St Mary Bampton

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Mary Bampton another church which is listed as one of Oxordshire's Best Churches and I can admit it is, some of you might recognise the church as being used in Downton Abbey. During my visit I encountered a couple of tours, one of them a party for Australia. There was also  wedding preparations going on with some young ladies decorating the church.The photos were taken over two visits so you will notice a change in the sky

"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin are 10th- or 11th-century, when it was built as a late Saxon Minster. It was rebuilt in the 12th century as a cruciform Norman church. It received Gothic additions from late in the 13th century to early in the 16th century. The architect Ewan Christian restored it in 1868–70. It is a Grade I listed building."

 From the gate looking to the church

 

 

 

Looking east towards the south transept

 

 This is where you can see a Norman doorway

 

South side of the church

Porch taking you in

South doorway in the transept I took this photo on a return visit along with the close-ups below

The carving on the doorway is beautiful

 

^{East end of the church}

 

Going around to the north east side
 

North transept, the corners in the photo are from my lens hood

Looking north east

Looking south west

The porch on the west end, I returned to get this photo

The carvings around the arch

The west doorway

I'm not sure what the carving was over the porch

This is how it looked on my first visit

Collage showing the carving on the arch

Churchyard looking south east

The headstones at the east end are old and eroded

Small and large chest tomb

Looking south

Over the east side of the church

This is around on the west side of the church

North side with tomb

Anchor and chain around a cross

Couple of nice cast iron crosses

Looking south west from near the church

Headstones

Tombs headstones and monument at the south west end of the churchyard

West end of the church

North west of the church

South west view

Around the outside of the spire are statues 

I will leave it here and show the the internal views in the next blog as I have taken a lot of photos inside. 

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend