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
Then to the north side
Turning north west and the church rooms on the right
Looking along the path from the churchyard extension towards the west end
Towards the porch form the main entry path
South side view of St Mary the Virgin
On the chapel is this sundial
The crossover section with rood screen in the arch
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
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
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 beautiful window is painted and supposed to be a copy of one in the Oxford Collages, under are brass memorial plaques
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
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
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
Major-General Norman Charles RogersThe link takes you to his obituary in the Telegraph
Rifleman H.W.Clarke
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
6 comments:
What a beautiful church, especially on a day like that.
Thanks for that visit. I spotted the choir stalls in an early photo and hoped you'd show us a close-up. I was rather hoping for some miserichords, but there were none, though if you look closely you can see that there once were.
This looks like a big church of historical interest. It's good to know some services are taking place again. Thank you for your extensive inclusion of the Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard and the photo of the grave in the sunlight is moving. Have a good Sunday and week ahead Bill.
It was I'm pleased I visited
Got some of those in the next two weeks photos
It's not often you come across a war grave section like that in a parish church but makes it more special
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