Saturday 9 December 2023

St Mary Magdalene Woodstock

 

 

Surprisingly Wikipedia has quite a short history on the church considering how old the town is. 

 "The Church of England parish church of St Mary Magdalene has a Norman doorway. The church has a turret clock that John Briant of Hertford made in 1792. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Blenheim, which also includes Begbroke, Bladon, Shipton-on-Cherwell and Yarnton."

 Path from the from the road I park in, it takes you to the south side of the church

Tower at the west end

You will find an outstanding Norman doorway along the south wall

  East end where the chancel is 

West end and south aisle

Looking along the south side from the west end 


The main entrance is in the porch at the west end

At the boundary end of the churchyard you find a lot of chest tombs

Opposite side headstones

Looking down the churchyard 
 

Collage of some of the chest tombs

Headstones and chest tombs looking south

 
Headstones on the east side of the path

 
Tombs and headstones over to the west side of the path

 
Tombs near the church

 
More near the boundary wall

 
Boundary end again with part left overgrown

 
Rood screen just as you walk in the church


Though the screen looking down the nave

Chancel arch with alter just in front

Inside the chancel with choir stalls in the foreground 


Altar and east window 


The altar and  Reredo


Looking over the old altar to the Reredo

Looking back through the chancel to the nave

Pulpit over one the right side of the chancel arch


View out of the pulpit.

Some photos taken with my iphone

Nave which has been reordered with old pew removed and chairs replacing them.

The altar which is used for services just in front of the chancel arch. 

Chancel

Alter and east window

Nice floral display at the foot of the altar

Closer view

The reredo along with alter cross and candles.

East window

These are on display in the chancel, and I can old presume they are part of a screen.

Eagle lectern 

West window

The church does have a lot of stained glass

which can take some time to look around

Double windows

South aisle


North aisle with door at the end leading to a vestry

You can also see a lot of memorials on the south wall

Which I think have all been moved here a some time

some as you see are older than others

I just feel they were all grouped here to save space

No doubt this brass was removed from the tomb and put on display, the cover to preserve it and stop people taking brass rubbings.

Rev William was well thought of considering his life is written down on the plaque 

Brotherton family memorial

Floor tomb

More modern floor memorial 

East end of the south aisle

You can see a lot of head carving son the pillars 

that devide off the south aisle

I thought keeners were used for keeling on not sitting on as these are.

They all depict some scene of person, Winson Churchill is buried in a nearby village though I have no doubt he did worship here, after all the main gates to Blenheim Palace are only a short distance  away

The shepherd following a star of Bethlehem 

Charis with kneelers on

The chancel roof

Which if you look up you will see faces looking down

Beautiful woodwork on the chancel roof

I will end with the font this week

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend


14 comments:

Linda P said...

There's a lot to take in as one walks around the churchyard and inside the church. Thank you Bill for all the detailed photos. I particularly like the stained glass windows, the tiles, the woodwork and the stone carvings. May you have a peaceful Sunday and a good week ahead.

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Such a beautiful structure, Billy. I really enjoyed the stained glass and seeing the graveyard. Are any names or dates still readable?
You have a blessed weekend, too!

Bovey Belle said...

Some lovely hints of its past with the faces on the ceiling, the carvings on the pillars and the font and that FABULOUS Norman archway. Oh my. I had to look up Catetchical method I have to say . . .

Ragged Robin said...

Wonderful Norman doorway and I do like the carvings. Looks a very interesting church.

Linda said...

Outstanding! You captured some great details

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Thank you Linda, I found it a charming church to look around. Hope you had a good weekend

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Many of the names are still readable more so than some modern ones.

Billy Blue Eyes said...

I think that is something a lot of people miss when the visit from the town side. It was one of the most notable things to see on the church

Billy Blue Eyes said...

It is, I think you would like to look around it if you were in the vicinity

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Thank you Linda

Dixie @ Arranged Words said...

Gorgeous photos.
The Norman door and the chancel roof are amazing.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos.

J. S. Vila said...

Is an incredible and total complete article about this ancient church. The photographs you made, have high quality. I think that this is a real beautiful church in this town.

EricaSta said...

Thank you again for this wonderful post.

Yes, I can empathize with that: it's sometimes a shame that so little can be found online about various buildings, historical contexts, people, etc. I'm currently searching for my next post myself.

This church is really interesting and a jewel of architecture!

Thank you so much for this wonderful post on
MosaicMonday

Many Greetings from Heidrun, I wish you a pleasant time

RachelSwirl said...

Such a beautiful building - Thanks for sharing and for linking up with #MySundaySnapshot.