St Mary Sydenham

 

 

 St Mary Sydenham was the last of the churches I visited in the Benefice of Chinnor. I had wondered if the church would be locked but as it was the place was open.

"By 1185–86 Sydenham was a chapelry of the prebendary parish of Thame. In the English Reformation in 1547 the Act for the Dissolution of Collegiate Churches and Chantries dissolved all prebendaries, and the tithes of Sydenham passed to the Wenman family. The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary are Norman corbels in the walls of the chancel. However, in 1293 it was reported that the church was "in ruins" and a rebuilding had just begun. This was carried out in the Early English Gothic style. The church retains most of the lancet windows inserted during the rebuilding. The timber-framed bell tower was built at the same time. It is one of a number of wooden bell-towers in South Oxfordshire. The others include St Helen's, Berrick Salome, All Saints, Didcot; St Nicolas, Rotherfield Greys and St Mary the Virgin, Waterperry.

Early in the 14th century a Decorated Gothic east window was inserted in the chancel and a rood screen and rood loft were added. Late in the 15th century the nave was given a hammerbeam roof. The rood screen and loft were removed in 1840. In the chancel is a set of Medieval corbels that formerly supported a Lenten veil to screen the altar. Such veils were discontinued in the English Reformation, and these corbels are a rare survival.

Sherwood and Pevsner state that the architect John Billing restored St Mary's in 1856, but the Victoria County History states that the restoration was in 1877. By both accounts the tower was rebuilt, the chancel and nave lengthened and a vestry and south porch added. the Victoria County History adds that the tower and its arches were moved some distance to the west. The two lancet windows west of the south porch were added during the restoration, and the 14th-century style west window of the nave was probably added at the same time. The church is a Grade II* listed building. Its parish is now part of a single benefice with the parishes of Aston Rowant, Chinnor and Crowell."

 The church over the roadside wall

 The sooth east view with wooden belltower

This is the north side of the church

 

East end

 

East end from across the churchyard

 

The west end is not so easy to get a photo of due to space

 

From the north west of the churchyard

 

North transept and belltower 

 

View up at the belltower, I have visited most of the churches that have wooden belltowers in Oxfordshire, they all differ in one way or another

Porch and belltower

 

Plenty of old graves in the churchyard this one gradually sinking

 

This one the face in it is worn making it look gruesome 

Looking east towards the road

Towards the north from the east end of the church

Looking west on the south side of the church

Not sure what happened here with this grave

This beautiful headstone is near the porch

The porch which was decorated out for a wedding

 

My son pointed out this interesting key hole

 

It looks like it is made from a clock face of some kind

The nave from the back of the church

The crossover towards the chancel

The altar and east window

The altar with cross, candle holders, bible and plate

Turning around and looking back with the choir stalls in the forrground

Looking back from inside the crossover arch

The pulpit which looks typical Victorian

Looking down from the pulpit

 

Near the arch on the north wall of the nave are memorials and the Roll of Honour 

 

Its a simple scroll

And lists the men of the parish who never returned

There are a couple of older memorials that look interesting

And even older corbels that are mentioned in the history

One of the windows is stained glass

The organ in the chancel

The font with wedding flowers on top

You can see this at the back of the church

The roof and hammer beams

The door with Victorian verse and one you will see in one of the lancet windows

Collage of memorials and windows

I thought this modern crucifix quite beautiful to look at

 

I will leave you with this collage of floral displays that were in the church, as you can Imagen that was a beautiful  smell from them.

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend 

St Andrews Chinnor

 

St Andrews Chinnor was the next church  I visited which was only a few miles along the road from Crowell church. The church has been on my radar for a while and I was glad to be able to visit

"The earliest record of the Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew is from 1160. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century, when the present arcades of four and a half bays for first the north aisles and then the south aisle were built. Building of the present tower began towards the end of the 13th century. Early in the 14th century St Andrew's was remodelled. The chancel was entirely rebuilt, the tower was made higher and the porch was built. The aisles were widened, given new windows, and extended westwards to flank either side of the tower. A rood screen was installed between the chancel and nave. The chancel and high altar were dedicated in 1326, which may therefore have been the year that the remodelling was completed. The high-pitched 13th century nave roof was replaced, probably later in the 14th century, with a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and low-pitched roof.

