St. Clement's Ashampstead

The third church on my trip and one I would probably have missed if I had not planed the route by looking at the OS map. The church dates back to the 12th century and unknown to me at the time had some  13th century frescoes which could have been commissioned by Lyre Abbey in Normandy. I only found about them when I walked in the church and saw them. The pictures I took were published on Mural Monday a few weeks ago.

Looking at the church from over the fence it does not look that old

Even when you look round the outside of the church

 Much of the church is hidden from a good view by the trees

The bell turret here is 15th century though I could not say when the buttresses were built 

The south side of the church

Inside the church looking down the nave was when I realised I had found a little gem with the wall paintings

This is the whole of the inside using my wide angle lens from behind the font
 

which I thought was impressive with the inlaying around it 

I must admit to being a bit taken with the wall art so forgot to do my usual tour round

Though I did take some time in the chancel

where I thought the altar stood out with the arches

 The light lent itself to it was well though in this photo the sun had started to go in

The only stained glass was the three lancet windows in the chancel
with St Clement one side and St Frideswide the other

With Jesus in the centre window

The church does have a few memorials on the walls

That I struggled to capture 





there was also the church banner  on display












 

The Roll of Honour for Ashamstead

But like I said earlier the murals took my eye

they were in amazing condition

with friezes along the wall as well

though in places it was understandably faded

I took a closeup with the flash to see the colour in it

Going back outside I wandered round the churchyard

Which was shaded with well matured trees

and well cut grass

I came across on war grave that of
H.J.Cortnell Leading telegraphist RN H.M.M.T.B.48  14th November 1943 age 36

The churchyard on the north side 

A large monument with covered urn on it and an old headstone which looks to be dated 1665






 

There were some tombs in the churchyard

which could be seen as you walked in along the path

I'll leave you with these last few photos from the church which took as I was going

 This carving of a dove was by the Chancel arch near the Pulpit

Below  the Pulpit  I noticed this plaque to Brian Calvert  as I was about to leave

I went outside found his grave  and paid my respects. He used to go to the same pub as me. The Bell at Aldworth which was the first organisation to charter the Concorde. One heck of a pub outing and I was on it. I was glad I had seen his grave RIP Brian
 Have a peaceful Weekend

In your thoughts & prayers please remember those people of Paris who were murdered on Friday night

St Frideswide Frilsham

  St Frideswide is in the same parish as St Peter & St Paul Yattendon  and only a few miles away. It was the second on my list for the day.  "The church is hidden away at a bend in the road. It's most significant feature is its circular churchyard, an indication of an Iron Age pagan site. The later Roman temple here would have been converted for Christian worship in late Roman or early Saxon period. It could have originally been used for the worship of Jupiter, for an altar dedicated to the chief of the gods was once found buried in the parish. There is nothing left of the Saxon Church built here to commemorate to holy events of St. Frideswide's life, but the present building is of 12th century date. The chancel and larger windows were added in the 15th century under the patronage of Sir John Norreys. The brick tower only dates from 1834, but probably replaced an earlier wooden bell turret. The two bells are dated 1662." The quoted text was found on the Frilsham Parish website.

 Hidden is the word as it's hidden behind the Yew

 The tower that was added in the 19th century

 View of the church or at least what I could see from here with the big yew on the right

 The war memorial looking like a preaching cross

 The memorial is on the North side of the church

The east  end looking to the tower with the yew to the left.

The porch on the church which also looks 19th century 

 The nave in St Frideswide looking towards the Chancel

 The font looks old and could date back to the 12th century

 Will say one thing the local ladies put on a beautiful floral display

Over on the North wall you can see the roll of honour along with the British legion Flag

 The chancel arch with enclosed lectern on side and pulpit the other. Just to the left and right here you can see the choir stalls 

going in the chancel you can see the altar behind the rails

with a nice green altar cloth

Above is the stained glass chancel window

The chancel was not the only stained glass window in the church as you can see from this one of St Frideswide

or this one beside the pulpit

The wooden  pulpit  with the church banner behind it

On the other side is this enclosed lectern 

Looking down the nave from the pulpit

Or another view from beside it

There were a few memorials on the walls
like this one to the Floyd family

and this one to the Pottinger family

This one to Robert Hayward is becoming hard to read

Also on the walls were a plaque telling yo the community was recorded in the Domesday book and a piece of information on a well I missed seeing nearby

You were OK for kneelers in the church

Outside the churchyard is not large and overpopulated like some churchyards. These graves can be seen as you walk along the path to the church

Another view of the south side by the path leading to the church

The north side of the church had some graves in and a cast head stone along with footstone

 Most of which you can see in this photo and fourth photo I showed of the church with the War Memorial

The cast one here the more interesting  as it had a foot stone which you can see in the previous photo

The east end has more graves to see

and a yew tree

most of the graves here are  family graves

the inscriptions still visible to read

 I'll leave you with a final view of the church & Churchyard.
Have a Good Weekend