St Mary Streatley

For me this is a return to this old church. It's situated just along the Thames path and in fact you walk past it at Streatley.

You go through the Lychgate you see on the left and over to the right you will see the village War Memorial

On going through the door your first sight is the arches dividing the South aisle & Nave

 The view down the nave

As I was at the back I took this photo of the area under the belfry. where you can see a statue on the wall I think is Michael the Archangel

 Over in the corner is this beautiful carving of a mother & child, it's in memory of Annabel Harriet Ella Byrte 1981-1986 The sculpture is called Motherhood.

There is also a Poem with it

"In death we find Life

In Sorrow joy

The ending of a song the beginning of another

New life arising from the ashes of life 

A cold dark winter means fresh green spring

Sadness brings new hope

Thus sorrow and joy meet and become one"

Arwen Clayton (age11)

Over near the door as you come in you will find the font which is covered and has a star shaped weight to allow you to easily lift the cover

The chancel arch from the Nave

 In the chancel and a couple of views showing the altar and chancel window

The Altars till had it's nativity scene carve out of wood

Th Back panell of the altar was one beautiful carving

Above you see the chancel window, the photo does it no justice

One side showing the choir stalls

On the other side behind the stall is the church organ, last time I visited was just after a service and the oganist was playing

Looking out of the chancel down the nave

The nave again only from the Pulpit

There are quite few Stained glass Lance windows in the Church

This one is near the altar in the South aisle

They all are in memory of some one who has passed

This one is in the North Aisle

 

The North & South Aisles

There are a few interesitin memorials in the church. The John Wetherall memorial is in the chancel

These two memorials can be found in the South Aisle

Along with this one  George & Emily Morrell

The next two are from the Stone Family who are connected with the Morrell Family through Marrage

This memorial is older than all the others and dated 1603 and is to Thomas Buriton and I think his wife

I'm sure this is the tomb of Thomas Buriton

Nearby you can see this altar which I think is St Georges Chapel

View along the nave to the back of the church

Looking back up the South aisle to the font and the eagle lecturn beside the chapel

Nice touch in the Porch

The churchyard beside the porch

With some impressive looking meorials

Round the back you can see the main church yard

Which has quite few old memorials in uit

Some of the memorilas more impressive that others

The one which stands out the most is this angel holding a wreath

Some of the crosses in the churchyard

the churchyard extends back some way with the mor recent burials at the end

One war commonwealth war grave beloning to Sapper A.E.Goodenough Royal Enineers 5th August 1944 age 33

First of the snowdrops I have come across 

I'll leave you with a photo of this memorial which is my favorite inthe churchtyard

Have a peacefull weekend

2015 Review

Like last year I thought I would do a roundup of my favourite Churches from 2015. Since I started writing this blog I have visited nearly 150 church's & cemetery's though out the UK. Last year I started a Google Map plotting the visits and locations with a link back to the blog, hopefully I will add a photo of the church as well in the future. In January the first place I featured was Headington Cemetery  which is not far from the John Ratcliffe Hospital in Oxford, in fact next door. The next place was  the Holy Trinity Headington Quarry where C.S Lewis is buried. It was one of the last ones I visited in 2015. Another church to feature was St John The Baptist Kingston Bagpuize

 one I have passed many times but never got to see, I still have to see inside as it seems to be kept locked. The last church that month was  St Peter & St Paul Wantage  which is a church in a very historic town.

February brought be to Burford a very historic wool town in the Cotswolds the church there is called St John's and dates back to the 12th century. The town place gets busy with tourists and the church is well worth a look round but I advise to get there early in the day as coaches appear and lots of people get out

 I did a feature on Church's & Chapels to fill in one week then went along to a local church to get some new photos for my blog on St John the Baptist Moulsford 

Then ended the month with a feature on St Georges Kelmscott where William Morris is buried and the manor he lived in is nearby.

In March I had been to St Cyriac Laylock a church which dated back to 1229 and has some wonderful features inside.

It was also when I featured three churches I have visited on Saturday that belonged to the same Benefice  St John Baptist South Moreton a church I finally managed to look inside after finding it locked each time I visited. All Saints North Moreton a revisit to a wonderful old church with superb stained glass windows  and St Andrews East Hagbourne another church I had bee dying to see the inside of and was not disappointed as the church dated back to the 12th century.

