St James Winterbourn

 

Last church to visit was St James Winterbourn which I drove right past before I realised I had missed it, even as I drove back and found the entrance road I managed to drive past a second time and was well along a dirt track before managing to turn around finding the church in front of me as I came back. Sadly another locked  

 The Church of England parish church of Saint James was completely redeveloped in the 18th and 19th centuries. The north chapel was added in 1712 and the bell tower in 1759. The architect J.W. Hugall rebuilt the nave in 1854 and a Mr. Hudson restored the chancel in 1895. Hudson retained the chancel's 14th-century east window, and an earlier lancet window in the south wall. The building is Grade II* listed.

Collage of the church and churchyard

South of the church

^{Chancel end with priest door, double headstones east of the south aisle}

^{The arch over the door way caught my eye, part of the old church?}

^{East end of the church}

^{North east view showing the church has a north aisle and chapel at the end along with vestry}

^{North view where you can see the north aisle}

^{West aspect with north and south aisles, the west doorway lead to the bell tower} 

 South west view from the path

 

^{Churchyard around the north side}

^{The chest tomb looks lonely out the back in the long grass}

^{The north side of the church looks empty with a few headstones amongst the long grass}

^{This is going around the east end where most people wanted to be buried}

^{Commonwealth war grave of Driver L Appleford, the inscription on the top tells you he is buried elsewhere in the churchyard.} 

^{Three headstones looking lost in the churchyard}

 

Even these two tombs look like they were just plonked there. I have no doubt there are more graves around with no headstones.

 

I will leave you with this view out the north side of the churchyard showing the Berkshire countryside to give an idea how rural the church was.

Next weeks church is a return visit to Wantage church and you do get to look around inside 

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

 

 

Church Explorer Update

 

St Harmon

After a few disastrous visits where I found the church locked I managed a few days down in Wales where I went round and got to the remaining churches off the Clerics Trail of Francis Kilvert. In all I manged to get to all ten over two days starting at St Harmon going around the Hay-on-Wye area and Bedwardine where he is buried finishing up after driving through the rain over the Black Mountains at  Capel-y-Ffin .

 

When I came down to our caravan I was looking at the sky's to see if it was going to rain so on the first day I drove up to St Harmon which was not as far as I thought then down to the Elan Valley for some photos. The next day I visited seven churches along the river Wye ending up leaving Hay and going on to Llanigon which turned out to be locked till I asked a lady tending a grave if it was normally locked. She told me where the church warden was who I had phoned already. The lady then mention she knew where the key was so I managed to get photos inside. The next day I went to Hay then down to Capel y Ffin and home.

I Visiting all the churches on the trail would take a few days driving around them all, I have been at it a few years. If you were to walk to each one I'd say weeks. I seem to remember Kilvert walked to many around Clyro and no doubt the same in Bedwardine  but getting across the Black Mountains to Caple y  Ffin must have been arduous as back then the road would have just been a track and the top of the mountains a wild and woolly place. It was pouring with rain when I drove over and misty, when it is sunny the place must look amazing, I'd love to have seen Gospel pass on a clear day. As much as I would like to see it I'm not sure I fancy the drive around the narrow single track roads again which on a good day will cyclists and walkers, there were enough when I was driving in the rain. I will be writing up the blogs  in the order I visited the churches over next few weeks which will take my blog into November. That will give me a backlog of churches I will still be visiting them in the meantime.

 

Capel Y Ffin

Till next time

 

St Andrew Boxford

 

Third of the churches I visited in West Berkshire and sadly another that was locked but on the bright side I found out when it was open so I will try and revisit. There is a bit more history below on Wiki  

 The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle, north-west vestry, south porch and a west bell tower. The chancel may be Anglo-Saxon, and an Anglo-Saxon window was discovered in a wall of the church in 2011.^[13] The Jacobean pulpit dates from 1618,^[14] the font from about 1662^[14] and the west tower from about 1692.^[15] Much of the church was rebuilt in the Victorian era and in 1841 the north aisle was added.^[15] However, the arcade between the nave and north aisle was probably by John Oldrid Scott and Sons in 1908.^[15] The building is Grade II* listed.

 The village war memorial just outside the church

 Nearby is the lychgate 

 

From the churchyard the south side of the church

 

East end, the north aisle looks like it was added at a later date

North east view

Around the north east and an even later addition that looks like it might hold a restroom

The tower from the north west

South view of the tower

South west view

The east window

Which is where I spotted these headstops

Inside the porch which is as far as I got.

Churchyard beside the path

Looking west around the north side

Right over in a corner of the churchyard

This is another corner east of the church

From the north west of the churchyard

Churchyard collage with the commonwealth war grave of Seaman F.A.Chandler who was 18 when he died and belonged to H.M.S. Victory

Over the north side of the churchyard you find this small garden wit a seat that you can go in. Not a lot this week but I will try and revisit when the church is open. 

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week 

St John Stockcross

 

 The second of the churches  I visited was St john Stockcross which when I was looking at the OS map I noticed was off the road I would be taking to Boxford. Problem I had when I got there was how to get to the church let alone park near it. The church which I had spotted seem to be out the back of a house and I could not see the road leading there at the time, I found it after my visit. I also found out the benefice the church is in and will try to find out when I can return to look around the inside

Very little in the way of history on Wiki

" It is the site of a brick-built church, St John's, erected and endowed by the vicar, the Rev. H. W. Majendie in 1839"

 South side over the churchyard

West end with some of the north side of the church

South view again with my camera

 Churchyard with the church

East end which I took as I was leaving

Churchyard looking south east from the porch

Along the south side of the church is this fenced off family plot

Far east end of the churchyard

Commonwealth war grave of Corporal J Pocock 

On the far side of the hedge you find a churchyard extension

Like I said a short blog.

Till Next time may I wish you all a peaceful week