St James Sotwell

 

 I have visited this church before in the past but never wrote a blog for it on it's own. I felt it deserved on and I really wanted to see inside so after phoning the churchwarden I arrange to go along one morning. Sotwell is right next door to Brightwell and were two separate villages in the past but eventually became know as Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell in 1948. I cannot find any history on the church. This will be the first of a few revisits to churches I plan this year.

Looking at the north side from near the road

 

From the south west near the entrance on that side

 Walking back past the south west end along the path from the road north of the church

Snowdrops growing by the path at the west end

Taken from the path looking over at the north side

The north side of St James

The east end of the church

Going around to the south east end where you find another entrance into the church

I noticed some interesting features in the church walls like this carved stone that formed a lancet window from the original Norman church here

This doorway in the north side is a little short for most people now a days

 Another feature is this lancet you can see on the north side of the nave

 

 

The churchyard with snowdrops growing in the foreground

Churchyard at the west end 

walking along the churchyard path you pass this bench

Some tombs you can see in the church yard

 

Looking east over the south side

The graves at the east end of the church

Where you can also see these crosses

This headstone was unusual in that it has a metal crucifix attached

More headstones at the east end

This cross caught my eye with the cavalry sword on it

A memorial tow to brothers from the village who gave their lives in the First World War

Another interesting one with the inscription gone 

It had cross rifles on it

Looking west towards the churchyard path from the road

Decorated with stones

This headstone belonging to  J H L Blount was interesting in that he served for the queens flight a few miles away at RAF Benson. He dies along with the crew of a helicopter that crashed near Brightwalden

His wife rests with him

 This headstone still has the carving on the top even through the rest has sunk in the ground

 

The porch which with the door I could see was open

In the church which is a single cell along the nave 

 

 

Taken with my iPhone along the nave

The altar and rails

Closer in an the altar, I suffered with glare with the use my iPhone

Looking back through the church to the west end

 

The puplet with is low and open

 

 You get a nice view of the church from the pulpit

 

 

No organ but a grand piano 

 

Took a shot of the chandelier 

The font which looks Victorian 

For such a small church it has some nice stained glass in it, the east window 

At the back is another beautiful stained glass window

A single stained glass window

Stained glass widow in the north wall of the nave

Wall light

There are wall lights in the church like this all with the scallop shell

A few memorials in the church, this one to Sidney Robert Stevenson 

Anther relic from the old church

Memorial to a former Churchwarden A P Waterfield

On my way out I took this shot of a cross and vases with a scallop shell beneath the west window

After another look around the churchyard I walked back to the car parked on the road. which nearing the gate I noticed a couple of small headstones one with the name Monica Lay I released next to her would be her son David who I knew from my younger days, the words on his headstone faded. A sad end to my visit to to St James

 

 To finis with the snowdrops beneath the west window of St James Church

Take Care and have a peaceful weekend