St Bartholomew Brightwell Baldwin Pt 2

Last week I showed you the outside of St Bartholomew and hinted at the age of the church. The first place I went was into the church and the view below is the first I had. I did not take it all in at the time and the photos that follow now are what I took. I might add I came back the next day after an aborted visit to Cluxham church to get some photos with my iPhone.

Hope you enjoy the tour and get a tea or coffee to drink while you read on

 

Going through the roodscreen you come to the chancel

Above the altar and if you look in the foreground you can see a couple of vaults that are covered by the carpet, unfortunately it would not lift 

Above the chancel window and on the right a look down the church to the organ

This photo of the organ was taken just after the first one. It blocks off the old entrance through the belltower

I like these shaped seats

Looking towards the back of the rood screen

This old organ sits between the choir stalls and shaped seats. On the right a view into the vestry

Not easy to get a photo of this Churchwardens Chest which is 14th century the painting of St George was done between 1360 & 1400 and you can still make out the maiden though the dragon has gone.

It was restored in 1985 with generous grant from the Pilgrim trust

On the right the Pulpit and a prie-dieu or Prayer Desk

Looking down from the pulpit to the South Aisle

and one along the nave

Above a view from the South Aisle to the Pulpit which shows the Sounding Board above

On the right a view down the South aisle to the back and the left a look down the North aisle to the chapel

Above the East end wall of the chapel which is covered with memorial to the Stone Family 

The ornate carving on top

Closer view showing the coat of arms 

One of the alcoves with memorials in. On the right a memorial To Jo Stone who was buried in 1640. Not sure if he was buried in London or Ridgemont Bedfordshire

Another huge memorial to members of the Stone family

Another view showing the memorial which dates to the 1700's

Couple more to members of the Stone family dated in the 1800's

This memorial Shows the stone family has become the Stone Nortons

Above a memorial to Richard Stone dated 1696. The Vault nearby I presume is this one under the window

Nearby is another vault

The brass inscription on top with an alabaster carving below

The second vault has this inscription on top

So from the teaser I showed first the stained glass which is Medieval  and I have to admit some of the best I have seen

Not sure who the saints are but are very impressive 

This needs no explanation and shows the scales of judgement

The second window looking as superb as the first one

Again the detail is amazing

Funerary hatchment

showing 

heraldic achievement

These can be seen on the outside of the chapel and inside

Beside the north aisle this boxed off pew

Memorials you can see in the north aisle

The Brass above is to John the Smith and is dated 1371

 Back in the cancel and you can see the lancet window has been blocked up for the chapel and below is a brass

The Memorial above the shaped seats

And the skull below

Above a closer view of the church brass and a carved coat of arms.
On the left more medieval glass

It was restored in 2015 and refitted in 2016

 Quite stunning considering the age and the date of 1632 on it

In the chancel you can see memorials in the floor which go South to North from the priest door. Right in the North aisle an old vault can be seen.

Above a nice floral display in the boxed off area between the nave & North aisle 

The font and cover to the left with a Barrel Organ which was made by Walker in 1843 and restored by his son in 1963

Going behind the main organ brings you to the bell loft where you can see plaques and photos decorating the place

The bellropes hanging awaiting the ringers

One you you can see across the doorway is this large Donations to the poor plaque

Listing various amounts from wealthy people

and the amounts to be distributed

the last one is William Lowden Stone who is remembered in the family Chapel

View past the font to the North aisle

And I will leave you with a view down the nave of this wonderful old church

Have a peaceful Weekend 

St Bartholomew Brightwell Baldwin

I have been meaning to visit this church for quite a while since I missed it when I visited the other churches in the area a while ago. The church is 14th century and looking around you casn see it does date back to that time. Some history from Wickipedia

