St Peter & St Paul Shiplake

 

Shiplake is in the  lower corner of Oxfordshire, a few yards over the River Thames you are in Berkshire and a few miles from Reading. The village is in a bit of a forgotten backwater and probably easier to walk along the Thames path to it rather than drive along the roads. St Peter & St Paul Shiplake  is listed in the Book Oxordshire's Best Churches and after noticing I had visited around two thirds of the churches in the book, I thought it was time for a visit and I can say it is well worth the effort of looking out.This is going to be  a long blog so coffee and cake might be in order there are also a few collages to see as well.

 Some history off Wikipedia :- 

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Paul dates from at least the 13th century and is the centre of the Church of England parish of Shiplake. In 1869 the church was restored and enlarged to designs by the Gothic Revival architect GE Street. The chancel, north aisle and parts of the south aisle were rebuilt and the tracery of all its windows were replaced. The church is a Grade II* listed building. In the churchyard is a Gothic Revival shaft cross. It was erected in 1908 as a monument to a member of the Phillimore family. It is Grade II listed.

The church tower has a ring of eight bells, all recast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 2009. Shiplake Church also has a Sanctus bell cast by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1929. The earliest reference to Shiplake’s bells is in an inventory dating from the reign of Edward VI (1547–53): "Item – Three belles in ye steeple". The church bells were rung for Alfred Lord Tennyson's wedding on 13 June 1850. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend Robert Rawnsley who was Vicar from 1849-62. Tennyson gave the vicar a poem in lieu of payment for the ceremony:

Vicar of that pleasant spot, Where it was my chance to marry, Happy, happy be your lot, In the vicarage by the quarry: You were he that knit the knot"

What Wikipedia fails to mention is the church has a wonderful collection of 15th century French stained glass from the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Bertin at Saint Omer

 The church is near the grounds of Shiplake collage and you park in the designated parking areas for the church. The gate takes you in the churchyard and the path goes right to the church

Wide view showing the west end of the church, the tower and aisle's

 

West end showing the bell tower

 The east end of the church

South westerly view over the churchyard

 From the east end

 

North west view of the church

South side of the church looking up the path

The east side of the path showing the churchyard

The churchyard is one of the bigger ones I have visited the collage shows some of it

Lots of headstones on the north west side of the church yard

Over the years a lot of people have been buried here from around the area

This monument to one of the Phillimore family stands out in the churchyard

The more recent burials in the churchyard

 

You come across the forgotten part in the north east side of the churchyard

Looking back west to the tall monument

Parts of the churchyard people forget about

Parts being taken over by nature

There are a couple of Commonwealth war graves I came across and a few others that look like the headstones but the inscription has gone on them

The far north east area of the churchyard fascinated me most

The graves were overgrown with ivy growth

A chest tomb stood out

so did these crosses

More graves south of the church

The porch so time to look inside

An eye opener the church looked stunning

Looking down the nave to the chancel

The new altar is now in front of the chancel arch

The altar looking into the chancel

Chancel with choir stall either side

looking towards the old altar and stained glass windows

The altar with east window behind

Altar with carved panel behind

looking back to the nave

View of the nave from the chancel arch

The three beautiful east windows with some of the 15 century stained lass in it

Some of the things from in the chancel and church

The carving on the back of the chair

a few of the memorials you can see on the walls

One of the oldest memorials dated 1661

This one is in the chancel and was taller but it looks as though the top was cut off to allow the roof to be built

This is an even older memorial from 1601 and has the original paint on it still showing

The north aisle with the church office at the end

South aisle

The altar and east window

The panel behind the altar holds the village Roll of Honour

Above it is some beautiful 15th century  stained glass

Showing faces of the saints

In the north aisle in the office is this clock made in memory of an local killed in action

There is more stained glass to see though it is Victorian

It's not as colorful as the older glass

but no less beautiful to look at

There is still a lot of colorful stained glass to see in the church

This is the west window

This door at the west end of the north aisle holds the original glass from the west window

West window at the end of the south aisle, I was told the centre glass panel is fitted the wrong way round

The pulpit

with the view of the church from it

carvings in the church on the pillars, some of which I was told are made of chalk

Church brasses, one modern in memory of Anthony Francis Phillimore the other a lot older and now on a wall plaque

Corner of the chancel

Doorway in the corner of the south aisle, this may have been the entrance to the rood loft

Looking across the church from the south aisle to the north

From behind the font down the south aisle

The font

I will leave you with this photo of a modern piece of stained glass

Till Next time have a wonderful weekend