St Giles Noke

 

Noke is a little village in a backwater of Oxfordshire  and was the first church on my list for the day. The history I found on Wikipedia.:- "Noke had a parish church by 1191 but the present Church of England parish church of Saint Giles dates from the first half of the 13th century. At the end of the 16th century a mortuary chapel was added for the Winchcombe family on the north side of the church, but in 1745 the chapel was in a ruinous condition and was demolished"

 

Parking nearby I walk along the road and take this shot of St Giles over the wall

 

The main entrance to the churchyard is by the west end of the church

 

 

Walk over to the south a bit and you get a wonderful view of the church

 

 Walking around the west end of the church

 

You come around to the north side

 

Were you can carry on to the east end of the church

 And look at  the east end of the church

 

Finally yo get back to the south side of the church

 

 

Look up at the bell cote with it's two bells
 

The porch with it's door leading to the church which was locked when I checked

 

 The West end of the church

 

From the outside you can make out the stained glass window

 

 

The gravestone of Thomas and Sarah Jones
 

 

Headstones along the south side of the church

 

Gordon Holder of the RAF

The churchyard beside the path at the west end of the church

Chest tomb near the porch

Around on the east end of the church

Looking back west on the south side

 

 

Looking north across the east end

Back on looking east over the south side

An interesting headstone with a poem made from letters making Malcolm

This headstone was right over in the corner of the churchyard

 

A last look at St Giles from the corner

I will leave you with this shot of some cowslips that were growing in the churchyard.

Till Next time I wish you a pleasant weekend

Stay Safe

St Lawrence Appleton

 

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I have know of Appleton ever since I worked in Oxford and had an Apprentice who came from the village, he was known to us a Jaffa, not sure where he got the name from other that It could be he liked Jaffa Cakes. Jaffa worked at the same place for years then left and I never heard of him again and I often wonder how he is getting along. Appleton was not far form the church at Besselsleigh which used to be part of the group at one time. The church has long been on my list to visit along with the one at Cumnor so I drove along after seeing the St Lawrence at  Besselsleigh. Some history from Wikipedia :-

"The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Laurence are 12th-century Norman. The north aisle was added late in that century, linked with the nave by a four-bay arcade of pointed arches. In the 13th century a new window and doorway were inserted in the south wall of the nave, as was the priest's doorway on the south side of the chancel. The east window of the chancel is 14th-century in style. In the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic bell tower was added, a window inserted on the south side of the nave and the nave was re-roofed. The south porch was added early in the 16th century, the north aisle was rebuilt in the 17th century and the north porch was built in about 1700. The Gothic Revival architect CC Rolfe restored the nave in 1882–84. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

Monuments in the church include a brass of two shrouded corpses in memory of John Goudrington, who died in 1518, and his wife. In the chancel is a Renaissance stone monument erected in 1593 in memory of Sir John Fettiplace, who died in 1580. It includes a life-size effigy of Sir John in 16th-century armour, a pair of Corinthian columns supporting a canopy surmounted by a pair of obelisks, and a long Latin inscription surrounded by extensive strapwork and a number of skulls.

The tower has a ring of ten bells, all cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Thomas II Mears cast the seventh bell in 1817. George Mears cast the second and third bells in 1859 and the ninth and tenor bells in 1861. Mears and Stainbank recast the eighth bell in 1874 and cast the treble, fourth and fifth bells in 1875. The sixth bell was recast, and the fittings for all bells replaced, and a new frame installed in 1977. The work was carried out by White's of Appleton, in the same village.^"

 

The main entrance is along a drive which stops near the church, walk across the churchyard and you get a nice view of the North side of the church

 

 

The bell tower with some family tombs below

 ^{Walking around the west end you find an old entrance to the church}

 

Going around the south side to the east end looking at the church

The east end of the church with north aisle

The south entrance porch

Above which you find this beautiful statue of St Lawrence

From the entrance drive a view across the churchyard

Looking east at some older graves

 

 

Looking west

A couple of small angels one in the background

The south side of the church

I only realised who this person was after seeing a relations grave the little bells give you a clue

I have not come across a flute on a grave before

The white family headstone with the church in the background I'll let you know who they are later

Looking west towards the manor

An old headstone with cherubs on it, I suspect dating from around the 1700's
 

Looking towards the north side of the church from the churchyard

The arched headstone on the right I though unusual in this area

Now I mentioned the white family in photo previously well this is another one and I think you might get another clue in the inscription. The White Family is very famous around Oxordshire for making and hanging bells  and their company Whites of Appleton Ltd is the Oldest Continuously trading Bellhanging Company in the UK. My old mate Cliff Garlick mentioned Whites on may occasions and I have no doubt knew Frank well, I dare say they both raised a glass together in the local when Cliff rang here

While walking around the south side of the churchyard I noticed memorials for the cremated of the parish by the wall, I tend to look around local ones to see if I recognise any one, well this one I did. Rex used to work at Oxford Instruments in Osney Mead while I worked there. He worked in the same workshop on a bench nearby and did some of the most accurate machining I have seen any one do especially considering the machines were well used. I might add he always cleaned it before and after use and you knew hen he had been on one. I cannot remember when he retired which is rather sad but I never forgot the guy and always wondered what happened to him. I know now he lived to a reasonable age. 

