2024 Review Pt2

 

This week I review the second half of 2024 where I managed to visit more Churches in Oxfordshire plus a few revisits 

July  

We start with St Peter Filkins which did not have much history due to it being built in Victorian times, none the less it was a nice church to see

St Peter Broughton Poggs is only a short distance from the last one and was a church I had been looking forward to seeing. It dates back to Norman times and still looks old inside  

While in Wales the previous month I also visited a couple of Welsh Chapels which were both locked though I did get photos through the window of one.

I decided that I would try and visit some of the churches on The Clerics trail when I go to Wales and managed to visit St Michael & All Angeles Clyro which was the fist church that Rev Francis Kilvert was rector of 

August 

 

I stopped off at St Meilig Llowes on the was back from Clyro because Kilvert had visited the church which was interesting especially and it has St Meiligs cross 

For the next church it was back on the Oxfordshire Best Churches trail and I went to St Nicholas Idbury which was about as far west as you can get in Oxfordshire. It was a really nice church with an unusual tomb in the churchyard 

The next church was St Simon & St Jude at Milton-Uner-Wychwood It was featured in the Oxfordshires best churches but I wonder why as it was Victorian and did not look that special apart from the bell turret

St Mary Shipton-under-Wychwood came next and had a mention in the book in the information on another church but in truth I felt it more worthy than the last church

I managed to visit St Michael Leafield for the last church on this trip which did feature in Oxfordshires Best Churches and though it was another Victorian Church this one I could see why it was in the book, it also had a very impressive spire

September 

The first church in September was All Saints Spelsbury where I bumped into the Family History Society who were recording the names on headstones, the churchyard had some old headstones but the church was more interesting to look around with some interesting monuments.

St Nicholas Chadlington was not in the book but must have been in the running as it was a beautiful church to look around

All Saints Shorhampton is out in the country beside a farm but when you walk in you can see why it was listed in the book with the  medieval wall art to view and the simplicity of the church

For the last church of the month I revisited St Luke's Garford a church I visited years ago and never got to see inside, the revisit rectified that and I was really pleads I made the effort to arrange the visit

October  

I started October off with a visit to All Saints Marcham which was another return visit for me. On my first visit I only had a quick look around but this time I found more to see.

St Mary Magdalene Shipon was a return visit only this time I managed to go inside for a good look around the church

St Peter Wilcote was the first of three churches close together that I wanted to visit to fill in an area on my map of churches I had missed

St James Ramsden was one church that I missed on a previous visit to the area so this time I managed to get to it for a look around and found  a beautiful Victorian church

November  

Started with a visit to St John the Evangilist Hailey which was built back in 1761 and I found to be a nice church to visit, there was also a nearby cemetery that looked like it belonged to the previous church

St Peter Bucknell had me back after churches in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches and I could see why it was considered one of them

St Mary Ardley was next and it had a Georgian look about it but it was letdown for me as the church was locked so I came away with disappointment which only  worse when I found the next church I had in mind I could not find a way to get to due to being on a private estate behind gates, this got rectified at a later date.

St James the Apostle Somertom came next in my quest to visit churches from the book I had and it proved why it was included in the book as it was quiet a church to visit

St Mary Upper Hayford was the last church I posted in Novemeber , the churchyard looked quite empty till you noticed the cemetery opposite the church and inside turned out more interesting than it did outside

December 

St Mary Lower Hayford is only a could of miles away and I found a much nicer church to visit with more of interest both inside & out 

All Saints Middleton Stoney was the church I could not get  to on a previous visit but after emailing the church warden I found out it was quite easy to access and it was a church that I found very interesting with a large Commonwealth War Cemetery

My blogs are written in the order I visit the churches and I usually like to write one with some hint of Christmas in it for the last one of the year so felt let down when I could not get in the church I was going to post about but as luck would have it I managed to revisit St Peter Alviscott which I was really glad I made the effort to revisit.

I did manage to visit St Edburg Bicster just before Christmas but that is a blog for next year. I hope you enjoyed the churches I visited during 2024 and I hope to bring you more in 2025 which will comprise of a few revisits to churches I would like to get new photos of. As there are about 14 churches I would like to visit from Oxfordshires Best Churches I intend to try and get to those even though they take over an hour to drive to, I also intend to get to some more churches in Berkshire as well as a few more in Wales. Thank you for visiting my blog and  I hope you will come back again in 2025

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week