St Mary Magdalene Crowmarsh

This is not the first time I have visited this church and like last time I found the church locked. I found it it is kept that was for insurance purpose due to there being some vandalism  a while ago good news is I can get access I just need to arrange a time.

I cant find much history other that this bit I found on Wikipedia

 The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene is said to have been built in about 1120. The north door, south door, three windows in the south wall, chancel arch and font are all Norman. A north transept with a pointed arch was added in about 1200. The building was restored in 1836 and 1868

You enter the churchyard though the Lychgate opposte

The gate has a tiled roof and on either side are a couple of plaques which are the village roll of honour leading me to think the gate was built around the same time as the First World War plaque

The names on the roll of honour

This one lists the names of all who served in the parish during the first war

The path leading to the entrance which is on the West end

View of the church with it's small bellcote, over to the right you can see one of the bricked up doors which is of Norman times

Looking along the south side of the church

One of the East end

 View of the chancel end of the church

Here we look along the footpath and the churchyard beside it

The churchyard off on the SOuth of the church

The Grave of Eleanor and Walter James Wilder

It sits beside another of the Wilder family

The wilder family graves. They were a very prominent family in Crowmarsh owning the foundry which was beside the church. They also ran the waggon works in Wallingford

The east end churchyard

The two war graves in the churchyard belonging to Private T Lovett I Trooper F Rush

 A small Celtic cross in the churchyard

One headstone standing the other laid down. The part in the wall you see I think could also be Norman

The Headstone of John Kitchen

Over in the far corner is a small garden of remembrance

View west across some of the tombs

The Headstone on the left is de-laminating a bit but belongs to the Beisey Family

Another headstone suffering from the effects of the elements 

The churchyards over on the left as you come in the gate

That's it for this week, hopefully I will get access to the church for some photos in due course.

Have a Peaceful Weekend

St Peter Caversham

Visited a few years ago while on my way back from Henley Road Cemetery. It's a church I had passed may times and have always wanted to visit, finally made it on this occasion, Unfortunately the church was not open so I could get no internals views. The Church dates from 1162 Walter Gifford, Earl of Buckingham gave the church to Notley Abbey, Buckinghamshire. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Christ Church, Oxford became the patron. During the civil war in 1643 the tower was partly destroyed. It has a ring of 8 bells the oldest bears the inscription ‘Prayes God 1637. The 1663 weather vane now resides by the Altar.

The church path is now a footpath running past the church and looking at this area makes me think it's missing a lych gate

Once on the path you get a good view of the church and churchyard

Heading to the West end and the other entrance by The Warren to look at the belltower

Back at the East end you can see the church has a North & South Aisle

The church porch beside the South Aisle

Walking round to the North Aisle you can see a smaller extension which is most likely the vestry

Heading along the North side aisle

North side view of the church from over in the churchyard

Which heads back quite away

Going over to the roadside

Some of it is hidden over in a corner

This wonderful old tomb is near the church on the North side and is that of a Reading councillor from the 1800's

The steps leading to the north side of the church anc churchyard. On the left is a headstone lent against another headstone and dated 1766

This was one of the first headstones I ever saw with an anchor on it, made me think it was to do with some one who had nautical connections, I found out it meant something else

This is the churchyard on the Western end of the church

Not quit sure the relevance of this stone in the church wall

I particularly liked these two headstones dated what looks like 1751 and 1711, the older one being in especially good condition. It would be interesting to see what was written and is lost under the soil

Over to the South of the church hidden under the yew is this Obelisk. The tomb on the right caught my eye

The inscription on the base of the obelisk

I spotted this cast iron grave marker amongst the ivy in the churchyard

It is my intension to return  for some internal views of the church but for now
I hope you enjoyed my little tour round the churchyard.

 Have a peaceful Sunday

 Please remember the people who were killed in Nice on Thursday Night
RIP

Hagbourne Cemetery

Like many village churches St Andrews East Habourne has a churchyard and like them the churchyard is filling up and most cases cannot be extended so the look a little further outside the village for a place to bury their loved ones who have passed away. East Hagbourne is lucky in that it found a piece of land near the village that was cut off by the Old Didcot to Newbury Railway which is how I came across this cemetery while out tracing the old Didcot to Newbury railway.

Going through the gate gives a good view of the extent of the cemetery

One of the first graves I noticed was this one of Major Ford D Porter who served in both world wars

View through the cemetery

  One of the first graves I noticed with cast cross attached to the headstone

Another shot of the cemetery

One of the commonwealth war graves I found, this one belonging to R.G.Bosher

Looking through the older part of the cemetery which is overgrown

another view of the older part

The new part which is kept well cut and in the distance the railway embankment of the olf Didcot to Newbury line

Last photo is the Commonwealth War Grave of Lieutenant J.A.Glover

Hope you have a great weekend