St Margaret Binsey

 

 After my visit to Wytham I got a text from my son telling me he would be a while longer so I decided to go to visit St Margaret's Church in Binsey which I have long wanted to see. Odd thing is a long time ago I had bee to the Perch public house not far away and never realised the church was there. The think that put me off visiting was the traffic you got along the Botley road into Oxford, as it was there was little. Some history off Wikipedia:-

" Binsey's most noted feature is the parish church of St Margaret, set at some distance north of the surviving houses. It dates from the 12th century and is a Grade I Listed Building. Its fame lies mostly in that just outside its west end and belltower stands St Margaret's Well, a Grade II Listed Building, which is the model for Lewis Carroll’s ‘Treacle Well’ from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; this is a holy well dedicated to St Frideswide, patron saint of Oxford. According to legend, she fled to Binsey in a bid to escape marriage to a king of Mercia, whose pursuit of her was halted when he was struck blind at the gates of Oxford. Frideswide's prayers brought forth a healing spring, whose waters cured his blindness, and the spring was walled into a shallow well which became a focus for pilgrimage, the mediaeval sense of the word ‘treacle’ meaning ‘healing unguent’. The well became a pilgrimage site in mediaeval times"

 

 

 

St Margaret from along the churchyard

Your first view of the churchyard with St Margaret over to the right

 

Looking right you see the path leading to the porch

Going around to the south west of the church to get a view of of the church, there is no access around the north of east side of the church. 

 

This is the north side of the church

 

 

 

St Margaret's Well which is at the west end of the church

 

This is a much as you can see of the east end of the church

The church looking west

 

The east end window

 

You churchyard is not large as you can see from the entrance

The churchyard looking from the south of the church

Looking west from the path

 

 

Couple of older headstones
 

The headstone looks old but dates back to 1970 

 

The porch with the door closed but I was pleased to find it opened

 

 inside this gem of an arch

Here we look down the nave to the chancel

Chancel arch with the altar 

The altar with altar rails

The altar table

The east window that looks to have bits of medieval glass intermingled

 

 This panel looks a little lost by the wall in the chancel

 

 turning around to look back through the chancel arch

 

 Looking back through the nave

The pulpit over to the right of the chancel arch

 

which does give a nice view of the nave

 

 The opposite side of the arch is this lectern

Giving a lower view down the church

 

The roof looks more than interesting with the beams and trusses holding it up

The font is at the back of the church beneath the west window

 with these stained glass panels in it

 

one of the first things you notice is there are no electric lights, it is lit by oil lamps

Behind  is one of the memorials on the walls

The memorial seems to be members of the Prickett family

This sunlit one to the Tawney Family

This royal coat of arms looks to belong to Queen Ann though it is quite faded. Never come across one of this queens before.

There are a few tombs in the floor

 

This one is the Smith family

The niche in the corner of the chancel was used for holy water at sometime

Small organ over in another corner

Loved the way the light shone on the old Christmas Decorations

On a window sill a statue of St Margaret beside a vase of tulips

Had to get a photo of the bible on the pulpit

 

 

I will leave you with this plaque I saw beside a tree in the churchyard.

Till Next time I which you all a peaceful weekend

Take Care