In April I featured another four churches I had visited during a 6 hour walk around and area of Hampshire. Had I the time it could have bee six as I would have needed to drive the last bit.

St Mary Easton was the first and a little taken back to find a work party in the church.

A short walk along the Pilgrims way was St Swithun Martyr Worthy 

A really nice church with a wonderful feature around the chancel arch of the ten commandments. The next church of St John Japtist Ichen Abbas  was a little further than I expected and the church though not that old was a pleasure to look round along with the bonus of having the grave of the last man hung for horse theft in the churchyard

The last church on the journey was St Mary Avington  a wonderful church which still had it's box pews

May saw me back in Wales at last with a revisit to St Michael Llanfihangel-Nant-Melan, the visiting of  Lost Church which was the churchyard of Llanfthangel Abergwesyn, St David Colva part of the clerics trail which I am trying to follow.

St Padarn which is quite delightful in it's simplicity

And finally St Cewydd Aberedw which for me was a revisit but this time I managed to view the inside

June saw me republish Dorchester Abbey a place which is high on my list to revisit and photograph properly with a visit to St Mary Builth Wells the following week. Week three and I did a piece on Old Sarum Cathedral   then a visit to St Matthew Llanelwedd which is one church that foils me to get into as it is always locked.
July I republished St Mary Pembridge which is a fascinating old church with a separate belltower.
Week two and it was a visit to St Mary Newnham Murren a church belonging to the Church Conservation Trust. It's local to be and I have been wanting to revisit for a while, it's just off the Thames Path so worth a detour.

 St Mauritius Alltmawr which is the third smallest church  in Wales it also has to be one of the more dangerous as the track leading to it is on a blind bend. Not easy to access with a car. was the next church.The last blog that month was  piece about the churches in Corf
August  saw me in Wales again with Old Llandrindod Wells Church  which had a wonderful churchyard to see

The next week it was The Holy Trinity Llandrindod Wells, the church that sort of took over from the Old Church. The church is well worth a visit for the Stained Glass windows

Week three was a republish of St Birnus Dorchester one of the few Catholic churches I have visited, it is one high on my list to return to to photograph properly.
Week four featured  St Mary Virgin Wheatley a nice old church which I had a few moments inside to capture. Surprisingly I got a fifth church in for the month and it was a republish of  St Matthew Otterbourne which sadly is just  the churchyard now and the outline of the church.
September saw three blogs because one week I was away for a break but the first was St Bartholomew's Church Holton a wonderful old church near Oxford that looks to have a nice inside to visit unfortunately it was locked and I could not say when I will get a chance to revisit.
The next two churches were in Wales St Teilos Llandeilo-Graban and a few miles away St Peters Llanbedr
October was the Highlite because I feature two weeks running Highgate Cemetery the second week being Part 2 It was a birthday present from my wife which I loved.

 The last two churches that month were St Bartholmews Lower Basildon another Conservation Trust Church with history and worth a look

then  St Peter & St Paul Yattenton which was a church I wanted to visit for a while and worth the effort.
 November and the first blog was Halloween which was just me messing around with the photos of headstones but I did end the month with some nice churches like  St Frideswide Frilsham 
and the gem of St Clements Ashampstead with its Mediavel fresco's

The month ended with a return to Hampstead Norreys on church I had visited in the past and only managed to look inside this year and  St Leonards Charlecote
Which was built on the edge of Charlicote park and well worth  the visit to see the Tomb Effigies there.

By December I had run out of Steam and only had one new church to give and that was St Margaret Catmore. One I only came across after visiting a nearby village, I spotted a brown sign saying historic church and looked it up on Google Maps. The first opportunity I visited. It's another Conservation Trust church worth a visit. if a little out of the way.

  So that was it for 2015 apart from republishing  St Peter St Paul Church Hanborough 

and Nuffield Church 

I have not really had much chance to get out for new photos of late but home to rectify that in the coming weeks 

 

The Fairmile Cemetery.

Go into the new graveyard at Cholsey Church and over on the far left hand side you will see this plaque commemorating the those who were buried there.

 "This Plaque is to commemorate all those who have been laid to rest in this churchyard and cemetery from Fairmile Hospital 1870 - 2003

"The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms"    

             Deuteronomy 33v27 

Underneath are two other plaques placed there in memory of who I assume were patients there. My parents would have known if they had been alive.
The original  cemetery was over on the south west side.

