Village War Memorials

This weekend we remember the fallen from two world wars, most of you will see on the TV the Queen and Royal Family paying their respects at the Cenotaph in London but that act will be repeated through out the country at towns and villages through out the country. This week I will show you a few of the smaller memorials from  round places I have been, some are local to me others further away but they all will have on thing in  people standing in two minuets silence  at 11 am on Sunday morning.

I'll start with this one which is at a church called St John-In-Bedwardine
in  Worcester, it commemorates the fallen from that parish.

 A little furtehr away in Wales a small church called St Mary's Llanfreddy you can see this memorial in the church porch

At Bovingdon Tank Museum this wall commemorates those who dies on operation since 1945.

This Lych gate is the memorial to the fallen from the village of Nettlebed

On the wall either side

you can see the names of the local men who died.

Sutton Courtneay has this large memorial by the village green in front of the church

 The memorial on the left is in the village of East Hendred and on the right is the one in Dorchester on Thames

These two are in the villages of Peppard and Steadhampton and are in the churchyards.

Another memorial can be seen in Reading outside St Giles Church and is another to the men who fell from the parish.

In Albury church you can see this memorial

At Harwell church these beautiful wooden memorials can be seen 

And in the village by the almshouses is another more prominent one, on the right is another war memorial you can see in Drayton St. Leonard

At Kelmscott church this memorial to Frank & Henry Hayes can be seen beside the church pulpit

 I'll leave you with this one in St Mary's Church Cholsey like many other villages in the country it was hard hit with the loss of so many of it's young men. On Sunday they will be remembered.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

West Challow Parish Church

St Lawrence is a small church in the village of West Challow. I came across the place when I went with a colleague to trace some of the Wilts& Berks Canal that went nearby. We would park a car t each end of the walk and pick them up at the end by driving back to the start. A I drove to West Challow and left my car there while we walked to Wantage it meant going back so it seemed very rude not to visit. I was very pleased I did. The photos were taken back in 2009 and hand held so not as clear as they could be a return may well be on the cards.

 St Lawrence as you can see it from the road

a small churchyard is on the south side of the church

 The arch you see has war memorial plaques on either side

Walking through the arch the path takes you to this porch

 In entering the church you are in the nave and look down to a rood screen

To the right you can see this rather nice old stone font

Walk to the chancel and the rood screen is a plain wooden one with little to adorn it

The altar is a simple but functional

In front of the rood screen you can see a carved wooden pulpit and on the occasion of my visit an advent candle

There are a few memorials and a tomb in the church

The church also has a couple of superb stained Glass windows

 Going back outside you can wander round the small churchyard

and look at some of the wonderful headstones you can see there

 Taking Part in Cemetery Sunday & Taphophile Tragics.
Have a peaceful Sunday

St Blaise Milton

St Blaise is a small church I came across in a village called Milton near Didcot,  I had stopped off to get some photos of the village and noticed the church near the Manor.
Now I cannot resist a church so I took a few photos. Unfortunately at the time I did not have a tripod with me so these are all taken hand held. Take this as a taster for when I get the chance to go back I will do an update with new photos.

 The entrance to the church is beside the village war memorial

A footpath takes you through the churchyard to the porch

You pass by this entrance to what looks like a crypt walk on
and you come to the porch.

 Going in the church you are greeted by a view down the Nave

 Over to the right of the chancel arch is a carved stone pulpit

Choir stalls can be seen in the Chancel

In the chancel you can see there is a prayer painted on the all

 Sorry it's not as clear as I'd like but you can see the words are beautifully painted on

The chancel window is also a work of art showing scenes from Christs life

It's not the only stainedglass window as can be seen from the one on the right, nearby is the church font.

Back outside you can take your time to walk round and admire the building

The east end with extension

The north side churchyard

The chancel window with headstops and some superb tops to the downpipes.

Have a peaceful Sunday

Tanking part in Cemetery Sunday & Taphophile Tragics