Return to St Peter Alvescot

 

After managing to visit St Peter Alvescot for the second time I have decided to use it as my Christmas Blog. On my original visit I was disappointed to find the church locked but found that I could visit if I arranged a date and time so after quiet a few months I arranged for the church to be opened for me by the Church Wardens and I must admit I was very glad I did because it is a wonderful church to visit. The reason for the church being locked is because the roof joists had become unsafe so the church had to be kept locked in case of injury.

 

A reminder of what the church looks like

 

Inside the porch a Norman doorway

The headstops on the end a little worn with age

Although I noticed  few marks on my last visit I did not take that close a look so was pleased when these marks were pointed out to me. They were most likely made by pilgrims visiting the church, the one on the right clearly a arm with hand at the top

Inside looking down the nave

The chancel arch

Inside the chancel with choir stall ether side

Altar and east window

The window is quite spectacular to look at

The altar dressed with simple wooden cross and candle holders. Behind is a reredos

This is a bit lost on me though I have seen similar in other churches, a blocked window perhaps?

Stained glass window in the south wall of the chancel

One of the sets of choir stalls

 

On the north wall being the choir stall are a couple of windows

Behind both sets you can find a squint

This kneeler took my eye

Memorial to Arthur Cage and his wife, the brass is very tarnished

Other memorials in the chancel

Eagle lectern beside the pulpit

The looks Victorian the base looks older

From the pulpit looking to the nave, I forgot to get a photo of the nave from the chancel arch

South transept is closed off for use

 

On the south wall beside the chancel arch is the roll of honor

On the right hand side a hand written list of the that is fading a little

Nearby a prayer desk

With this brass plaque with a list of the lost in WWI

Inside the south transept you can see a couple of stained glass windows

Both in the Pre-Raphaelite stile of the time

There is also a brass showing a noble and his with with their two children

On the way out I spotted the arches had the remains of paint on them

Pews over in the north transept

In the west wall a new door leading to an extension that housed a toilet

East wall and to the right the squint

You can also see this beautiful stained glass window showing the Madonna and Child

In nave you can see these impressive memorials

This mosaic of the Shill valley was propped in one of the pews

In the bell tower there are more impressive memorials

You can also see a couple of commemorative plaques

This one is for the treble bell given in honor of S/Sgt Raymond Abbots

Also a memorial to Alice wife of John Wayne who died in 1675

From the tower arch a view down the nave

Looking up around the church you can see these corbels from the old roof before the roof was razed

This what the roof loos like, it should be over the whole ceiling bit the ply covered area leaks so they are stored in the south transept till it is fixed, some of the roof beams have been replaced and others strengthened with steel

The font is 13th century

I will leave you all with this photo of the advent candles and church. 

That is it for this year, the next blog will come out the first Saturday in 2025 and well be featuring the first of two reviews of the churches I visited this year

Till next time may I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year

All Saints Middleton Stoney

 

I have driven through Middleton Stoney many times on my way to Silverstone back in the  1970'sI knew the crossroads and the gates that opened for the manor there, I never thought about the church that would be there let alone stopping off. This was the church I did not get to see on my first trip to the area, getting to it behind the gates turned out easier than I thought after getting in touch with  the churchwardens. the day was a little overcast so the photos outside are a bit darker

"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are Norman, built in the middle of the 12th century. In about 1190 the chancel arch was inserted and the north aisle and three-bay arcade were added in a transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic. In the 14th century the south aisle and its two-bay arcade were built. The nave has a clerestory that was added in the 15th century.

In 1805 a transeptal mausoleum was added to the north side of the chancel for the Child-Villiers family. In 1858 the church was restored under the direction of the architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, under whom the west tower was rebuilt and the Jersey mausoleum was Normanised.

In 1860 a 14th-century Gothic baptismal font was presented to the church. On its base a 17th-century inscription says This fonte came/from the Kings/chapel in Islipp... and claims that Edward the Confessor was baptised in it. If true, it would be a Saxon font that was re-cut and Gothicised in the 14th century. It may have been salvaged from the Saxon chapel of the Royal House of Wessex at Islip, which was damaged in the English Civil War in 1645 and demolished in the 1780s.

In 1868 the church was refitted to designs by the Oxford Diocesan architect GE Street, who added a vestry, reredos, choir stalls and new pulpit. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

The west tower has a ring of six bells, all cast in 1717 by Henry III Bagley of Chacombe. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the tenor and treble bells in 1883 and the fifth bell in 1885.

The parish churchyard has a Commonwealth War Graves Commission section with 27 Second World War burials. All but one are airmen from RAF Upper Heyford in the next parish, including 10 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and two from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The exception is a Royal Navy officer, Lieut Conroy Ancil, who served on the escort carrier HMS Stalker and died in 1943.

All Saints' is now part of the Akeman Church of England Benefice, which includes the parishes of Bletchingdon, Chesterton, Hampton Gay, Kirtlington, Wendlebury and Weston-on-the-Green."

^{Lychgate leads to the church}

 The church from the Lychgate the north chapel gives it an unusual look

West end showing the tower

South view from over the churchyard

Priest door in the chancel

Old entrance to the north aisle

North east view

The churchyard looking to the lychgate

Graves over near east boundary wall

Looking west as you come in the churchyard

headstones and a tomb chest east of the church

Looking over towards the south boundary wall

Towards the west boundary

 

The south side with commonwealth war cemetery over near the wall

 

The commonwealth war grave cemetery

Leaf strew graves

headstone in the cemetery

The commonwealth war graves in the cemetery all contain airmen who died in WWII from RAF Upper Hayford

The one grave not among them is John Douglas Young MC of the Royal Hussars who died in 1928

Headstone and crosses

Inside the porch you are faced with a Norman doorway

Above with is a tipanium

Either side of the doorway the carvings are quite outstanding

Inside looking at the chancel arch

Stepping back behind the font

In the chancel

Altar and east window

Closer view of the altar and east window

Cross and flowers

The east window

Back through the chancel and nave

Nave from the arch

Pulpit

From the pulpit

Lancet window

Plain glass window

1707 is the date on one of the memorials and looking at the second I would think the same era

 South corner of the chancel

One of the choir stall banks

This is the entrance to the chapel you see in the photo above

Tomb with bibles on the top

Memorial panel above the tomb

Reading on the floor

Memorials on the east wall

Inscription on the memorial

The south wall with the gate

Looking up at the roof

 

This memorial was quite stunning

The other memorials in the chapel

Memorial to Henry Elliott

First time I have seen a portrait of King Charles III in a church

South aisle

With a well preserved bier

Cross in the window with the roll of honor

Hand written Roll of Honor

Second roll

 

Memorial to John Douglas Young MC

Memorial to William Davis Little and family

Clawed base on the pillar

Chancel arch

Carvings on the arch

More carving to see on the pillars

The font which I found out that Edward the Confessor was allegedly baptised in the font

 

Inscription on the font 

With that I will take my leave, till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week