St Bartholmews Lower Basildon

One of the first posts I did in this blog was called the Lost Boys who are buried at a church called St Bartholomew Lower Basildon. The church was built in the 13th century with the tower added in 1734, it also has a 15th century font. The church became redundant and is now owned by the Church Conservation Trust. 

 View of St Bartholomew from near the entrance

Here we look over to the East end

The porch and bell tower

 The belltower was built in 1734 and is one of the prominent features of the church

Looking along the church to the tower on the west end 

As you may have guessed I have been to the church before a couple of times but this occasion I brought my tripod with me. The interior is unchanged and as peaceful as ever to visit

 The chancel is very light inside and lined with choir stalls

The altar dressed in simple wooden cross and candle holders, the back wall is tiled

Look back through the chancel arch and you can see how long the nave is with glass partition to the bell loft

The nave with it's candle holders

The pulpit has some nice carvings on it 

With a particularity nice on on the door to the pulpit

  If you go into the pulpit you will get this fine view of the nave

As you walk through the church you can see some fine old memorials, like this one to Revd Robert Baily Fisher who was 46 years vicar of the parish

or this one to Henry Harvey Hopkins who came from Cholsey

This one is to Martha  Harvey Fisher wife of the Revd in the first meorial I showed

 The memorial on the right is to the Sykes family from Basildon Park nearby
On the left the framed pring by the memorial is a will leaving money

A memorial to George Ogle 

There are some impressive memorials to the Sykes family in paticular Sir Francis Sykes who lived nearby at Basildon Park 

The weeping woman on the pillar was one that stood out as it had a cameo of the man himself

 
Two more memorials of note, one to Eliza who was the wife of  Richard Kenyon De Beauvoid and only daughter of Sir Francis Sykes. and The Hon Elizabeth Lady Smith who owas first married to Sir Frances Sykes

The 15th century font

There is are very nice stained glass windows in the church that show the light nicely if I get it right

The chancel window though is quite plain

But the other windows in the church make up for this

Walking along the nave you can see this tomb in great condition considering it's age

A small memorial can be seen by the choir stalls and along the nave two more tombs can be seen though these are well worn

One has a very nice brass inlaid which is John Clerk and his wife Lucie, both in Medieval costume and quite hard to read the way it is engraved

View towards the small North aisle

The carved choir stalls

Time to go round the churchyard and one of the first things I noticed was a tree had been cut down

and from the look of things not long ago

One of the more famous people buried in the Churchyard is Jethro Tull and his headstone can be seen on the left here and leans against the church. It's a modern one as the original is lost to time in the churchyard. The memorial on the right is a14th-century chest tomb, reused as a monument to Sir Francis Sykes who died in 1804
 

The wording on it is becoming faded now

Nearby is a very impressive fenced off tomb

The inscription on one end is to James Morrison of Basildon Park who dies in 1857

You need to go round the back to see the grave of Sir Francis Sykes which was not as  overgrown last time I visited

Wandering round the churchyard there are many old graves to see

and the odd new one like this one of the Olive Family I loved the carving of T rex on this headstone

Most are among the long grass

Others under trees and shrubbery

Many forgotten about

as you can see when you look in the shrubbery

There were seven
 war graves round the churchyard which I find sad because they are becoming forgotten
 

They should never be forgotten

Some work is being done clearing the churchyard

Hopefully before the headstones become lost

And forgotten about

 St Bartholmews Churchyard

The Lost Boys

St Bartholmews
Have a wonderful weekend

Highgate Cemetery Part 2

After walking round the West cemetery my wife & I had a quick look round the East one which is the newer of the two being opened in 1854. This is where you find a lot of famous people buried.

As I showed in the last blog the entrance to the East cemetery is on the opposite side of the road through these gates though you do have to pay to get in in the booth to the right.

The first thing you notice is the well kept graves on the left hand side

with some amazing memorials further on

I must admit there are some unusual headstones like the one above on the left. The right hand one is of Anna Maiher who's work I think I have come across before.

The Penguin Book with Jim Standford Hone on made me think he was a partner in the company but it turns out he just liked Penguin Books so in a way he was after buying so many not doubt. Corin Redgrave was the son of Sir Michael Redgrave and brother of Gemma

I loved how this one had a huge cross and angel standing in front

All I will say is Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy 

The angel on the left looks like she is standing firm where as the statue on the right depicts Mary praying

Now we come to the most famous person buried here

Don't think I need to say who he is

The grave on the left is Mansoor Hekmat who was an Iranian Marxist , Simon Paul Wolff a Scientist and transport campaigner

Hercules Bellville was an American Film Producer

Thought the one on the left amazing. Danny Wilder was a singer and songwriter with Kings of the City.

Looking round the cemetery you can see walkways still there

though much of the cemetery is well over grown

with ivy getting a firm foothold

with the odd patch of color coming through

This area contains the remains of 78 Sisters of Bethany who died between 1912 -1962

You might guess the owner of this wonderful memorial was a pianist who was    

William Henry "Harry" Thornton (1883 to 1918), who was a classical pianist and played music for the troops in World War One

One of the impressive graves in the cemetery

Jeremy Beadle, presenter, writer and producer

The London Fire brigade memorial

'Pop' artist, Patrick Caulfield stating the obvious. I liked the armless angel

Found this memorial of Malcolm McLaren a bit morbid but then knowing who he was It is just how he would want to be remembered

Walking round these memorials you see people who wanted to be remembered as so many stand out in one way or another

My favourite quote from Simon Paul Wolff

 I left this one till last as I think it is the most beautiful memorial I have ever seen. RIP

Have a peaceful Sunday