Saturday 13 May 2023

St Mary Waterperry

 

This has long been a church I have put off visiting  for one reason or another but I decided as it was only a few moles from the last church at Holton then it was time to bite the bullet and visit. As it was one of my worries about visiting was it is in Waterperry House gardens and I was concerned about parking which it turned out was no problem. Very little history on Wikipedia:-

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is partly Saxon and has notable medieval stained glass, sculptural memorials, Georgian box pews and memorial brasses"

 The west end of the church and as much as most people will see, over to the south and east end is a churchyard which at the time I could not see a way of getting in, I have since found out where the entrance is so may well return and add a few photos to this blog 

The entrance to the church is via door to the right as you look at the church, you come in through here

 
As you walk in you will see the south aisle

Turn to your left and walk across to the nave where you can look down to see the chancel

Looking through the chancel arch to the chancel

Wide view of the chancel

The altar and east window

I failed to get a photo of this part of the east window so had to crop this part to show  top has bits of medieval stained glass mixed in

The altar with covering, the peacock embroidery is quite something

Two step pulpit

which shows a beautiful view of the nave and south aisle

If you look straight ahead as you open the first door on the pulpit you will see and opening with a staircase, right above is an opening which would indicate there was a rood loft at one time

Looking around the church you will see some impressive memorials

This beautiful one is to Anna Maria Hooke Greaves

But this one stood out


The memorial looks like it is from around Tudor times

If you look around the church you will find some brasses mounted on plaques

there are also a fare few tombs in the floor

 
This one being the oldest I have come across in a while dated 1580

This rector lived to a good age

As you walk in the door look right and you will see this window with modern stained glass inserts

but look around the church and see the beautiful windows with medieval glass inserts 

They all have a figure at prayer

This one in the tower looks to be a jumble of glass

Looking at it close it does look odd

The collage shows the figures in the windows

And this is the stained glass at the top of the windows

There are some single windows in the church, one I managed to get the reflection of the colours

as far as I can work it out this is the coat of arms of King George II

 
Corbels with faces and headstops in the church
 

In the south aisle is this monument

Showing a knight in armour

the shield and sword look to me like it is Norman

His feed rest on a lion

I was struck by the laps that are on the pews

I will leave you with the view of the font which is at the back of the nave

Till next time I wish you all a pleasant weekend

27 comments:

  1. So beautiful. So quiet. May it be filld with worship again soon.

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  2. What a fabulous church, and I'm glad they managed to save so many of the fragments of Medieval glass and make them into new pictorial windows. Great monuments and carvings - my favourites are the Medieval heads. Norman font too by the look of it.

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    Replies
    1. I did like the glass myself though I could not work out how old the font was

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  3. Such a mixture of history, some parts look incredibly old. The lamps on the pews are confusing, are they electric? You could imagine candles but not with shades like that.

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    1. Yes they are electric, there did not apear to be any other lights in the church

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  4. A remarkable and lovely church.

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  5. Thank you for the tour around this wonderful church. It was certainly worth the visit which I think must have been quite a way from where you live. The stained glass with medieval pieces inlaid are exceptional. Wishing you and your family a peaceful week.

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    Replies
    1. It was not that far from where I live, I just kept putting of visiting it for one reason or another

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  6. I am glad the visit went well. It really is a beautiful church.

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  7. Lovely post! The memorial to Anna Maria Hooke Greaves is very moving.

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  8. What a grand tour. It is a lovely church. I enjoy visiting you here. Thank you! Cathy

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  9. A beautiful church. I wonder about the peacock - I'm unaware about any symbolism to do with peacocks. Can you enlighten me?
    Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2023/05/spring-at-duke-gardens.html

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    Replies
    1. I think Dawn Trader did that in the next reply

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  10. Windowspainting are amazing, and belongs in churtses

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  11. Pretty church, I like the look of it from the outside too. Can't recall having seen a peacock on an altar before so I had to google about the symbolism... and found: "the ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of the peacock never decayed, even after death, and so it became a symbol of immortality. Early Christians adopted the symbolism and the peacock thus became an emblem of the Resurrection and the eternal life of Christ."

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  12. Couldn`t understand why you wait such long time. It`s such a remarkable church. Especially the romanesque style is here fantastic.

    There are many interestings things here to see, to read. I enjoyed your post so much.

    Thank you for sharing and being part at
    MosaicMonday.

    Have a wonderful week.
    Greetings by Heidrun

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  13. What a superb church and it looks full of light too. Just love those fragments of medieval glass and the peacock on the altar cloth is beautiful. Some really good memorials and brasses and the final tomb of the knight looks well preserved with a lot of detail :)

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    Replies
    1. It was full of interest but like you I did like the stained glass fragments

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  14. The stained glass windows are super impressive , Thanks so much for sharing and for linking up with #MySundaySnapshot.

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