This week the Church explorer visits St Peter Hanwell one of the last two churches I needed to visit near Banbury. In truth I had planed on going here first church then onto the next church you will be seeing at Croperdy but I put the wrong post code in the satnav so this one ended up second which was not much of a problem as I still got to see them both.
"The earliest record of the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter is from 1154, but only the Norman font survives from this time. The north and south doorways are 13th century, the east window of the south aisle are late 13th century, and all are Early English Gothic. In the first half of the 14th century St. Peter's was almost entirely rebuilt in a Transitional style between Early English and Decorated Gothic, and north and south aisles and the Decorated Gothic bell tower were added. The arcades linking the aisles with the nave have capitals decorated with carved figures and the chancel has a frieze of carved people and monsters. Both sets of carvings were made in about 1340 and are the work of a school of masons whose work can be seen also in the parish churches of Adderbury, Bloxham and Drayton. Around 1400 a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave. In the Tudor era new side windows were inserted in the north aisle.
Monuments in St. Peter's include a 14th-century effigy of a woman in the south aisle and effigies of Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet (died 1614) and his wife in the chancel. In 1776 the floor of the chancel was raised to accommodate a burial vault for the Cope family, but in the 19th century the floor was restored to its former level In 1671 Sir Anthony Cope, 4th Baronet had a turret clock made for St. Peter's by the noted clockmaker George Harris of Fritwell. It is at the west end of the nave below the bell tower. The bell tower has a ring of six bells. John Briant of Hertford cast the second, third, fourth and fifth bells in 1789 and the tenor bell in 1791. In 2008 White's of Appleton re-hung the bells and added a sixth bell, the Beecroft Bell which Whitechapel Bell Foundry had cast that year.
Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet (1550–1615) was a puritan, and in 1584 the Church of England excommunicated his choice of curate at Hanwell, Jonas Wheler for refusing to hold church services on Fridays and Saturdays. Instead therefore Sir Anthony presented John Dod, another puritan, who was accepted. Dod was a friend of the puritan divine Thomas Cartwight, who at Dod's invitation preached at Hanwell. Sir Anthony was MP for the Banbury constituency for most of the period 1571–1601. In 1587 he was jailed for introducing to the House of Commons a puritan prayer book and a bill for abrogating ecclesiastical law. John Dod was a hardworking and popular preacher who served as Hanwell for 20 years, but by 1607 the Church of England had deprived Dod of his living and Sir Anthony appointed Robert Harris to take over the curacy. During the English Civil War Royalist troops had expelled Harris from Hanwell by the end of 1642. In 1648 he was made a Doctor of Divinity and President of Trinity College, Oxford. Puritan influence at Hanwell was ended in 1658 with the appointment of a Royalist curate, George Ashwell, who was as pious, hardworking and scholarly as his predecessors. St Peter's is now a Grade I listed building. Its parish is now one of eight in the Ironstone Benefice."
Looking from the south west
South view of the church
South east view
The bell tower
North side of the chancel
East end of the south aisle below the second window a blocked window, you will see why in the church
South aisle to the porch
Headstop carving
The chancel has a freeze around it like Adderbury and Bloxham and is though to be the work of the same stonemason
Collage of the carvings on the south side
The hare is recognizable in the other churches as well
Windows and blocked door and window in the north side
More carvings to see
They are all superb to look at
The churchyard to the west of the church as you come along the path
As you walk around the south side the churchyard opens out
It extends out quite away
Single tomb chest
This is the east end of the churchyard
Baroque headstones, the inscriptions gone
These are all from around the 1700's
The porch on the south side
I'm not sure the door is used much
As you go in the nroth door this is the view as you come in
The nave with north and south aisles
The chancel arch where if you look above you see the outline of the original roof
Chancel arch looking at the chancel
Inside the chancel with choir stall either side
Altar and east window
The altar which is empty, the cross being on the windowsill
The reflection in front of the altar is from the south window
The green colored glass in the windows makes a change from others I have seen in the past
Looking back through the church to the west end
Though you do look down from it
In the chancel you see this magnificent tomb set on what was a window and explains why it was bricked up
The effigies of Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet (died 1614) and his wife
Sir Anthony and his wife
Collage of the monument showing the colors of some original paint
Inscriptions in the monument
Three small arches which turn out to be the Sidilia seats. The floor was raised for the Coat family vault underneath
This was probably the stoup
Brasses on a tomb from 1662 and 1671
No doubt they were from the Cope family
This memorial is no as old though
Over in the south aisle you will find the roll of honor, above it is the I believe prayer
Funerary hatchment, the Lords Prayer and memorial fro the south aisle
You find this tomb in the south aisle
I cannot read what it tells you other that it looks like they were born in 1612 and died in 1693
On of the carvings on the tomb
The south aisle and altar
There is not much to see in the north aisle but the altar at the east end and the reredos
The reredos is damaged and is thought to be have taken from a chest tomb
What these holes were for is lost on me
Nearby is the old bier
This table also looks suspiciously like it was used as a bier as well
The west end arch
Where you see the workings of the clock
12th century font
Now if you look at the capitals on the pillars you will see these linked arm carvings
On the west end arch a headstop
Back to the linked arm carvings, there are a lot
Each arch has a different carving on it
Some are a little damaged in some way
But they are amazing
The lady has a crown on
This one looks fierce
The carvings are thought to be by two different sculptures
I must admit I did rush to get photos in the church so I missed a few things like a green man and a tomb effigy in the south aisle no doubt overtaken by the thought of what I should take photos off. If I get a chance at a revisit I look out for what I missed and make sure |I read what I should be looking for as well.
Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week