A few headstones can be seen in the area though there is one which watches over them.

The grave belonged to Dr James William Murdock who was the superintendent at the Hospital  His last wish was that he was buried with his patients so he could watch over them

The inscription reads
"Write me as one (who laboured for) Loved his fellow men the Angel wrote"
He died on 28th April 1917 His wife Celia who is buried with him passed away on 9th October 1962 aged 92 years.
The statue used to have a trumpet but that disappeared many years ago.
There are a few headstones left in that part of the churchyard though I think it would have been full of cast iron grave markers 

 

Like these in the photo's above, when I was young lad I used to cut the grass in the churchyard and was always coming across them.
When the churchyard ran out of room an extension was built next door  and the Fairmile cemetery went next door as well.

The is the second Fairmile cemetery with a few headstones  showing, no doubt provided by their estate and relatives. Most of them have no marker to remember them. I'm also not sure if the area was used for paupers graves as I seem to remember an open grave with planks on which I was told was for this purpose.

One of the headstones you see above is to Ronald Leslie Walker or Les as his friends knew him. He used to work with my Father  for many years
 

 Another person or persons who worked at Fairmile were Moses Nicholls and Avery Nicholls the latter who I think was the son of Moses. Both worked as Stewards of Fairmile.  Moses is buired with his Wife  Maria and Avery with his Sister Blanche who I knew as Miss Nicholls and remember her riding a bicycle round the village and visiting a lady who lived next door to  me

William or Bill Southby who is buried with is parents was another member of staff who worked at Fairmile and was a keen sportsman. He now has a close named after him New housing at Fairmile. His grave like the last is in the old Churchyard

The O'Brians were family friends and used to live in the Star Terrace before moving to the new housing built in 1960 along Papist way I went to school with the oldest son and was Friends with him for years till we lost touch. Last I heard was that he had moved to Ireland. His younger brother Paul young like his Mother.

 The name Ethel Mary Fetherstone is a name I recognise but I could not tell you any more at the moment. The cemetery here is still provided for by the NHS in maintenance costs though there are few headstones there to remind you of what the place was used for. When you walk round the cemetery you can recognise many of the staff who worked there including my parents. A few I have shown and will add more in future.
The plaque on the wall is the reminder of those who lay buried here RIP.

Nuffield Church

Nuffield is a small village between Wallingford and Nettlebed in Oxfordshire. It's along a country lane off the main London road. On the outside of the village you will find the Holy Trinity Church. I had gone over there to get a photo of a grave I had found out about. This was a revisit and by chance the church was open so I took the opportunity to get some photos of the inside. Since writing this blog back in 2013 Gerry Anderson who made Thunderbirds service was here before being cremated in Reading and Sir David Frost was buried in the churchyard. Some history from Wikipedeia

"The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of the Holy Trinity are Norman.^[4] They include the baptismal font and some of the masonry in the south wall of the nave.^[4] Around the bowl of the font is a Latin inscription in Lombardic capitals.^[5] In the 14th century the church was rebuilt and the north aisle was added.^[4] In the 15th century a ceiling with moulded wooden beams and carved wooden bosses was inserted in the nave.^[5]

In 1845 the chancel was restored and the Gothic tracery in all the windows was replaced, to designs by Gothic Revival architect Benjamin Ferrey.^[4] The church is a Grade II* listed building.^"

Outside by the road you can see the village war Memorial

 The church itself is flint faced.

Inside I found there was a party of visitors being shown round by the rector.

The wooden pulpit in the church

 
It also has this wonderful graveslab in the aisle

You can also see a small brass memorial and some wonderful stained glass windows.

 The Nave and chancel which is plain and very simple

Like most church's the organ is addition crammed into one side 

 The stone font though is original and is simple with little carving on it.

Outside the churchyard is well kept and you can see the grave of William Morris or Lord Nuffield who started Morris Garages in Oxford.

Nuffield is a peaceful little village and if the church is open when you visit then take the time to go round and walk round the churchyard as well. 

  Holy Trinity Church

This will be the last edition of this blog I will be posting this year so may I wish you all a very

 Merry Christmas 

& 

Happy New Year.