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.

St Matthew Otterbourne

I found this place by accident while out with my camera one evening while my wife was off dog training. I was taking photo's for Geograph and on the map I noticed the words Graveyard. I took this at face value and thought that it would be the cemetery for the village, how wrong I was.

 A small gate leads you into an old churchyard with this sign at the entrance beyond that is a graveyard.

Row upon row of old headstones stand testament to what was once here

Family graves lay broken and the graves untended with weeds growing between.

Some are broken and are being lost in the weeds,

Others stand defiant and proud.

You can still see the outline of the church in the ground

An if you look carefully you will find the entrance with the remains of the door pillar still there.

Headstones have survived though the words on them have gone.

Bit you will find a few that you can read

It was late in the evening when I left to go back and meet up with my wife again so I had one last look and left. It's worth a visit if your in Otterbourne.