"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Bartholomew are 13th century, including a stair turret and a number of lancet windows, notably in the chancel. Early in the 14th century the nave was rebuilt in the Decorated Gothic style, with north and south aisles linked to it by arcades of four bays. The west tower and the Perpendicular Gothic east window of the chancel were added in the 15th century. The pulpit and tester are Jacobean and therefore 17th century. The building was restored in 1895 and is a Grade I listed.
Church monuments in St Bartholomew's include a number of brasses. In the north aisle is a brass commemorating John the Smith, who died in 1371.It bears an epitaph written in Middle English, which may be the earliest example of an inscription in the English language.The epitaph reflects upon human mortality:

man com & se how schal alle ded li: wen yolk comes bad & bare
moth have ben ve awaẏ fare: All ẏs wermēs y^t ve for care:—
bot y^t ve do for god ẏs luf ve haue nothyng yare:
yis graue lẏs John ye smẏth god yif his soule hewn grit

In the chancel are two brasses commemorating John Cottesmore, who died in 1439.Stone monuments include two 16th-century chest tombs of members of the Carleton family, and a substantial English Baroque monument to members of the Stone family on the east wall of the north chapel. The latter was built in about 1670 or 1690,replacing monuments to John Stone (died 1640) and his son Sir Richard Stone (died 1660) that were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
The bell tower has a ring of six bells. John Saunders of Reading, Berkshire cast the tenor bell in about 1559. Ellis I Knight, also of Reading, cast the fifth bell in 1637.Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast or recast the treble, second, third and fourth bells in 1911. There is also a Sanctus bell that was cast in about 1550.
The churchyard includes a late 18th-century chest tomb a number of 17th-century gravestones that are Grade II listed. Another 17th-century monument commemorates one Stephen Rumbold, who died in 1687 aged 105. On it a rhyming epigram bets with its readers:

He liv'd one hundred and five
Sanguine and Strong
An hundred to five
You do not live so long^[

St Bartholomew's parish is now part of the benefice of Ewelme, Brightwell Baldwin, Cuxham and Easington.^"
  

^{After going through the photos I have decided that to split this blog in two parts as the inside deserves one of it's own due to the stained glass and memorials there}

Above the photo I took with my phone  and left the church as you walk up the path

Looking up the second path to the porch

The tower looks like many other local churches with the spiral staircase on the outside

The doorway leads to the church bells

Here we go around to the North side of the church and you can see the North aisle and the chapel that has been added to the left

This is the chapel which belongs to one family and is at the end of the North Aisle

Looking to the East end and the chancel, the family chapel is to the right

Back around to the South and the main entrance porch

View to the tower

and a look at the East end and a huge buttress

The churchyard is very neat & tidy and has a lo of old headstones in it

Though one small area around the North side has been left to grow wild like many other churches

Few of the headstones, the one in the fairground has an owl carved in it

Belonging to Geoffrey Crossley

On the north wall , a memorial to William Phelp

Nearby one to Anne Sheepherd and her daughter Mary

This is the churchyard at the East end of the church and more recent

Looking West and older headstones

The East end again

An old brick tomb with ivy growing on it

Above a memorial to Henry Saunders and his family on the South wall of the church

Couple of nice old headstones from the 1800s

This headstone nearby made me look as the date 1662 is near the bottom

Above I think the headstone is of a similar age though it has sunk in the ground more. Left a row of graves with headstones and coffin like slabs between them

That's it for this week I'll show you more from the inside next week. I'll leave you with a photo of the Lord Nelson Pub which is opposite the church.

Have a great weekend and remember in your thoughts those who dies in the Fire at Grenfell Flats in London last week  

A Teazer form the Church Explorer

It has been a few weeks since I posted a blog so I thought I'd let you all know that that I have not forgotten or given up. The reason was because I ran out of material and had not visited any new Churches plus I had some work to do on my house so did not get a chance to visit any but today I did but you will have to wait until I write the blog which hopefully will be next week. In the meantime here is a Teaser for you. I will not tell you where it is but I will tell you it is a 14th Century church. 

 The church from the roadside

A relic that is in a chapel

One of the Medieval stained glass windows

The Chancel

Hopefully I will have the blog written for next week 

Have a good Weekend