St Marks Ysfa

This is another church from my list of ones I need to visit in Wales for my little quest of following Phil Jones work. It is set back off up in the hills on its own and is relatively new. I could find no history on the church other that what is on the board buy the front of the entrance.  The church was built between 1870&71 and being built of stone with brick internals. It's main claim to fame is the the Rev Francis Kivert the diarist  laid the first stone and where he describes the opening in his diary explaining, how the children were playing in the lime with the wind blowing and causing the dust to go in peoples eyes making them water.

From where I was stood above I walked to the east end where you could see it was an apse chance

Going around to the north side and the vestry can be seen sticking out

Walking along by the north of the church

To the west end

and finally back to the south west end where you cannot help notice the Monkey-Puzzle Tree dominating the church (Araucaria araucana)

Behind me is the churchyard which is has mostly quite modern burials & headstones

Another view of it looking from the north

This headstone of a poor guy who was born when I finished my apprenticeship is buried here, his headstone the most stunning to my mind

I will leave you this week with this shot of a Araucaria araucana sapling which is growing on the south side of the churchyard. 

Till Next time stay safe and I wish you all a peaceful weekend

Remember in your thoughts and prayers those who lost their lives and were affected in the Miami building collapse last week.

St Gwrthwl's Llanwrthwl

 

The first of a couple of churches from Wales and the first time I have managed to visit any of them since this  crisis began. The church is one of that I have been wanting to visit in my quest to follow the churches Phil Jones visited for his website Builth Churches  it was also a chance  to take photos of the old station that was nearby that I was asked to take.

"St. Gwrthwl's Parish Church churchyard has a prehistoric standing stone about 1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in) high near the south porch. Its upper part appears to have been broken, though it may be the shaft of a cross, or of Druidical origin. On Rhôs Saith-maen, or the "Seven Stone Common", in Llanwrthwl parish, are some very irregularly placed stones, though it has not been determined if they are of military, sepulchral, or Druidical remains"

 Standing on the road outside you look over the wall to see the church 

You need to go to the left and follow the wall to come to the gate where you will also find  stone steps taking you over the wall

Take a walk across the churchyard to see the east end

 

Going along the path shows you the south side of the church

Walking west through the churchyard to see from the west end

back to the North east side to see this view

This part I presume is the vestry

The porch with the pagan stone nearby

It looks odd in the churchyard but the church was built beside it

A family vault dominates this part of the churchyard south of the church

Closer view from the south west showing the porch

In the porch you with find the village roll of honour, it show those who served their country the ones who died are marked with a small cross

More recent headstones

Around the North side and some of the older headstones. The church bell stands in a frame with roof near the church

Looking west on the north side of the church

The east end part of the churchyard

Memorials hang on the east end wall of the church

Looking west from the east end of the churchyard

Family plots over on the south side near the boundary fence

Older headstone with inscription still in readable condition

Graves with tombstones between the head and foot stones

Looking back east along the south side of the church

The church from the south west side of the churchyard

Photo looking from the south east end near the entrance

The pagan stone with church behind

Last look from footpath over the boundary wall.

 Till next time stay safe and have a wonderful weekend

St Andrews Oddington

 

This weeks church is St Andrews Oddington, the last one of my visit  a few weeks ago, found this one interesting in that I wish I could have gone inside but it was locked. Some history from Wikipedia :-

"A mention of Oddington in a Papal bull written in AD 1146 suggests that the village had a parish church by the middle of the 12th century. The present Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew was built at the end of the 13th century and beginning of the 14th century. The buttresses of the nave are late 13th century, and the font is probably also from that century. Some features of the chancel are early 14th century, but in 1821 the chancel was demolished and rebuilt.

Between 1884 and 1886, the church was heavily restored under the direction of the architect E.G. Bruton. The bell tower and the north wall of the chancel were rebuilt, the vestry and north aisle were added and several windows inserted.

Inside the church are two unusual monuments. The first is an early 16th-century monumental brass in memory of Ralph Hamsterley, who had been parish priest and died in 1518. It is a cadaver monument, showing his corpse in its burial shroud, which is a style unusual for monumental brasses in England. Elsewhere there is an example from the late 14th century, also in memory of a parish priest, in the parish church at Lytchett Matravers in Dorset.

The second unusual monument is a large pietà at the west end of the nave. It is decorated with Māori totems in memory of Māori servicemen killed in the First World War.

The tower has three bells. The treble was cast in 1609, but the bellfounder has not been identified^] James Keene of Woodstock cast the tenor in 1626. Thomas I Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the youngest of the three bells in 1804. The ring was converted for chiming in 2012.^[ There is also a Sanctus bell, cast by an unknown founder in about 1614, but it is cracked.

Gilbert Sheldon held the living of the parish from 1636. Sheldon already held the living of Hackney, received that of Ickford, Buckinghamshire at about the same time as that of Oddington, and at some time also the living of Newington, Oxfordshire. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, Sheldon was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1663.

The Syriac scholar William Cureton was curate of Oddington for a time in the 19th century. St. Andrew's is now part of the Church of England Benefice of the Ray Valley.^"

 

A view of the church as you walk along the path
 

Going around the south side of the churchyard we look east

Further along you will get a good view of the south side of the church

Going along to the east end

Then around to the north side

Along to the west end a bit more to see the north side of the church

The porch with doors shut

This was open but the door inside was locked

Here we look along the south side of the church and the churchyard there

There are quite a few older looking headstone there

 

Looking back west, there is an interesting wooden cross I missed in the background it belongs to Margret Staples Brown who was a Māori princess, I'll get a photo next time I visit

 

 

I have not seen one like this before with kingfishers on

 

The North side churchyard

Now if you visited Inspired Sunday last week you would have seen a photo of a church called the Holy Rood the point of the photo was the to show what was in the foreground which was one of these a Preaching Cross and this one is one of the best preserved in Oxfordshire and the most complete I have seen

Most of the ones you come across are either a stump of base, you see them in a lot of villages.

On ones side you will see Christ Crucified

The opposite side is Mary with Jesus

You can see crosses on most village that look a little like this but the modern ones tend to be the village war memorial

A last look along the south side of the church looking west

I will leave you with this video I put together called Silent Reflection.

Till Next time stay safe and have a peaceful weekend