St Mary Holwell

 

On my way from from Westwell to Shilton I drove through some narrow West Oxfordshire roads which went right past this St Mary Westwell, I felt I had the time to have a quick look around the church but found the door locked. The village which is more of a hamlet of a few houses seemed quite small to even have a church of it's own but rather than walk away I took a few photos of the church and churchyard.

"During the time that Robert de Chesney was Bishop of Lincoln (1148–66), land at Holwell was given to the Cistercian Abbey at Bruern. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary was built in the 13th century. It was rebuilt in 1842 and again in 1895. The latter rebuilding was designed by the architect Walter Mills of Banbury, using a Gothic Revival interpretation of Perpendicular Gothic. St Mary's parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell"

My first thought on looking at the church was it was Victorian with a bell cote on the west end

West end with bellcote

North west view

South east view

The east end with window

 

North east view with the vestry entrance
 

The churchyard over by the north boundary wall

The tomb of Maria Fox

Headstones over at the west of the church

South side of the church

 

 

 South west churchyard

That's it for this church as it was locked I could not see inside, I think it's a case of arranging a visit to see inside though I'm not sure if it is worth it unless I am back around the area

This week you get two for one as after visiting Shilton I drove past St Britius  Brize Norton so I took a chance to stop off for a Quick look but again it was locked but I did find out the churchwarden lived nearby

A quick look of the churchyard showed a couple of bale tombs

Another further along a little eroded

This church begs a revisit so I will arrange a visit

I will leave you this week with a collage of headstones and tombs

Till next time have a peaceful week

St Mary Westwell

 

St Mary Westwell  is about as far west in Oxfordshire as you can get, any further and it would be in Gloucestershire. St Mary is another church which is listed in Oxfordshires Best Churches and not that far from the Town of Burford so I expected to see old tombs and headstones

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is Norman and was built in the 12th century. The chancel arch may have originally been Norman, but if so it was later altered in the Transitional style from Norman to Early English Gothic. The chancel's east window may also be Transitional, but the windows in its north and south walls are Early English lancets. The south porch was added in the 14th century and to the east of it one of the nave windows is Perpendicular Gothic. The other windows of the nave are Victorian. In 1869 the nave was extended one bay to the west and the bell-turret was added.

St Mary's is a Grade I listed building. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon and Shilton The Rectory (now the Old Rectory) was built at or before the end of the 17th century. It is a five-bayed building of ashlar Cotswold stone. It is a Grade II* listed building.

 

^{The church is over to the right and can be seen in the trees, this is the Westwell War Memorial that you see on the grass triangle} 

After parking nearby you can just see the church from the gate

As you get nearer the church comes into view

^{The porch and bellcote}

The west end which has a couple of buttresses on the walls

North side

East end, at the tome they were erecting scaffolding for some work to take place

South east end

Looking back down the churchyard

Looking the other way towards the west end of the church

^{Tombs and headstones}

Looking towards the the old rectory

Tombs and headstones to the west of the church

The bale tombs here belong to people of wealth

These three headstones belong to the same family members

Footstones belonging to the headstones behind

North side of the church looking west

Looking to the south of the church

Back to the porch

Inside this this beautiful Norman doorway

Above the door is this tympanum

And if you look you can see an old massdial which means the porch saved it being eroded away like on the only other one like this I have seen

Inside the church

The nave looking at he chancel arch

again with Norman origins

The chancel

Getting nearer the altar

A stone altar table

Looking back out at the nave

I do like the supporting woodwork of the bellcote

Quite  simple pulpit

Looking at the nave from the pulpit

Roof spaces in the chancel and nave

^{Selection of memorial plaques}

^{Brass memorial plates}

 

You will find this tomb and effigy in the chancel

On the opposite side this memorial to Charles Trinder

The inscription on the memorial

Effigies of Charles and his wife Jane along with their 14 children, mind you only 7 survived at his death

Winged cherub at the base

The other memorial of note to Reginald Sothern Holland

This is the east window you see in the chancel

Which shows the stations of the cross

 

Lancet window

 

One of the other windows has some medieval glass in it

^{Couple of floor memorials}

The pillars on the chancel arch

Carving on the top

Second pillar

 

the carving,considering the Norman stone masons did the work it they have survived well

South west window

 

The church banner in the corner

A small organ stands on the north west side

In the center is this font

Another Norman relic which is still in use

 

The carving on it and the pillars

 

I will take my leave with this shot of the floral display from the church, till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week