St Mary Magdaline Shabbington

 

 Shabbington was one of the churches I had intended on visiting when I got a chance as it was near a couple of others I wanted to see. One I have give a glimpse of at Ickford and will update that with more photos I took on this visit. Looking on Wikipedia I found some history on the church :-

"The nave and chancel of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene are 11th century. The chancel windows are the 13th century and the Perpendicular Gothic bell-tower is later medieval. The pulpit is Jacobean and was made in 1626. The present nave windows are Victorian Gothic Revival additions. St. Mary Magdalene's is a Grade II* listed building.

The tower has a ring of six bells. All except the treble bell were cast in 1718 by Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble bell in 1881. There is also a Sanctus bell cast by Thomas I Mears of Whitechapel in 1794.

The parish registers date from 1714. St. Mary Magdalene is now part of the Benefice of Worminghall with Ickford, Oakley and Shabbington.^"

From just inside the gate looking towards the church

I zoomed in on this view to show the church

The porch and tower

Another view showing the north side of the tower and buttresses

The tower here looks like it has huge feet

Looking over at the south side of the church from the west. The buttresses look huge that support the tower

Going down to the east end looking west

The east end wall and window

Some of the headstones near the church along with a Chest tomb that is falling apart

As you walk in the churchyard you pass this grave cross leaning into a yew tree

The churchyard south of the church looking east

Over in the south west corner is a kissing gate leading to a footpath with some tombs beside it. The information board tells yo about the red kites which fly around here

Around the north side looking west

This memorial stands to one side of the path

The churchyard north of the church with the village war memorial

An old headstone with the inscription eroded away

Inside the porch palms from palm Sunday left for the parishioners to collect

I will leave you with this view of a display of daffodils which are beside the the path

You can now see the inside in the link 

Till Next time have a Happy Easter

St Leonard Eynsham

 

Eynsham Church is one I had my eye on visiting for a while though it was not on my map list. After wondering a bout which church was easy to visit in these times I remembered I used to work in Eynsham and had seen the church on the occasion I went to the Village. In fact I past it everyday I went to work as you could see it from the road to where I used to work. Some history from Wikipedia :-          "The Church of England parish church, St Leonard's, was built the 13th century. In the 15th century, the nave was rebuilt, a clerestory and north aisle were added and the west tower was built. There are Mass dials on the south wall. The building has been restored three times: by William Wilkinson in 1856, Harry Drinkwater in 1892 and over a period of eight years in the 1980s.

The west tower has a ring of six bells. James Keene of Woodstock cast the third bell in 1653. Richard Keene cast the fifth bell in 1673. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast or recast the treble, second, fourth and tenor bells in 1895. The church has also a Sanctus bell that Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast in 1924.^" St Leonard's is a Grade II* listed building.

 St Leonard's church from the south side

 Getting a photo of the church from the square in front of the church was taxing with the sun behind so I have edited the photo to show it

It was a little better when the sun went in later

The porch looked as though it had a room over the top though the door was firmly closed

Nearby in a garden is the village war memorial

The names of the fallen surrounding the base

You cannot get a view of the west and and tower because of the ally you take to get to the back of the church. The east end (right) looked no better

On the left you can see the alley you take . The South door in the church

This is the churchyard as you come out from the alley

You also get an idea as to the size of the churchyard which extends way in the distance. Over to the right you can see St Peter's Catholic church

The churchyard extends east towards a boundary wall

One thing I did notice was Chest Tombs

More headstones looking east

Fenced in family vaults

A lone chest tomb among the headstones

The Commonwealth Ware Grave belonging to Driver C.A.Cattell

Further south towards the churchyard extension where the recent burials are

The Commonwealth War Grave of Leading Stoker Albert John Holloway

The churchyard path leading to the churchyard extension which was through the gate. The wall to the left has been remove

Along the path you can find theses signs part of the information on the Eynsham Abbey trail. The Abbey church was over towards the building in the distance The churchyard is in the Abbey cloisters

Beehives in the churchyard

The path leading towards the church

A cast iron grave cross

All this part of the churchyard is around where the Abbey church used to be

One of the more interesting chest tombs

Coffin shaped tomb slabs

Really old headstones

Last look across the churchyard

As our lockdown starts to ease off I look forward to when I can return to get photos inside the church.

