Saturday, 9 November 2024

St Peter Bucknell

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Peter Bucknell which is another one of my list of Oxfordshires Best Churches to Visit, this one is along the M40 from Bicester which is another church on my list to visit.

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter has a central Norman tower. The nave and chancel were enlarged in the 13th century and are Early English Gothic. In the 15th century the bell stage was added to the bell tower and the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave. St Peter's is a Grade I listed building.

In 1552 St Peter's had three bells plus a Sanctus bell. In 1955 it still had three bells, but the earliest was cast in 1597.The church's turret clock is of unknown date, but appears to be late 17th or early 18th century. St Peter's parish is now part of the Benefice of Bicester, Bucknell, Caversfield and Launton."

The south side of the church with it's porch and transept

North side from the path

Back around the south side looking at the porch

West end with window

North west looking east

The central tower with staircase

The chancel end showing the buttresses supporting it

Looking west

South east view

Going further around to see more of the south side

Collage showing a stoup on the north wall, Norman Door, buttress and tower showing the original roof line below the clock

Some older headstones and a tall monument

Family plot

The monument which looks more like a preaching cross

Looking east on the south side churchyard

Headstones one which looks quite old

Various headstones on the south side

Going towards the est end of the church

More recent headstones and memorials at the east end of the church

This may well be of the same family

South side headstones

The porch

Inside a rather nice Norman doorway

Inside looking down the nave

The arch leading to the cross over in the tower

Which leads to the second arch

The chancel which is lined with pews

 
Altar and east windows

 
Altar with covering

Closer view of the altar and cloth which is embroidered with a country scene

On either side of the chancel are a couple of small low lancet windows

Turning around to look back to the crossover

The nave from the screened arch

A wide view taken with my camera showing more of the roof, if you look at the previous photo as well you should see the corbels

That all are have different designs on them and I dare say are original

A blocked arch in the crossover

same on the other side with a door leading to what I presume is a vestry

The triple east windows

There is also some very nice stained glass to see in the church

The pulpit which looks Georgian

View of the nave from it

There are quite a number of memorials mainly to the Trotman family

The memorials are from around the 1700s

Lenthall Trotman and his wife Mary

This one to Samuel Trotman 1599-1684 and his wife Mary

Thomas Trotman and his family are listed on this one

Samuel Trotman and his family

Near the alter is this memorial which is minus it brass

In the nave floor more tombs can be seen

On the wall some church brasses

Which are also very old

An older stoup

This one is in better condition

Priest door in the chancel

This one is in the crossover

Where I have no doubt that it took you up a staircase to the door you see in this collage telling me that once the church had a rood loft

 
Memorial behind the pulpit to Hester 

Few more tombs in the nave floor

Harvest festival decorations

I love seeing the floral display's in churches

The back of the church with the font

You will find the roll of honour to WWII

Plus the rolls from WWI

The stained glass window in the west wall depicts St Michael below is the list of the men who died in WWI

 
The font with rather nice floral display

 
I will take my leave of you with this photo of a loaf and bunch of grapes which was on the altar
Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week


5 comments:

Sandi said...

I wonder what it looked like new. Maybe brightly painted?

Ragged Robin said...

A lovely church with so many interesting features. The floral displays are beautiful and I like the country scene on the altar cloth.

Linda said...

Interesting. I love seeing all the graceful arches.

Life Images by Jill, Western Australia said...

Another historic and beautiful church. I have 2 churches in my post this week - but nothing as old as yours! Have a wonderful week. I am joining you at Mosaic Monday

Jenny Woolf said...

Another lovely church. I particularly like the outside shape of it, it is so ancient and irregular that it makes me think of how long the church has been there in the same place. And I love the idea of grapes and bread on the altar.