast in about 1599, possibly by George Appowell of Buckingham. Ellis I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the tenor in 1623. George Chandler of Drayton Parslow cast the youngest of the main bells in 1716. There is also a Sanctus bell, cast by William Taylor's Oxford foundry in 1847.

The Puritan minister Calybute Downing held the living of the parish from 1632 but it was then conferred on Gilbert Sheldon in 1636. Sheldon already held the living of Hackney, received that of Oddington, Oxfordshire at about the same time as Ickford, and at some time also that of Newington, Oxfordshire. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, Sheldon was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1663. St. Nicholas' is now part of the Benefice of Worminghall with Ickford, Oakley and Shabbington.^"

 

The photo above shows the show the north side of the church

 Coming back to St Nicholas the church looks just as pleasant to look at

 

Getting to the church porch which had a notice telling people it would be open for private prayer from 2 till 4 pm which was unfortunate for me as I would be back home then

I did manage to get a good shot of the west end and the apex shaped tower

Getting around to the north side looking east

Another shot from further down the churchyard

North side of the tower

Daffodils and the church

East end of the church, not a lot of room to get a view end on

North side looking west

Another shot of the tower with what looks like a tell tail of an old roof line showing 

Another view of the east end from the south side

Turning left a view down the south of the church looking west

The graves in the churchyard start at the west end of the church

Going along the path past the west end of the church

Looking down the churchyard on the north side

The Spitfire carved in the headstone drew my eye to this headstone so I looked on Google and found this about Lew

Godfrey Llewellyn Baggett was known as Lew to all his friends.
Date of birth given on Service Record was 03/07/1922. Deliberately gave wrong date in the hopes of joining the RAF earlier than was allowed.
Was enlisted on 07/10/1940.
First flight was in a Tiger Moth on 12/07/1941.
Joined 602 Squadron 27/05/1943.
Left 602 Squadron 29/12/1944 after 547 hours and 15 minutes of flying.
Joined 57 O.T.U. Boulmer 05/01/1945 

The churchyard north of the church was covered in primroses

Looking west

From further back the churchyard on the north side looking west

South of the church looking west

I will leave you this week with this shot of some primroses that were in the churchyard

Till next time have a peaceful weekend 

I returned a few moths later and found the inside better than I hoped, you can see the blog in the link

 

St Leonard Waterstock

 

St Leonard Waterstock was the first church I had intended to visit on this foray to the edge of Oxfordshire but on getting to the road to the village I found it closed so went off to see if I could get to it from the other side of the village only to be thwarted when I found the road work was being done that end. I then went off to visit the church at Shabbington  and Ikford for some more photos. I the was back I thought I would try to see if the road to the church was clear and I am happy to say it was. Some history of Wikipedia :- 

"Waterstock seems to have had a parish church since at least 1190. The current Church of England parish church of Saint Leonard was built at the end of the 15th century. The nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1790, and in 1858 the Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street restored the building. It is the burial place of the early-17th-century Puritan writer William 'Eternity' Tipping. Remnants of mediaeval window glass were recovered after the English Reformation and have been inserted above the armorial Ashurst window. This window, together with monuments in the church, records the families of local squirearchy who inhabited the manor house and retained its patronage until 1957.As well as regular church services, meetings and concerts are held in the church."

 

 The church is set back off the road a short way

Gate leads that takes you to the churchyard

Then to the porch, the doors were locked

Towards the bell tower

Near the west end, the window lets light into the bell pulls

Around the north side a porch the no doubt was from the house behind and an entrance to the north aisle

Looking left towards the chance a small vestry has been added

The North side showing the north aisle and chancel

Around to the east end

around to the south looking west

The cancel looks to have had the windows covered with black plastic and there is a large crack running down the wall towards the window.

Here we look west along the south of the church

Back to the west end of the churchyard

Against the wall and old headstone has been placed

The west churchyard looking south

This is along the north side of the church

A family tomb chest in the corner of the chancel and north aisle

One more look as we walk away to the car. I intend to revisit the churches in the area when lockdown is lifted and the churches are one again 

Till next time have a wonderful weekend and stay safe

I returned a couple of months later and posted the photos in a revisit blog click on the link to view

 

Remember in  your thoughts and prayers HRH Prince Philip who died on Friday, who met once at the opening of Diamond Light Source I found it a very Humbling Experience

Rest In Peace