St John Piddington and St Mary Magdalene Horton

On the day in question I had was going to follow the remains of a disused railway that ran nearby and never set out to cover the churches in this post, They happened to be there as I passed and it seemed very rude not to stop off and take a few photos. the first church is in a place called  St John the Baptist is in Piddington unfortunately the churches were locked so no internal views. The church dates back to 1290 and it is thought there was a place of worship here before that. You can read more on the church in the link above

 and as you could see it was hard to miss as I walked across the common

 It was just as impressive as you stood near the gate 

 

The tower and spire being the most impressive as you can see it far off

The spire on a frosty morning

Looking at the west end of he North aisle and spire

There were quite a few headstones of an age in the churchyard

View of the East end and chancel cross on top. Off to the South side looking West

The Church and churchyard on the South side

View across a frosty churchyard to the north side of St John's

Over the churchyard wall you find the new extension with the more recent burials

That was it for St John the Baptist Piddington, from here I walked to the disused railway and on to a place called Horton were I spotted a church called St Mary Magdalene

If you would like to see the inside of the church then visit the video above taken by Steve who also calls himself

The  Church Explorer on YouTube

 

After walking along the disused railway I headed towards Horton and passed the church of St Mary Magdalene

The frost was still on the ground here as well. The Church dates back to Norman times with a 13th century tower. Most of it was rebuilt in 1862/3 by a local architect

The chancel end which is a little different to others I have seen with the brickwork under the window. The 13th century tower

Churchyard on the south side of the church

The South side of the church

The Angel had to be the high lite for me, has to be one of the most stunning ones I have come across

The expression was very life like

On the west end you see a line of crosses many of which I think are the same family

Some of the headstones near the churchyard path

The crosses at the West end
 

My last look at the church then it was back for lunch with my wife

 

 

I had  as  nearly got back to the hall my wife was at when I passed this Chapel

It had an interesting Inscription on a plaque to William Carey 

Have a good Weekend

Newbury Cemetery Shaw

A cemetery I passed on quite a few occasions but on this one I stopped off because I was researching an old railway that ran past the cemetery and wanted to see how it looked. You could say it was killing two birds with one stone because I could not pass off taking photos round the cemetery as well.

I cannot find much history on the cemetery and can only assume it was made to take over from the one in Newtown road which was full 

The main entrance gates leading to the Chapel

I don't think I have been to a cemetery where the chapel was open, this one was locked as well

There was plenty of room to park round the chapel on both sides

And was well lit by windows














The far end of the cemetery where I wanted to look for the old rail way, the buildings are sat on where the line used to be










The other side where the railway went to Newbury, the boundary would have been where the railway was

 
Looking back along the cemetery road to the Chapel

At the base of the avenue of trees you can see these plaques

There is another plaque like this in Forbury Gardens Reading

All the armed forces are represented along the avenue

HMS Tigris the submarine adopted by Newbury

The RAF has a presence around Newbury

I was taken by this when I came across it, I did not realise Newbury had been bombed in the Second World War but like Reading and other places it was

The memorial is huge and I can only think it is the grave where they were all buired

Newbury like all over cemterys has it's fair share of Commonwealth War Graves

Quite a few of them are in one area








Sargent D Watson 135th Herts Yeomanry Field Rege
5th June 1918 age 27
& H O Dunn HMS President
18th November 1918

Some of the graves and headstones looking up the cemetery

Engineer Commander L R Rickinson Royal Navy 16th April 1941 & Marine A F Lovelock
Royla Marines 21st September 1947 age40

The grave in the forground is that of Private W H C Barber Royal Warwickshire Regt 9th November 1918.

It is an interesting little cemetery to look round if your driving past

Have a peaceful Sunday

Saint John the Baptist Steadhampton

The information I have on the church is shamelessly taken from Wikipedia. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist dates from the 13th century and was rebuilt and enlarged by the Gothic Revival architect E.G. Bruton in 1875. Since the Reformation St. John's has always had the same parish clergy as St. Mary's, Chiselhampton. The Welsh clergyman and writer John Roberts was priest of both parishes 1798–1803.

The tower has a ring of four bells. Henry I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the treble and second bells in 1621. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the third bell in 1883 and the tenor bell in 1884. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable.

Now I had passed the church many times to thought I'd stop off quickly for a look. Unfortunately the place was locked so no internal views and since then the church has undergone a reordering so I doubt I will get what I want now if I return.

The view of St Johns as you walk down the church path where the entrance is in the South Aisle

The main entrance to the church which at the time was locked, beside it you can see the village

 War Memorial

The bell tower is a little unususal in that the four corners have what look like urns on then

Looking up towards the top of the tower

The North side of the church with North aisle

Door at the base of the bell tower

 The chancel end on the East side of the church

 

Anther view looking West along the North side

The West end and south aisle, I took this to show a benchmark on the corner. There is one Commonwealth War Grave in churchyar to Private L.A.Cherry Gloucestershire Regiment 22nd June 1940 age 30

The main path to the gate

Couple of headstones by the boundary fence

The main Churchyard out the back of the church roun dthe North Side

These are a few on the East end of the church, the tomb on the right is quite small so must be that of a child

Here we look East past the War Memorial to the older part of the churchyard. That  all I took after being dissapoined in not seeing the inside I just did quick tour round. If I get a chance to revisit I'll post them here.

Have a great weekend