Till Next time Have a wonderful weekend

Tomorrow is Psalm Sunday visit the link to see my post
 

St Peter's Catholic Eynsham

 

Visiting Eynsham  was a last minute decision with me. I felt I needed to visit a church for some photos and was wondering which was the easiest place to go on my list then Remembered Eynsham had a church I knew of. I grabbed by gear and set off. After going to a couple of places I wanted to see I parked along the road from the first church in the square and got on with taking my photos. Looking across the churchyard I noticed another church nearby and found an entrance in the churchyard. The church I noticed from the Churchyard Was St Peters Catholic Church so I walked around for a few photos. Some history off Wikipedia :- 

" In 1895 Herbert May founded a Roman Catholic mission at his home, Newland Lodge. The lodge burnt down in 1897, after which Mass was said at the Railway Inn until May had a new house built for him. The mission closed when May moved to Oxford. In 1928 the Roman Catholic parish of Witney leased the upper storey of the Bartholomew Room, making it St. Peter's Chapel. Building of a new Roman Catholic church was begun in the 1930s but was delayed by the Second World War and not completed until 1967.^"

St Peter's church which is new compared to the surrounding buildings nearby. This part is the west end. The main entrance being along the side ahead. You can rad some more history on the church on St Peter's website  Fr. Lopes who's dream the church was is buried in the churchyard

Looking slightly north with the rectory over on the left

^{This view shows the Church Entrance and Churchyard beside it}

 

Further around North with the ^{Tolkien Room on the left which you can read about in the link}

 Looking from over near the gate

This one and the next were taken from over in the Churchyard next door. this shows the east end with the apse on and right the Tolkien Room

Looking south west showing the Tolkien room right

Found these quite interesting while walking around the churchyard as couple of Church Finals where they are from I have no information on other than they are from the time of Fr Lopes

I hope to return to St Peter for a look inside when the time comes

^{Till next time have a great weekend}

 

Builth Churches

 

I think it is time I wrote about this Web Site called Builth Churches  which was made buy a guy called Phil Jones. I came across Phil after posting photos of Builth Wells on the Geograph website, he messaged me giving me more detail on where I had taken the photo. After that I was emailing the guy quite often. In 2011 I had a email from a lady telling me he had passed away and where the funeral would be. Sad thing is I could not go. A year or so later I started the Church Explorer and after posting photos of some Welsh Churches was looking for information on them and came across Phil's website. I noticed that I had been to a lot of the churches he featured so decided to see if I could visit them all in Memory of Phil. I am only sad I never got to meet the guy and the nearest I did was when I spotted his car parked up near an old Railway where he took his dog for a walk. My wife was in the car and we were off to the shop for food so I did not have time. I have copied the list of Phil's churches and have a round ten left to visit. The following photos are some of the ones I have visited on my quest in Phil's Memory. I might add a few years ago one of the churches near Built I visited was just closing up and I asked if I could get a few photos for my blog. The lady asked what was the name of the site and then said that she had a fried who had a website and visited churches. Soon as she said that I said Phil's name and see looked at me and said your Bill Nicholls, seems Phil had told her about me. I still use his site and when I visit a church remember him.

This is St Michael Llanfihangel-Nant-Melan it is not the first on Phil's list but the first one I visited back in 2009 and then again 2015 to update the blog

The first church on Phil's list is not one I have visited yet as it is a distance from where I stay but the second is quit near at Aberedw and right beside the Pub. St Cewydd is quite an old church with quite a history to it

The next church St Mauritius Alltmawr is third on the list and interesting in that it is the third smallest in Wales at 35 foot long. It was not open at the time of my visit and I may well see if I can revisit at some time 

This church St Cewydds at Disserth I noticed when I went off the man road to check out a caravan site nearby. After retuning to the caravan I picked up my camera and went back for some photos. Going through the doorway was like walking back in time 

I hate to think how many times I had driven past St Bridgets Llansantffraed. till I noticed it out of the window. It was just over the valley from our caravan site but a very nice church to visit

 There are a couple of odd ones out as car as Churches near Builth are concerned as they are in England rather than Wales. St Mary Pembridge is about half an hour away it is quite odd in that it does not have a bell tower which is separate from the church out of sight here on the left behind the tree.

 

One church Phill did not get around to visiting even though it is listed is  St Mary Bryngwyn which I thought odd as be had visited other not far away

St Mary Newchurch being another which is nearby.

I will finish with St David Maesmynis one church that brought me a little nearer to Phil because as I walked up the path I met the churchwarden who it turned out knew who I was through Phil, I had never met him but conversed with via email on many occasions. Seems they were good friends and had visited all the churches in the area like I am doing placing them on a website. Unfortunately I had an email one day telling me that Phil had died. I dedicated the Blog to Phil who I always remember now when I visit a church in Wales. If you have time church out Phil's link

Till Next time Take Care everyone