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