St Thomas Goring

Sorry to republish this blog but I still have not managed to get out. I came across this blog on St Thomas Goring and noticed it was missing a couple of photos which were linked to an old Flickr account. It seemed a good ide to add the missing photos and update the blog a little with some collages, Hope you enjoy it
I have been to this church before and taken photos but thought it time to revisit. It was the second attempt to visit this church as the previous day I found the battery dead. Some history taken from Wikipedia
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury is Norman, built early in the 12th century. The bell-stage of St. Thomas's bell tower was added in the 15th century  and has a ring of eight bells, one of which dates from 1290. The rood screen is carved from wood taken from HMS Thunderer (1783), one of Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar. The church hall was added in 1901.
A priory of Augustinian nuns was built late in the 12th century with its own priory church adjoining St. Thomas's. The priory survived until the early part of the 16th century when it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and then demolished. The foundations of the priory church, cloister, dormitory, vestry, chapter house and parlour were excavated in 1892."

This is one of the entrances to the church

You walk past the village war memorial which I have always found hard to get a good photo of

The land beyond the wall used to be a priory for Augustine Nuns and was built in the late 12th century and was suppressed in the 16th Century during the dissolution of monastery's  after which is was demolished . Not sure about the houses you see now I thought them as almshouses.

Ahead you see the church of St Thomas of Canterbury to give it's full name

Seeing the whole church is not east with the trees that are in the churchyard. The church is Norman and built in the early 12th century

This is the other entrance footpath. It comes from the main road which is behind me.

 St Thomas looking from the south east side of the churchyard

The belltower was added in the 15th century 

 Here we look down the nave which was reordered a few years ago. I'm not a fan of this happening to churches but you can't say the place does not look like not benefited from the work done as it is light and airy

 The Rood screen you see used to be just behind the pulpit but was mover during the reordering. the marks where it was are still in the wall & floor. The Rood screen is carved from the wood taken from HMS Thunderer which was one of Lord Nelsons Trafalgar fleet

 

 

  The photo above was taken a while ago but shows some of the amazing detail on the rood screen

 

Collage sowing some of the detail on the rood screen

 

The trees are from a Christmas tree festival and are dressed but local groups and businesses 

 

 This is the first nativity scene I have managed to get a photo of

 

 

This is the chancel now

 

 

Took this a few years ago 

 

 

 The chancel window which is one of the few stained glass windows in the church

 

 One of the other stained glass windows

Some of the decorated Christmas trees. The one on the left is the local scouts and on the right the catholic church which I might add and another beautiful church

Some one might recognise his name here

The Womens Institute banner and a brass memorial you can see in the church

 Found these interesting, especially the top one

Couple more memorials you can see, the left one is the roll of honour from the two wars the one on the right a bit older.

This tomb is in the chancel floor near where the rood screen used to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A brass and detail on another memorial

Couple of doors in the church, the left leads to the belltower and the one on the right is called the nuns door and was opened up to allow access to the new hall

The floral display is buy the bell tower door

The British legion flags

With the name of one lost

 

 The arches and pillars to the south aisle and the font

Grave markers in the churchyard

The churchyard is quite large 

and worth a wander round to see the headstones

Even I did not realise it stretched back towards the road past the Lych gate 

The South side also ans many more older graves

I'll end with a couple of more interesting headstones.
Able Seaman B C Towerton served on HMS Victory in Portsmouth which was Lord Nelsons flagship and fought at Trafalgar and is still in service if not afloat. DOWS is listed against his name on a list I found so may explain how he died.

I saw the wreath first then read the name Capt E B B Towse VC you can read about him in the link. This was the fist VC I had come across in a churchyard

Chest tomb and grave markers

 

I hope you enjoyed the updated version of the blog.

Till next time have a wonderful weekend

St Mattew Otterbourne

A few years ago before I started writing my blogs I was in Otterbourne where I had the chance to look round the village. One of the first places I noticed was the church of St Matthew. As it was in the evening I could not go in the church to see the interior so only took a few external shots. St Matthew was built built in 1837 to replace the old St Matthew which was falling down though part of it remained till the 1971, the churchyard is still there

First view of the church from the carpark by the village hall

Waling down the main street you pass this seating area

and a fine Lych gate

with inscription over the entrance

inside a seat with deadication

Further along you pass the village war memorial

with steps that lead from the footpath

nearby is the back entrance to the churchyard

which brings you round the West end of the church

waling round to view from the North side you get a good view of the bell turret

looking along the west end of the church

where you can see most of the churchyard

this is the South side with the entrance porch

when I went to the East end I spotted these three graves which I thought at the time has been pushed over. My thoughts were vandals and I wondered how senseless this act was 

I was right in a way, the vandals were Health & Safety and mushed over by persons unknown to me who are worried if they fall on some one the council will be sued. What a great world we live in.

I'll leave you with this view of St Matthew from the South East end of the churchyard and if you check the link you can get a peek inside as I doubt I'll get the chance to visit it again. Have a great Bank Holiday Weekend.