St Michael & All Angels Hughenden

You pass this church on the way to Hughenden Manor, in fact it is in the grounds of the place though is the parish  Church. St Michael & All Angels  dates back to the 12th Century when Sir Geoffrey de Clinton built the church here between 1100 & 1135. My reason for Visiting was to see the Manor where Benjamin Disraeli used to live, the church was a must after seeing it as I drove past plus I knew Disraeli was buried there.

There is a carpark nearby and you go in past this covered noticeboard 

On entering the churchyard you see the church 

 Walking on up the path you can get a nice view of the whole church

 Go past to the west end and the churchyard to see the bell tower

which as you can see  has battlement  type parapets running round, a feature on many English churches

A view of the chancel end of St Michael & All Angels,  Disraeli's grave is the one with the blue fence

The building is flint faced with tiled roof and chancel crosses on the apex

 You enter the church through this porch which was most likely built when the church was extended & restored between 1874 and 1890

The nave in St Michale & All Angels

This is the North Aisle and chapel  

 The Chancel, I had to wait about five minuets for every one to move out of the photo

Looking back down the nave

            The magnificent looking backdrop to the chance , I had to get the ceiling in as well

 Above the altar is the chancel window

On the left on of the stained glass windows in the church and the right part of the mural in the Chancel

                                               Very ornate organ in the Chancel

The magnificent memorial given by Queen Victoria to Benjamin Disraeli and on the right I think is the Order of the Garter awarded by the Queen

This arch leads through to the North aisle

where you can see some interesting  tomb effigies 

 This one looks well worn but was most likely carved like it 

The most impressive one you can see in the church

More stained glass you can see in the church

One feature that stands out is the beautiful marble pulpet

Memorials, the one on the left is to the men who died in the second world war

The font at the back of the church seems simple in comparison to the rest of the place

This is on the pillar in the north aisle

detail on one of the stained glass windows

coats of alms on the same window

Back outside the churchyard is well used

with a mixture of old and new graves

some like I have not seen before

 This one stood on it's own a sad reminder of the First World War

 John Crutchfield was just 17 when he died. RIP

North side of the church

 

The grave of Benjamin Disraeli, his wife plus also his benefactor are buried here side by side

The vault at the east end of the church to Disraeli

You can read more history on the church if you visit their website  Hughenden Parish Church
Have a good Weekend

Douai Abbey

This is the only Catholic Abbey I have visited and just happened to be beside something else I wanted to see so I parked up and took some photos of the Abbey and nearby Church.

Douai Abbey as you drive in the entrance, no worry I was stood outside taking this

Quite an imposing place

and reminds me of new and old

But I can't help thinking it looks like a stealth bomber

Inside the building, this is the only photo I have at the moment, I may go back and take some more sometime.

 Nearby is St Mary's church which was having a mass at the time but I managed to go in for a few moments at the end and found it a nice church inside though I did not get any photos as they were ina hurry to close up.

Beside the church is the small curchyard

With quite a few interesting old graves 

that go along the north side as well

with a few leaning against the wall having been removed for some reason or other.

 Further along the road you can see the grand entrance to the Abbey School

which as you can see is very grand indeed though not used much now from what I can see. I did not have a lot of time round the Abbey but hopefully will get the chance to go back again. 

Have a great Sunday