The architect Richard Pace designed St Andrew's Rectory, which was built in 1813. St Andrew's was restored in 1863–66. The plans were by the architect Edward Banks of Wolverhampton but were modified by the Oxford Diocesan architect G.E. Street and the Oxford architectural writer and publisher J.H. Parker. The nave roof was restored to a high pitch and the chancel was raised above the nave. Clayton and Bell restored the medieval stained glass and added a new east window. The 14th century font was replaced with a new one of Caen stone. The 14th century rood screen was reduced in height. The chancel, nave and aisles were entirely refurnished. However, in 1930 the original font was retrieved and reinstalled.

In the south aisle is a carved recumbent effigy of a knight of about 1270 or 1300. St Andrew's has also one of the largest collections of monumental brasses in the country. Most are 14th or 15th century but there are also later brasses commemorating a churchwarden (died 1899) and his wife, and two soldiers killed in the First World War.

By 1558 St Andrew's had a ring of four bells and a Sanctus bell. In the succeeding century all were replaced and the ring was increased to five. William Knight II of Reading cast the oldest bell in about 1586. Further bells were cast by Henry Knight I in 1620, Ellis Knight I in 1635, and Henry Knight II in 1663. A tenor bell was cast in 1651, but in 1864 it was recast as two smaller bells increasing the ring to six. In 1965 John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast a new Sanctus bell and in 1969 the same company cast a new treble and second bell to replace the two 1864 bells. St Andrew's parish is now part of the Benefice of Chinnor, Sydenham, Aston Rowant and Crowell."

 

 

View of St Andrews from the south side

The belltower unusual in it's shape

South side view of the church taken with my phone

East end of St Andrews

North east view of the church

Another view most likely taken from the roadside

South east view showing the shape of the belltower

The churchyard as you walk along the path

Around the south side

Looking south

South again looking along the east end of the church

The churchyard along the north side where it is thought around 50 roundheads killed in a nearby battle are buried

Looking towards the west boundary wall

Churchyard along the west end of the church

Your first view inside the church from the doorway

Wide view looking down the nave from the back

The chancel arch with rood screen and cross

Closer view of the arch, 14th century  rood screen and cross

The chancel

Wider view showing the organ pipes either side of the chancel

 

The altar and east window

 

View across the altar with a painting of Jesus being laid to rest

Looking back towards the rood screen

Low window in the chancel

The east window

The altar and est window from in front of the altar rails

View back to the rood screen showing  the choir stalls either side

Some of the 14th century church brasses which were lifted form tombs in the church and now shown on wall plaques in the chancel

View back though the 14th century rood screen to the nave, the box over on the left of the photo is most likely the organ

The Pulpit with small organ in front

Closer view of the carvings on the pulpit

View from the pulpit showing the nave, south and north aisles

The church has quite  a few stained glass windows these I am assuming are the 14th century ones

These show bible scenes

There are also memorial windows which made me look at them closer

 

This one depicted the face of Capt Colin G P Cuthbert  who was killed in 1943

The north aisle

The east end has an altar and the rolls of honour for the town

The east wall holds the fallen from WWI

Above you can see the stained glass window

The north wall you will find the fallen from WWII

At the back you will see an 14th century font dating back to the original church, it was uncovered when they were doing some building work

The south aisle

At the end you find the altar along with tomb effigy

I like the altar cover

Above the stained glass window

Effigy of a knight from the Danvers family 1270

The font at the back of the church

The west window

You cannot miss this George II coat of arms when you walk in the Church

But you can miss this one which I think is Charles I

Look in the north aisle and you might notice this doorway up high

In the nave is the exit which would have taken you on to a rood loft

Paintings along the south aisle wall

 

another at the back of the church

The paintings you have seen in my photos are the designs used in rose window in the north transept of Westminster abbey. They were donated to the church

I will leave you with one of the beautiful candelabras you can see in the church.

Till Next time I wish you all a pleasant weekend