St Stephen Clanfield

 

I took the wrong road visiting St Stephen Clanfield parking along a private road by the old entrance to the church and came in what looked like the back entrance, you can read some history on the church below the photo.

"In the Church of England parish church of Saint Stephen the tympanum over the south door is Norman and both the arcade between the nave and the north aisle and the responds of the chancel arch are in the Transitional style between Norman and the Early English Gothic. These features date the church building to about 1200. St Stephen's has four lancet windows dating from late in the 12th century or early in the 13th century: two in the south wall of the chancel and two in the north wall of a chapel on the north side of the chancel. In the chancel the east window and the easternmost window in the south wall are Decorated Gothic, which dates them to between 1250 and 1350. The style of the bell tower suggests it was built either about 1300 or early in the 14th century.

In the 15th century a large statue of St Stephen was added to the outside of the tower, a squint was inserted in the south side of the chancel and the present font was made. The nave was rebuilt in 1869 and the chancel enlarged and partly rebuilt in 1870. The tower has a ring of eight bells. James Keene, who had established a bell-foundry at Woodstock, cast the fourth, fifth and seventh bells in 1653. Michael Darbie, who was an itinerant bell-founder in southeast England, cast the tenor bell in 1667. Richard Keene of Woodstock cast the sixth bell in 1696. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the treble, second and third bells in 1905 to complete the current ring. St Stephen's parish is part of the Benefice of Bampton with Clanfield, which also includes the parishes of Aston, Lew and Shifford."

 East end of the church with north aisle

Looking from the south east

The entrance path from the graveyard and where I should have parked

The tower with statue of St Stephen

West end showing the bell tower

North side showing the north aisle and chapel

South side showing the porch and tower

Closer view of the Medieval statue of St Stephen

Looking across the churchyard from the path I came in on

Looking east over the churchyard

Churchyard south of the church

South west churchyard boundary

Chest tomb on the north side of the church

Collage of the churchyard

Commonwealth war grave of Private J Monk

Headstone on the north side of the church looking west

I liked the carving on this one on the north side

Old headstone around late 1600 early 1700

Porch beckoning me in

Norman arch with typanum

Which once had a sundial

The scratch marks still evident

Inside looking down the nave

Chancel arch looking in the chancel

Zooming into the east window

The chancel fills out past the arch

Altar and reredos

Closer view of the reredos

looking back through the arch to the nave

Some of the brass memorials in the church

Huge squint which was from the chapel but now from what I can see is a vestry

The orgah takes up the other part of the chapel

Choir stalls

Couple of headstones and memorials you can see in the church

Victorian pulpit

View down to the nave

Eagle lectern

Children's area at the back of the north aisle

North aisle which take you to the chapel now partitioned off for the organ

The village roll of honor

The poppy is hand knitted

The nave from the north aisle

15th century font

I will take my leave of you with this photo of a floral display from the chancel

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

St James Aston

 

 For a change I decided to visit some churches on a Saturday because I knew they would be open for the Stride and Ride event, the first one I stopped at was not open nor was the second I had hoped would be but this was the third and they were just opening up.

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"The Church of England parish church of Saint James was built in 1839^[ with only a low squat tower and one bell. Later a spire and second bell were added. The Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke restored the building in 1862, even though it was only 23 years old at the time. The architect HGW Drinkwater made further alterations in 1885–89. The present ring of six bells was cast by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough in 1883, the two original bells being taken in part exchange. Two brass plates in the church commemorate the names of local clergy and churchwardens at the time of the bells' dedication and benefactors who contributed to the cost, the balance of which was raised by public subscription. In 1992 the bells were restored and re-hung by White's of Appleton following two years of local fund-raising. In 1857 Aston, Cote and Shifford were made part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bampton Aston. It now forms part of the The Church of England parish church of Saint James was built in 1839 with only a low squat tower and one bell. Later a spire and second bell were added. The Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke restored the building in 1862, even though it was only 23 years old at the time. The architect HGW Drinkwater made further alterations in 1885–89. The present ring of six bells was cast by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough in 1883, the two original bells being taken in part exchange. Two brass plates in the church commemorate the names of local clergy and churchwardens at the time of the bells' dedication and benefactors who contributed to the cost, the balance of which was raised by public subscription. In 1992 the bells were restored and re-hung by White's of Appleton following two years of local fund-raising. In 1857 Aston, Cote and Shifford were made part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bampton Aston. It now forms part of the benefice of Bampton with Clanfield, which also includes the parish of Lew"

Bright sunny day so I needed a filter on the lens. The spire

Heading around to look at the west end

Around to the north side The lens hood is showing in the corners

north west end looking at the spire

 

 The east end with both north and south transepts

Looking west at the churchyard from the path

Hood problems again with this wide shot of the churchyard looking west

 The churchyard looks huge in this shot from the north side

This headstone really struck me

Commonwealth war grave of Bombardier of W.S Brogden

Churchyard looking east

Fenced chest tomb and headstones

Inside looking towards the back

Towards the narrow chancel arch

 

 

Down the nave towards the chancel

The altar is now set up in front of choir stalls

The old altar still in the narrow chancel

New altar

The old altar with east window

Simple wood candle holders frame the altar

The triple east window stained glass is quite stunning

Wine glass pulpit

where you get a nice view from high up

Looking out the south transept which is where you come in

The north transept is where the organ is along with vestry and kitchen

The windows in the church have stained glass inserts

All with a small plague to someones memory

Either side of the south transept you find more windows with stained glass panels

A bookshelf is below one on this side no doubt for local people to borrow the books from

As you walk in the church there is a funeral byre which has a display board on it

 The font which is also in the south transept

There were not many memorials to be found other than this one to Albert and Alice Townsend

There was a display of old photos of the church which was good to see

 

Memorial to Ellen Reed

I wonder about the other 150n sittings, did one have to pay for them

The Rolls of Honour written by hand

The organ over in the north transept

At the back of the church this little teddy waits for someone to give him a hug

Till Next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend