In this blog I will take you the many Churches and Churchyards I have visited while Church Crawling, You will see photos of the churches through out the United Kingdom that I have been to. The tabbed pages show the counties with that feature the churches & amp; cemeteries that are in the Blog, one with Google maps showing where the churches that I have visited. You can also subscribe by email. The church explorer is published at 21:00 hrs each Saturday.
I used to pass by St Michaels church back in the 1980's on my way to work in Eynsham from Wantage where I lived for a time in Wantage . I remember seeing it sat up on a rise above the village thinking it did look old. Move on many years to the present and I remembered Cumnor church would be worth a visit for the Church Explorer so I put it on my list of churches to get along to visit. I decided to combine it with a return to Appleton church a few miles away so came along to St Michaels to get my photos. The history on the church seems somewhat sparse and I could find little. There are pats of the church that date back to the 11th century though. The most in-depth history I could find was on Historic England
St Michaels church seen from the footpath beside the road
Coming up the main path form the entrance
Bell tower with the clock
Looking at the west end and south side of the tower
The south side of the church with chapel
Along to the south side from the east end
Another view zooming in from the far side of the churchyard
The east end
Back around to the north side
The door leading into the church from the west end in the tower
Some of the older graves on the north of the church
looking south across the east end of the churchyard
I could not tell you if the cross has been added to the base but it does look a lot newer than the base it is on
The west end of the churchyard on the north side
At the west end of the church you can find the extension of the churchyard
Private C Brogden Royal Army Service Corps
The south side of the churchyard looking east
This recess in the boundary wall looks like a private plot
Looking back to the tower across the churchyard
Nearer the east end of the churchyard
Couple of the newer headstones, I think John Payne the far one is the John Payne who owned the engineering works in Eyensham
Another section of the new part of the churchyard
Looking along the churchyard path to the west of the church
Part of the extension churchyard
The opposite side
A little further over the churchyard has been extended again and has the more recent headstones in it
A raised are for cremation memorials
One of the chest tombs along with older heastones
A table tomb
An older chest tomb at the east end of the church
After some consideration I have decided to split the blog over two weeks. Some of the ones I have done of late are really long and with the other blogs I do I find it hard work to get this one finished as it takes quire a few house to sort it all out and sometimes I am working on them for over three nights plus some time in the day. I will feature the inside of St Michael next week as there is a lot of detail.
I only became aware of of St Mary the Virgin Kiddlington a couple of years ago. It was a church I decided was worth a visit when I had a chance, when I would visit it along with another nearby. As it was I could only visit St Marys church that day but found there was another church a few miles away I had not know about. Getting to St Mary's was another matter as it was on the edge of the village through a torturous road system, you certainly will need your GPS for this one.
"The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin
dates from 1220, but there is evidence of a church on the site since
1073. St Mary's has fine medieval stained glass and a 165-foot (50 m)
spire known as "Our Lady's Needle". It is a Grade I listed building. The tower has a ring of eight bells. Richard III Chandler of Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire, cast the seventh bell in 1700. Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester cast the tenor bell in 1708 and the fifth bell in 1715. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble, second, third, fourth and sixth bells in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. "
Before you start reading this is a long blog with a fair amount of detail in it so I advise Coffee & Cake
St Mary the Virgin, I can see why the spire is called "Our Lady's Needle"
Coming in through east side gate
Going around to the west end
Then to the north side
Turning north west and the church rooms on the right
This is the chapel over to the south side of the church looking from the east end
Looking along the path from the churchyard extension towards the west end
Looking over from the south west side
Towards the porch form the main entry path
South side view of St Mary the Virgin
On the chapel is this sundial
along with this personal entry doorway
The headstop on one side of the window frame is a Wivern
The other side a man's face
The porch leading to the church
The niche above occupied by a modern sculpture of a woman with her hair raised to heaven and a hand pointing down
Inside the church looking down the nave
The chancel arch and crossover with the new altar in the foreground
The altar is quite an unusual design and not unpleasing to look at
The crossover section with rood screen in the arch
Inside the chancel
Here we look at the altar rails and altar
The altar with cross and candle holders
Turning around and looking back though the cancel and choir stalls to the rood screen
Back into the crossover
and into the nave. By the time I had took this photo I was getting ready to depart because there was funeral going to happen in about 15min hence the order of service on the seats
The pulpit
Where you can look down on the nave and south aisle, this was before anyone came in
The south aisle
leading to the lady chapel
The altar I preferred to the main one in the chancel
The church banner
Just before you get to the Lady chapel you pass the transept from the crossover
This is mostly for the royal British legion and where you find the Rolls of Honour
On the east wall you find this cabinet
Which had a vase of poppies on it and a crucifix the picture fames are poems
Above you find the roll of honour for the First World War
On the south wall you can find the Roll for the Second World War
This small statue is in a niche nearby
This stained glass window is at the west end of the nave
This beautiful window is painted and supposed to be a copy of one in the Oxford Collages, under are brass memorial plaques
Also on the north wall you find these funerary hatchments
which are in really good condition
still with vibrant colours
There are also a number of memorials to see
some not that easy to read
there is also this huge bequest board
Smith memorial
another Smith memorial
May family memorial
One looking like a parchment to the smith family
Floor tomb this one is Martin May
There are a few more close together as you look around
also running along the aisle
Jones family
A modern sculpture of Mary praying
Holy ware stoup
One of the sets of choir stalls
With beautifully carved individual seats
There are some really nice candelabras
The font with the baptismal jug
The organ which is quite modern at the back of the nave
The font as you can see is on a small platform with step leading to it
Different shaped candelabra
Looking our of one of the arches in the transept towards the nave, on the upper left you can see part of an old window that was filled in as part of the the restoration
Time to leave the church and go outside
Took this as Walked in the churchyard from the east side
This is further on near the west end of the churchyard
The war grave of Private W Dorrell
You would be looking along the north side of the church and churchyard but they have built some church rooms which are used by various groups
There is a new extension to the churchyard where the first thing I saw was this commonwealth war grave cemetery, I have taken photos of all the headstones but have only shown a few
One I spotted was this one with a photo. He was in the Canadian Air Force and some one had added the photo and little flag on the top right, there may have been another photo on the left but that has come off. The gave belongs to Sargent De Section L.A.Boire Pilot who I presume was a French Canadian
The photo shows him sat in the cockpit of a plane he flew
Corporal W Rodgers with a cross and poppy on his grave
I took this photos while walking back around the rod to my car of the churchyard to the south of the church. There are quite a few chest tombs in evidence
All quite old and forgotten about now
One you see over to the right the brickwork has partly collapsed
Shrub growing between two of them
Just as I was going I noticed this group of crosses lit up bu the sun
Just shining there amongst the shaded tombs
Remember in your thoughts Tina Humprey who recently passed away. The video shows her talent and how I remember seeing her when I went to Healwork to Music events with my wife. RIP
Till next time do take care and Have a wonderful weekend
