St Michael Cumnor

 

 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.

Till next time I wish you all a peaceful weekend