St Laurence Warborough

 

 If you look back through my blogs you will find I have visited St Laurence Warborough before but I was never happy with the photo's so one morning I popped over to the church get photos. Finding the place locked I contacted the church office who came across and opened the church for me. Some history off Wikipedia:-

"Perhaps the oldest item in the church is the font, which dates from late in the 12th century. The chancel has Decorated Gothic features from the early part of the 13th century, including the east window and one of the windows on the south side. The other windows of the chancel are later Perpendicular Gothic additions. The nave and south transept are Perpendicular features from the 14th century, although the transept arch and window are Decorated. The Gothic Revival architects G.F. Bodley and Thomas Garner restored the chancel in 1881. The Perpendicular Gothic windows in the nave are likewise Victorian. The bell-tower was rebuilt in 1666. Its two oldest bells were cast in 1618, and two more date from 1675. It had a ring of six bells, but in 1955 two new bells were cast and hung increasing the ring to eight"

Photos as usual are a mix from my EOS R6 and Iphone

The main entrance through this lych gate

 

You need to walk over the churchyard on the south side to get a good view along the church

 

Further across shows the extent of the churchyard with the church

 

 

 The bell tower which is 17th century

 

 

Looking at the tower from the west end you can see the date 1666

 Something I never noticed the last time, a builders mark

 

Going around to the north side

 

 

Looking from the east end which is covered in scaffold for the work going on there

 

 The South side from across the churchyard

 

The priest door in the chancel

 

 

Looking over the churchyard along the west end

 

 looking east from the south of the church

 

 The war graves you can find in the churchyard

 

 

This chest tomb netted off for safety reasons

 

This part is a churchyard extension at the east end of the churchyard

 

Looking back east along the south side of the church

 

The far south west side of the churchyard

 

Crosses 

 

Not a preaching cross but someone's memorial

 The north side of the church

 

Time to go in

From the back of the nave looking towards the chancel. I forgot how small the church seemed in my last visit I did not realise it was

 

The chancel which is behind the screen

The altar and east window

The altar cross with east window

Turn around and I noticed the tree feathers of the Prince of Wales 

Next photos are with my Iphone

 

Another sot of the nave

The chancel screen which I would think more Victorian that anything older

 

Chancel looking at the altar

 

Altar with the altar cross

Another of the altar cross and east window

 

The Prince of Wales Feathers which may have been in the Prince Charles honour

 

The pulpit over to the left of the nave

These always give an a nice view of  the church

The organ over in the chancel

Not content with one there is another newer one in the south transept, this was not here the last time I visited

 

Quite a few memorial plaques in the chancel

You can find other types around as well, a coat of arms tops this one

 

This one is becoming faded

In the south transept a Roll of honour  listing the dead from both wars

It is not the only roll these two list everyone who served from the village

The east widow which commemorates those lost in the First World War

 

Some of the detail from the window

 

The font is what I really wanted to see. It is one of the rare Norman lead fonts. I have seen most of them that are in this area. This one is not sat on it's original base. Story I heard was when the civil war was going on the parishioners hid the font from the Roundheads so they could not melt it down for bullets. Dorchester Abbey has another lead font but the one at Long Wittenham is the most original with another story of that one was hidden

Detail on the font

 

For a church of its size there is a lot of stained glass to be seen

 

There is one more modern stained glass window

 

This one is in the south transept near the organ

 

another modern stained glass window

 

Mainly plain but with added panels

 

St Martha and St Mary 

 

This one is in memory of a husband and wife

 

The church chest is old and found in the south transept

 

Couple of niches nearby

 

Royal British Legion flags

 

The stained glass window in the south side of the chancel 

 

Choir stalls

 

The second set of stalls on the south side

 Mother bird with her you  form the lectern

 

 

The remains of a former archway in the south wall of the chancel

 Wall sconce for an oil lamp

View of the roof trusses with look original

I will leave you this week with a view of the scree and south transept

Till Next time stay safe and have a peaceful weekend