St James the Great Denchworth Pt2

 

This week the church Explorer returns to St James the Great Denchworth this was visited back in 2021 but for some reason I forgot to post it. This seems to be a problem with me because I just found another at Horsepath near Oxford which I returned to as well. I will be posting this next week.
The History of Wikipedia in case you did not read it in the original blog. :- 

Denchworth had a parish church by 1086, but the oldest part of the present Church of England parish church of Saint James is 12th century. This is a small part of the south wall of the nave, which seems to have been rebuilt and extended westwards in the 13th century. The south doorway is a plain late Norman arch.

Later in the 13th century the north chapel and the north-west tower were added. The south transept was added in the 14th century and was originally Decorated Gothic. The chancel, north chapel and possibly the south transept were rebuilt in the 15th century, mostly with Perpendicular Gothic windows.The church was restored from 1852 onwards. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The Perpendicular Gothic font is also 15th-century. The Perpendicular-style pulpit is neo-Gothic and was made in 1889.

The south porch is neo-Gothic and was added during the 19th-century restoration. It replaces a two-storey south porch, in whose upper room Gregory Geering and the then vicar established an antiquarian chained library. Its contents included a 1483 edition of the Golden Legend that is now in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and other rare volumes that were transferred to Denchworth vicarage. The library also held curiosities such as a "mermaid's rib".

The church has monumental brasses to Oliver Hyde (died 1516) and his wife Agnes, to William Hyde (died 1557), his wife Margery and their children, and to another William Hyde (died 1567) and his wife Alice. One of the inscriptions for William and Margery Hyde has a commemorative plaque for the foundation of Bisham Priory in 1333 on the back. In the south transept is a memorial tablet to Gregory Geering (died 1690) and four more to members of the Geering family who died in the 18th century.

The tower has a  of four bells, but they are currently unringable. Ellis I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the treble bell in 1624. Henry III Bagley, who had bellfoundries at Chacombe in Northamptonshire and Witney in Oxfordshire, cast the second bell in 1733. The remaining bells are from the Whitechapel Bellfoundry: the third bell cast by Robert Stainbank in 1868 and the tenor bell by Mears and Stainbank in 1869. St James' has also a Sanctus bell cast by an unknown founder in about 1699.

St James' parish is now a member of the Vale Benefice, along with the parishes of East Challow, Grove and West Hanney." 

The church looks like it could tell stories

The south door a nice Norman arch

Took this shot from the back of the church

The chancel

The altar beautifully decorated  

Looking back out of the chancel

 

The organ tucked away in an arch

Looking out of the south transept to the north

where the end of the chapel now hoses the organ

 

The pulpit

Giving this view of the church

The south wall of the chancel you will find these brases to the memory of William Hyde and his wife Margary they had twenty children

One of these Brasses belongs to Williams Father and Mother. The brasses must have been lifted from the tombs in the floor which no doubt were in the chancel

I thought this display was just part of the remembrance day

But I wonder if the five in the last photo signified one of the fallen listed here

There are more memorials around the church these being the most impressive

These skulls are part of the memorials

Some really nice stained glass in the church, above the east window

This one in memory of some of the Hyde family

This one to one of the men listed in the Roll of Honour

The font which is most likely Victorian

The sun was shining on this window which meant you could not see the stained glass clear

 

The stained glass also reflected in this corner of the church

Poppies were everywhere in the church

Memorial plate on a box at the back of the church

 

I will leave you with this photos of a painted rock I noticed in a niche in the chancel

Till next time I wish you all a peaceful weekend