St Nicholas Beedon

The church was built about 1220  and  the history on the church was hard to find but I came across this from  The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture
"Beedon was held by the Abbey of Abingdon both before and after the Conquest.  In 1066 it was assessed at 20 hides and Northmann held it from the abbot, and in 1086 it was assessed at 10 hides and Walter de la Riviere held it from the abbot. 1 hide of this land was held by Alwine in 1066 and Ansketil in 1086.  The Domesday Survey records a church, a mill and 100 acres of meadow there too.
Walter de Riviere, or Rivers, and his descendants held the manor from the abbey until the 13thc, and in the early 14thc the Lord was named as Warine de Lisle, who forfeited his lands and his life for treason in 1322.
The church was a chapel of Chievely until the 16thc."
The church is in a nice setting on the edge of the village but was locked but help was at had as I found the key holder and was allowed in so my thanks to the guy who vame around to let me in and tell me some of the history

The church has certainly been renovated during the Victorian era

as it is part flint faces and part rendered on the West and North sides. The North door is also blocked up

The chancel end I might ass show signs of the original windows being replaced with the one you see on the left.

You will have to take my word for it but above the frame you can see the outline curve of the old window, it's even more prominent inside but I forgot to take photos I'm afraid

The chancel end with it's three windows

The priest door in the chancel and the porch leading to the church

Inside looking down the nave with the organ on the left and pulpit to the right. The Chancel arch dates back to 1220

Odd looking photo showing the font and coverings over the curtains at the back

The bell loft and the oak frame supporting the bells in the cote above. As of the coverings well there are Bats in the Belfry so to speak and they make a mess and the coverings stop some of it

The chancel

and the altar

View back along the nave to the back of the church

Very nice floral arrangement on the altar

The Chancel arch that dates back to 1220

if you look you can see the head of a snake one side

and it tail the other

The clerks desk and behind the pulpit

Looking from the pulpit to the nave

One of the memorials in the church and a list of past clergy 

Think this is the only other memorial here

There is some very nice stained glass in the church

these two come from the West wall of the chancel

And this is the central one of Christ on the cross

Think this one has to be my favourite, it is more modern but is beautiful

The font again which is thought to be older that the church

The processional cross you can see on the North wall and the Church Banner

The churchyard is quite large here looking west

and around to the Norths side

Quite a few parts have been left to go back to nature containing the older headstones

A cast cross my the church

Another Westerly view

Above one of the many cast crosses you cans see in the churchyard

around in the North side of the church

Across the road in is the extension

Where you can also see the war Memorial

Above the remains of a wooden cross

The one Commonwealth War Grave in the cemetery

The War memorial

View west in the cemetery

Above a wooden cross that does not look like it will be standing much longer

I had to take a photo of this headstone because of the poem on it

I will leave you with this little treasure I spotted on the church a Scratch Sundial or Mass Dial one of the better ones I have seen

Till next time have a peaceful weekend

St Matthew Harwell

This is a church I had forgotten about till I realised that I had visited the place many years ago but never wrote up a blog.Some history from Wikipedia
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Matthew may date from the 11th century. In 1962 The Times reported that walling had been found west of the tower indicating where a former nave had been.The herringbone layering of the masonry suggested that an 11th-century date is likely. At the same time a pewter chalice from about 1200 was found.
The present nave, east of the tower, was built in about 1200. This second nave has north and south aisles with three-bay arcades. The west tower may have been begun at the same time, but its Early English Gothic bell openings suggest that it may not have been finished until the middle of the 13th century.
The Decorated Gothic chancel is early 14th century and has a five-light east window. The rood screen is probably of the same date, but the screen's Perpendicular Gothic top is later.
The tower has a ring of eight bells. Joseph Carter, who was Master bellfounder at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and also had a foundry at Reading, cast the fourth bell in 1590 and the seventh bell in 1597. William Yare of Reading cast the third and fifth bells in 1611 and the sixth and tenor bells in 1612. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the treble and second bells in 1932, completing the present ring. St. Matthew's has also a Sanctus bell cast by Robert I Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire in the 18th century. There is a single-handed clock on the tower's west face.
In 1975 a two-storey extension was built on the north wall which now contains a parish office. A new church hall was built in 1994."

St Matthews church as you come up to it

Couple of vies as you walk along the path leading to the church

This shot was taken with a wide angle lens

A couple of more views of the tower and the porch

Below the more modern clock you can see this older looking timepiece

The modern clock offset from the louvre windows

The new church office on the north side

One thing you notice is the lack of headstones in the churchyard, this is because the now line the churchyard paths

Most seem to have lost their inscriptions

but otherwise still look OK. I do not know the reason they were removed from the churchyard and placed here nut I doubt there is any relative alive who would complain anyway

The photos I took in the church I have no doubt were taken my hand

the screens are in the transepts

Views both ways in the nave

Wide angle shot of the nave

The North & South aisles

The church organ

The font which is older than a lot of the church

On the left a memorial and right a carving on  the chancel arch

Above think this may be in the chancel

Above an old piece of stone carving and right the South wall of the chancel

The pillar as some shields on showing the affiliation it had with RAF Harwell

memorial to Pilot Officer Valentine Baker

The rolls of Honour for both World Wars

Above the British legion flags at back of the chruch
Left an old memorial dating to 1772

Left one of the prayer boards in the church and right a Church Brass now on display

This piece of lead is initialled  and no doubt came from the roof of the church
I will have to return to the church at some stage and update the photos inside plus the new cemetery is just along the path form the church  and I have only shown the Commonwealth war grave section of it.

Till next time I wish you a pleasant weekend