The blog is dedicate to Rex May he Rest In Peace 

 

 I intend to return to the church to see the inside when we are allowed

Till Next time have a peaceful weekend

Assumption BVM Beckley

 

 

This week I am back on track with the church I would have shown last week. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Beckley which is north east of Oxford is a church I decided to visit while my son was at the JR hospital for some treatment. As it was only a short distance away it did not take long to get to. Some history off Wikipedia

" The Church of England parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was originally Norman, but was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. The interior has a number of 14th- and 15th-century wall paintings including a Virgin and Child, an Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the weighing of souls, the torments of the damned and 15th-century paintings of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and a Doom.

By 1552 the tower had four large bells and the church had also a Sanctus bell. The Sanctus bell has been lost but the tower bells have been renewed and increased to the present ring of five. Richard Keene of Woodstock  cast the treble bell in 1650 and the third bell in 1654. Richard III Chandler of Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire cast the fourth bell in 1705 and Henry III Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire cast the second bell in 1707, possibly at his foundry at Witney. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present tenor bell in 1881. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable.

The rectory and advowson of Beckley evolved into a second manor, which was bought by the Izard family in 1568. Memorials in Beckley church to the family include one dedicated to John Izard, 'Spanish merchant,' who died in 1694. Dorothy Izard of this family married the Rev. Nicholas Levet, priest of Westbourne, West Sussex and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, who is buried in the chancel of the parish church. The Izard family seem to have sold the rectory to the Duke of Bedford. The Izard family also held the nearby manor of Charlton-on-Otmoor.

 In the early Middle Ages Beckley was reputedly the home of Saint Domnanuerdh, a Saxon saint known only from the Hagiography list of John Leland.^"

 

^{Main entrance is through this Lych gate on Church Street}

Leading to a gravel path that takes you to the church

^{After going through the gate and seeing the church my first thought was I hope it is open because if the outside is any thing to go by the inside must be even better, it was and it is}

The South side of the church, the bell tower is more or less central in the church

Looking from the south west end

Heading around to the north side

The west end of the church

West end door

Going further over the north side of the churchyard gives a good view of the church

 

 The east end

 

 Path leading to the porch

 The main entrance to the church

 The churchyard looking across the east end

 

 Part of the churchyard beside the porch

 

Typical chest tomb from around the Cotswold's

Looking along the churchyard on the south side near the porch

Looking back east
 

 

 Across the north side of the church

Some of the more recent headstones near the east end of the church

Nearby along the road cottages face the church
 

 

 Looking from the east end of the church towards the south

Before going in the porch look up and there is a small  statue of Mary & Jesus

The door leading to the church

 

On the left as you go in a hand bire  

 

Walk in the door and you view will be through the arches acorns the south aisle

 

To the right you can look along the south aisle

 

Going over to the nave looking towards the cross over and you can view this Doom
 

Through the cross over to the chancel

The chancel with the altar table below the east window

 

 

In the chancel you can look back through the cross over to the back of the church

At the back on the west wall you can see wall paintings there as well

 The stained glass  window the most prominent one in the nave

 

 

Looking across the modern altar to the nave
 

 

There is a wooden pulpit with sounding board over the top

Looking from the pulpit you can see this part of the church

In the south aisle is another altar

Above which is this stained glass window

On the wall some artwork showing the crucifixion

Looking across to the north aisle you can see the church organ which has been built in the end of the aisle

A squint from the south aisle looking towards the altar

Beside the altar in the chancel is this mural in memory of the lost from the first world war

The faces look real

The men show may well be the men who were lost from the parish

Listed in the roll of honour

Five men died

A stone tablet in the priest door

There are quite a few memorials in the church, this one is to the Ledwell Family

Another memorial is on the blocked off north door

In memory of Kate Lea

The Hibbert family memorial

A church chest

One of the stained glass windows in the chancel

This one has a cross mounted in it

A prayer tree stands in another window

The font with it's cover on

Painting depicting the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary

I will leave you with this view of the chancel from the modern altar

Till next time stay safe and have a peaceful weekend