St James West Hanney Pt 2

After showing you around the church and churchyard in last weeks blog I thing it is time we Went inside  and the first think you notice on going in the porch

are a couple of stone coffins

From the nave you see the altar which is outside the rood screen

The altar and in the background the chancel

The Chancel and large chancel window

Simple stone altar with the cross & candles behind

Looking towards the chancel arch and 

Right the pulpit with sounding board

The pulpit give a good view of the nave and South aisle

The church also has some very nice brasses like the above of Christopher Lytcot

The brasses are all near the altar

This one made me look as the guy was married twice but then when you read the brasses you see most of them were

He had ten sons

and four daughters

Cant find much on this one other that I think he was of the clergy 

This couple were buried together and had from the look four sons and two daughters

Above the tub shaped font and decoration on it

The South Transept part of the church which looks like it is used for the young children

Flowers near the  screen

Right one of the many memorials you can see around in the church

Thomas Ensworth and his wife Elizabeth

These two are from the Godfrey family

Madonna & child in an opening in the chancel

Another Godfrey memorial and one to Edward & Elizabeth Bowels

Memorial to John Yate

Above the Roll of Honour from WWII 

And the one from the First World War

They are both over on the North aisle of the church

In the South Transept you can see some stares half way up the wall, they would have lead to a rood loft

Think this may be a stoup with a shelf

The other side of the stares that you cansee from the nave.

Right the chancel arch support

Old church chest

and a view into the bell loft

St James has some very nice stained glass in the church

Which are in Memory of different people who worshipped at the church

But the most impressive is the huge East window in the chancel

It was made and dedicated to the fallen from the First World War

The detail is amazing though I cannot say who is depicted in the glass

Though Jesus stands out in the centre surrounded by angels

The archangels seem to be on the side of the window

and above angles hold the words "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"

With that I will wish you all a Blessed weekend

St James West Hanney

This was the last of the three churches I visited one Saturday and I admit an odd looking church when I fist viewed it with the lack of a Bell tower or spire, instead it has what looks like a huge bellcote on the North side. Some history I found off Wikipedia
"The village had a parish church by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. The earliest part of the present Church of England parish church of Saint James the Great is the nave, built about 1150. The north tower was added later in the 12th century and the south transept is 13th-century. In the 14th century the nave was lengthened westward and the south arcade and aisle were added. The chancel was rebuilt in the 15th century. In the 19th century the church was restored, the nave was increased in height with a clerestory, and the south porch was added. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
The tower has a ring of six bells. Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester cast five of them in 1702, but Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the other in 1856. St. James' has a Sanctus bell that Robert I Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast in about 1760.There is another small bell that Charles and George Mears cast in 1858, but this is currently unused.
The parish is now part of the Benefice of Vale, along with the parishes of Denchworth, East Challow and Grove."
I will be doing this blog in two parts with the internals next week as there was quite a lot to see

The View of St james from the road outside the church
Left the churchyard path

The huge bell tower which dominates the Norths side of the church

Heading off around the South side

Looking on the South side of the church

And another view a little further West

High up on the South Transept you can see a sundial

The South Transept of Chapel and the West end along with south aisle

The churchyard is quite full when walking in along the path

and looks even more so when viewing along the North side

It also looks very neat and tidy

The path leads around the South side of the church

Where you cans see more older headstones

Again the whole churchyard is kept tidy

Am old fenced tomb which had been forgotten about

Along with a chest tomb

Go on further and you come to an extension for the churchyard

Were you can see a few war graves.

Private G.T. Burnett and Private S.G.Arthurs

Gunner J. Godfrey of the Royal Garrison Artillery

You can see the churchyard here is quite full as well

With many more modern headstones in eveidence

One old wooden cross and the only angel I saw in the churchyard

An unusual headstone in the shape of a millstone

Going back to the main churchyard a chest tomb

and more older headstones at the West end

Back around to the North side

And the churchyard near the porch

I came back the next day as I left my hat in the church and noticed a scratch cross

Above the South side door still in place

Right a new use for a headstone forming a side to a drain, there is another the other side of the door as well

Not sure what the hole was for in the do stone

and this one had a few more

But it was the scratch sundial I came to see

It was mentioned in a book I read so I came back and took a photo of it. Odd to think such a simple thing was used so long ago to tell the time

Have a peaceful weekend
 Click for part two

Capel Maelog

Bit of a historic view this week and only came about when my wife & I stopped for an ice cream nearby. We had been here quite a few times and I noticed these three large stones nearby but a little further along I saw some stones and thought it was an overgrown garden with a seat. Walking over to the stones I notice a prayer riveted on the side of the stones and nearby some information boards on Capel Mealog, I realised that what I thought was an  overgrown garden were the remains of the chapel that was here
Some history form CPAT website
"Excavations between 1984–87 in advance of housing development in Llandrindod Wells, Radnorshire, revealed the foundations of a medieval church and cemetery (right) abandoned in the 16th century. The church, probably built in the late 12th century, had curving apses at both the eastern and western ends. Of equal interest is the evidence of an earlier cemetery, preceding the church, dating to about the 10th–11th century AD, with a prominent focal grave which became incorporated within the chancel of the church. Excavations were funded by Cadw and the Manpower Services Commission and were undertaken with the permission of the developer, Mr Michael Rowlands."

These are the stones you can see from the road

Over to the left of them you can see this area of stones outlining the former chapel 

Above and left you look through the church to the east end I suspect the slab is where the altar would have been at one time

There are a few part in the nave where you can see outlines like these which are modern concrete, I wonder if they mark the graves that once were here

The West end seemed to have had an apse as well and the whole church would have been a reasonable size

Not far away are these information panels

which tell you the history and what was found in the archaeological excavation

I feel it is a pity the church went into decline like that and that more of the church did not survive

I will leave you with this view of the stones, The near stone has " God our Father we remember with thanksgiving the saints of your church and among them  Sanit Mealog who kept faith here in Radnorshire"  the second stone in both Welsh  "Trwy'r Drindod Sanctaidd - Trywyddrwydd"

and English " Through the Holy Trinity -Tranquillity 

For Phobie

Have a blessed weekend