St Gwendoline Llyswen

This week we return to Wales where we will be for the next few weeks. The first one is St Gwendoline in Llyswen a small village not far from Talgarth along the A470 to Builth Wells. It is sat back off the road a little down a lane and is not very far from the Rive Wye. I have passed it many time on my way to Builth and have wanted to visit for quite a while.There is a little history on the church in Wikipedia.
"The site of the parish church may be of equal age or older. It is dedicated to St Gwendoline, one of the many saintly offspring of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who is said to have been killed by pagan Saxons and buried in nearby Talgarth. Unfortunately the church was destroyed and rebuilt in 1862 and only the Norman font remains. Unusually, this destruction (common in the Victorian period) drew adverse comment at the time. A contemporary editorial in Archaeologia Cambrensis said: "We are sorry to hear that this ancient edifice has been pulled down...We have no right...to remove the handiwork of our forefathers...It would be better to let the old buildings, plain or ugly as they may be, pass down unscathed to our children, who will have more respect for them than is shewn by ourselves."

Parking here seems to be a problem but I found a spot nearby and came round to the entrance to the church

First thing you are faced with belltower on the West end of the church

You go around the South side to find the porch

and across the churchyard to get a better view of the church

Along to the East end













then around to the North side where the churchyard is not as big as the South

The East end has a walled family plot. Right the path through the churchyard passing the porch

In the porch you find a pair of mesh doors to stop birds flying in when the main door is open

In side you look down the aisle

then onto the chancel and finally the altar

The altar with it's covering withe the cross on a screen at the back

The Chancel window which is some superb stained glass

In the chancel you will also find the village Roll of Honour and this teddy sat in the chair on one side

Turn around to look back out of the chancel and down the nave to the organ loft

One one side of the chancel arch is the pulpit on the other is this Poppy from the Tower of London

The view form the pulpit show the whole nave

Most of the windows in the nave have stained glass in them showing different saints

St George here on the left and St Christopher on the right

The windows all have a dedication at the base

The sower sowing the seed and St Non & St David

Finally St Gwendoline

Along the North wall you find a couple of banners showing peace dove

The font which is the survivor from the Norman Church and seen better times form the look

By the entrance you find this church chest

The banner you can see in the chancel of the church on the left and on the right the one beside the poppy

This one is in the Chancel

The organ loft on the left with another view of the pulpit

Before leaving I went in the loft and took a view down the nave and chancel

Back outside there is a fine selection of headstones and monuments

There are even more looking down the South side

Some of the headstones at the West end

Here we look down the North side of the church

One headstone which is in good condition with a couple more in various states of weathering

Above the South side also has a lot of Chest tombs
The path running through the churchyard

Looking west and some more of the churchyard

An ivy covered tomb with a monument behind

A chest tome that has a leg sunk in the ground

Above a fine Family vault on the South side of the church

The North side look West

Above the sunken chest tomb and the monument behind

The churchyard over by the East end wall

Just across the road you find a small cemetery which is the churchyard extension

The graves here are more modern

And there are a fare few graves around it

I will leave you this week with this photo of a Cat I spotted sat by a headstone

Till next time I wish up a peaceful weekend 

St Mary the Virgin Freeland

This week we visit Freeland which is only a few miles from Long Handborough and Witney, this is the last of the churches I visited in West Oxfordshire. The history comes courtesy of Wikipedia
"The Gothic Revival architect John Loughborough Pearson designed the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin, parsonage and parish school. The Taunton family paid for the church and parsonage to be built in 1869 and the school in 1871.
The church is high Victorian Gothic Revival, with stained glass and decoration by Clayton and Bell and 13th-century-style paintings of Jesus' Passion and Transfiguration. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast four bells for St. Mary's in 1896. The same foundry cast a new treble and second bells in 2010, completing the present ring of six. The church clock was made and installed by Smiths of Derby in May 1898 and was dedicated to a Sarah Percival. In May 1969 the clock was taken down, reset and regilted by Judge Brothers of Oxford, and reinstalled by the local Breakspear family.
The parish is now part of the Benefice of Hanborough and Freeland."

The entrance to St Mary's church is through this superb lychgate

The striking thing about the church is the belltower over on the North side of the church

The apse end of the church with the tower peeking over the top of the church

Near the West end looking to the porch

Going back to the East end

And a view of the East end of the church. There is no access around the North side as it boundaries on the old school

Looking along the South side to the Porch and a view of the porch which has a room over it

Inside you look along a nave with a high ceiling

From there you can see the chancel with an Arched ceiling

The altar is plane but behind is an elaborate carved screen with a depiction of the Crucifixion and twelve angels

It's a superb piece of art work

The stone pulpit has figures painted in what looks like a Greek stile

Above a view from the pulpit
Right a Sidilia also painted

You will find the organ in the chancel as well

Right along either side of the nave you can follow the Stations of the Cross

The Roll of honour in the church is had written and framed
beside it is this memorial to Basil Graham Thomas who was killed in the battle of the Somme

Just on from that in the corner is the British Legion flags with a carving of the Madonna and child in front

There is also another statue of the Madonna in the chancel arch

The font is square with paintings around it, the cover is a piece of art in itself

The West end of the church has a very nice Stained Glass Window

The chancel is covered in wall paintings, with run into the apse and the window recesses

It was easier to take photos of the Stained glass in the Apse individually

You could spend quite a while walking around the chancel looking at the wall paintings

They all show scenes from the life of Christ

It's all pure Gothic Revival

The windows in the Nave are all stained glass with round windows at the top

The sow more scenes from the life of Christ

On the way out I found the door that lead to the room over the porch

The churchyard is quite long but round from the East end behind the church
along the South side to the West end

There are quiet a few graves beside the church

Looking down the churchyard West















Behind the church on the East end

From over the wall on the roadside you get a nice view of the Church

I will leave you this week with a view of the Village War Memorial.

Till Next time I wish you a pleasant weekend