Old St John's Boughton

This was one of those places I noted on a map while looking for an area to photograph for Geograph.  It said Church (remains of) that was enough for me so after I had been to the town nearby I went to look for the church. This is what Wikipedia tell you.
"St John's Church surviving fragments are to the north of the Green. The church has been in ruins since at least 1784 when the spire collapsed. The current church of St John Baptist is in the village and believed to date from c.1350, with extensions in 1807 and 1874.It has a monument to Mary Tilemount (d.1706)."

Looking down from the entrance the first view of the church you see is this, ivy covered ruins and headstones poking out from the weeds.

To the left of the entrance you can see quite new graves as the place is still classed as a graveyard and people are buried here.

The remains themselves look as though the ivy is holding them together.

Here we look towards what would have been the chancel in the church.

To the left of the window is this alcove that at one time had the effigy of a saint with  the intricate stonework crown in place above

This widow still has the wooden lintel in and one of the carved stone window frames.

Looking out the opposite end of the chapel you see headstones poking out of the nettles.

  A lot of which are in good condition

Nettles are every where making looking at headstones a painful experience if your not careful.

Not helped in the least by brambles which are sharp

This was the East window and under it is  St Johns Spring

 That you can see but is covered in stinging nettles

The South wall covered in Ivy

There was a tower here before it collapsed

Headstones in the nettles

The base of a cross lost in the brambles

The only tomb chest I saw

 A lost grave with the top of a cross marking it in the weeds growing wild

Near the entrance the only part where the grass is still cut and where the more recent burials are

Some graves you see are so sad like this one of Peggy Wellstood who died in the Second World War her mother Martha buried beside her and lived to 106 years of age.

If you are ever near Broughton and head towards Moulton you will pass a set of gates like this then it is worth stopping off for an hour.

Brookwood Comonwealth War Cemetery

My second visit to Brookwood Commonwealth war cemetery was to find the grave of J A Wilding who was the pilot of a Halifax Bomber that crashed near Wallingford killing him and his Copilot J F Andrews. This time I had a better look around and am still amazed at the number of graves there which a lot seem to be from the first war. These are some of the photo's I took.

This one overlook the Commonwealth graves of Australia, and South Africa and the RAF. The cross and poppy at the top of the page was at it's base.

The Commonwealth war graves looking towards the cross

Looking towards the cross from the RAF memorial, the graves in the foreground are from the RAF though on this occasion I could not visit due to refurbishment of the area.

The RAF memorial

RAF Emblem on the memorial top.



                                                                  

In the cemetery you can see Polish and Czechoslovakian graves. 

  A French area and an Italian one nearby

The American with it's impressive chapel. Nearer the  cemetery entrance you can see  the memorial to those who have no known grave.

  Below is part of the Canadian Cemetery where I went to find J.A.Wilding which is the third grave along

  The grave of  Sargent K.H.Vaughan with a family photo left beside it

 Looking down the Canadian cemetery from the cross

Never knew the Chelsea pensioners were buried here but there is a plot for them as well











These four graves to
A.S.Woolaver
W Marshall
G.A.Jones
T.Gabryelski
are close together and the date of
04/07/1944 on all the graves so I can only assume they all died in the same plane .

On my way out I noticed there was an area with German names on the headstones, many were single but a few like these three were close together, and from the date killed in the Battle of Britain but are still honored in the cemetery with their enemy of the time. They are buried in a place where there are no enemy's.

War has no winners, only losers and every one of the graves I have seen is a lost a loved one. RIP

The American Cemetery Brookwood

The American Cemetery in Brookwood which I came across while waling round the site, like the other parts of the place it is huge.

It looks like a sea of crosses with the chapel as the centerpiece

Inside the chapel the walls are lined with names and the services which were involved.

Many were lost and have no know grave but are listed and remembered here. Though what took me back was that all those in the cemetery are from the First World War

In the center of the chapel the American Eagle is proudly displayed on the floor.

The grave here says

 "Here Rests in Honored Glory An American Solder Known But To God"

I will return to this place for some more photos and a good look round.

Angel's at Night

This was a failed attempt at some more photo's round Cholsey Churchyard




 The is was the first I attempted and one for a future blog I will be writing on Fairmile. I need to work on this picture to get the atmosphere I would like.

This little angel is just as you go in the churchyard on the left and is of a child of 9 who dies in 1917, it has to be one of my favorite memorials, I hope you like her