St John the Evangelist Fernham

St Jon the Evagelist Fernham was a bit  of a last moment visit as it was only a short distance from the turn off to Little Coxwell where I was heading. the big disapointment for me was not being ablet to look inside as it was being used as a children's nursery during the week, it is unlikely I will be revisiting. There is a little history on Wikipedia
"Fernham was part of the Church of England parish of Shrivenham until 1846, when it and neighbouring Longcot were formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Evangelist was designed in 13th-century style by the Gothic Revival architect J.W. Hugall and built in 1861 as a chapel of ease for Longcot. St. John's parish is now part of a single Church of England Benefice with the parishes of Ashbury, Bourton, Compton Beauchamp, Longcot, Shrivenham, and Watchfield. In 2008 the parish controversially spent a £90,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to strip St. John's of its Victorian pews, lay a modern floor. and reörder its interior for secular uses as a village hall."

Fenham church from across the road

Above Left the West end and Right the side view of the porch

Right the South side from the churchyard

Above the porch leading to the church.



South view of the nave

Another view looking West along the South side. I note a satellite dish on the chancel end. Normally I would walk along the East end where there are a few headstones but at the time there were a lot of children playing being supervised by the carers, I felt sorry for the little mights as the grass had been worn away and it was mostly mud

A single grave at the West end of the church

 

 
The Commonwealth War Graves of Private R Richings and Private J Warner
 

The churchyard along the North side of the church.

Over on the South side near the East end an area has been made into a remembrance garden

It is one of the nicer ones I have seen with headstones and tombs surrounding it

Right looking East

This is the far East end of the churchyard, just out of sight is the children's play area among a few headstones

I loved the way this grave had a couple of bottles on it

Left near the remembrance garden a cross from someones grave, Right the beer bottles and Flowers mark a grave with a Remembrance cross showing they were in the forces

 

I will leave you with this shot of St John the Evangelist from steps taking you to the church.

Till Nexttime I wish you all a wonderfull weekend

St Mary the Virgin Longcot

Longcot is not far from Faringdon and a short way from the A420, you could easily pass by but you would be missing a beautiful little church.
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin has a 13th-century Norman nave and chancel. One lancet window on the north side of the chancel is original but all other the current windows were inserted later. On the north side of the church they include one two-light Decorated Gothic and one four-light Perpendicular Gothic window. The pulpit is Jacobean.
The tower was rebuilt in 1721 or 1722. Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester cast five new bells in 1722, followed by the treble bell in 1729 to complete a ring of six.
St Mary's is now part of the Church of England Benefice of Shrivenham and Ashbury, which also includes Bourton, Compton Beauchamp, Fernham and Watchfield".

On going through the main gate you see the village war memorial near the path leading to the church

Above the East end of the church with the South East view here on the left

Here we look over at the South side of the church

Another South side view with the belltower

Couple more views of the West end showing the Bell Tower

The porch taking you into the church

Where you pass this little display on your way in

On entry to the church you can look down the nave towards the Chancel

The altar dressed looking very simple with a beautiful floral display nearby

Behind the altar the East window letting in light

Looking down the nave from the back of the church

The chancel with choir stalls either side

The Jacobean pulpit

Above looking from the pulpit
Right looking to the back from the centre of the church

The other way to the chancel arch
The organ looks quite modern

Above the organ
Right looking over towards one of  the South windows

Above a memorial plaque to a couple who died on the Titanic

Left the floor has a lot of tomes let into it

The stones that are let in the floor are shaped like headstones

There are a couple of memorials on the walls of the church

But I fell the one that stands out most is this one to Earnest Courtney Carter and his wife Lilian who died when the Titanic sank

The plaque telling you the story of how it came to Loncote and a close up of the couple

Another shot of the pulpit

The stained glass around the church the top two are small and either side of the chancel arch


The one on the right is more modern and near the sill you can see a bust

The bust is of a local Ted Ball who seemed to have been quite a character

The windows were all dressed with displays

Above the East window behind the altar

Left the floral display near the altar and a Doll which is part of the window display

The displays were part of the Harvest Festival

This one with flowers was using a watering can

Baskets of vegetables and fruit

On the font another floral display

Outside a walk around the churchyard showed that the older headstones were near the church on the North side

As you went further East the headstone were more modern













Looking towards the North side of the church across the churchyard

Looking West over the more modern headstones

The path from the east end gate in the churchyard

This monument was on the South side of the church

The monument from the look of the carving was quite modern though I did not read the plaque attached to it

Left the headstones here are near the West end

The churchyard near the west end of the church

The West end headstone are a mixture of old and more modern

Some of the older headstone on the North side

Looking East along the Northside with a
tomb in the foreground

Monument near the porch in the church

Last look of the South side of St Mary the Virgin

I will leave you with this shot of the War memorial with the church behind

Till Next time I wish you all Peaceful week