St Nicolas Abingdon Revisit

 

Change of plan this week. I had interned to post about St Helen's Church in Abingdon which is only around half a mile away near the river Thames but the opportunity  to return to St Nicolas to see the inside came up so I grabbed my chance and took it. I found some more history on the church website so if you visit you can read it yourself.

 

St Nicolas from by the Market Place

 

If I read the history right this is one of the older past of the church

Inside the door to the church

 

 

 Most likley this would have held a holy statue at one time

 

Inside looking down the nave using a wide angle lens
 

 Further along and the chancel

 In the chancel looking at a screen across the back

 

 Nave again with my iPhone

 

Chancel from the modern altar

 

Nave showing the choir stalls

Altar and rails

East window

Centre panel depicting St Nicolas

Behind the screen is this altar or shrine

 

But look up and you will see this gem that dates back to medieval times

View from the chancel arch to the west end of the church

I changed over to a wide angel lens here to show all the chancel some of which dates to the 15th century

 

One from inside the arch looking back

 

From the altar looking at the back of the arch which looks offset which to me indicates the chancel was rebuilt in the 15th along with the Abbey Gatehouse which cased this narrowing

 

The Jacobian pulpit with a window behind which seems to have been shortened by the chancel arch, this bit dates to the 14th century

 

Looking down from the pulpit

The organ with the chamber behind is a lot more modern

 

As are the choir stalls which look Victorian

 

The carvings on the choir stall ends

There are quite a few memorials around the walls as you can see from the collage 

 

The north wall of the chancel has it's own collage of them

Off to the side of the nave is the Blaknall aisle with a Tudor window letting in light

From what I have seen in a photo taken before the Victorian restoration this monument was over on the south wall of the nave near the arch

Looking up the paintings loo quiet amazing though I do not think the are Tudor

John Blacknall and his wife along with their two daughters who survived them

All kneeling opposite each other in Prayer

I dare say the colour has been restored but it still looks amazing

The inscription you can read but it puzzled me to read the died the same day until I read the died of the Plague

I doubt the seats are Tudor either

 

I noticed this panel in one of the south aisle windows by the pulpit it looks more Tudor than Victorian 

Apart from these two lancet windows there was little stained glass in the church which I though surprising

I was not sure of the font age but it seems it is 15th century 

The roof of the chancel with it's hammer beams with angels on the end of each

The nave roof has beams

 

The collage shows the corbels from the chancel and the carvings on the nave beams

Walk along the nave aisle and you cannot help notice the tombs along the floor some readable other worn with age

A screen separate off the west end doorways with a glass panel showing the bell ropes

and a couple of prayer panels built in, the right hand one hinting that this was once a catholic church or the panel came from one

I'll finish with this simple memorial in the chancel 

Linked on Imparting Grace

Till next time take car and do have a peaceful weekend

St Nicolas Church Abingdon

 

This week we  Visit St Nicolas Abingdon, a church which dominates the market square in the town. Rather that cut and paste the history of the church from Wikipedia clock on the link above and you can read it's own page. There is not much to see around the church so the blog is going to be shorter that I normally provide. I am aiming to visit again as I found out when the church is open so I will write another blog showing the inside. The photos are all taken with my iPhone

St Nicolas from the market square

The tower

Bit further along is the chancel end of the church

This is what is over to the left of the last photo, the back of Abbey Gateway

But blurry this but shows the extent of the churchyard, not a lot as you can see

The board nearby tells you of the history of the church and a couple of tantalising  photos of the inside

Walking up the side at the end are a few headstones that look like they were moved from their original position

These may well have been here or like the others moved

Back out and I'm off to the next church with a view of the Abbey Gateway. There was an abbey in the town until Henry VIII decided to take all their wealth and tore it down, it would have been on the other side of that blue fence in the distance. You can still see parts of it in the Abbey Gardens

This is the centre piece of the Gateway

I will leave you with this view of the Church and Abbey Gateway which was taken from the top of the old Town Hall. Follow the link to see the inside on my revisit

Till next time have a peaceful weekend