St Giles Stanlake

 

I have driven through Stanlake on many occasions  but never realised  St Giles Stanlake was there, turned out the church was out of sight of the road we drove along out the back of the village. From the outside the church looks as though it is old and inside I found there was lots to see. I had to wait for a service to finish before going in as I did not like to go in and disturb everyone. Normally I add some history off Wikipedia but this time I added a link to St Giles own page that you can read You might need to get a Coffee to read though the blog as it is quite long

Sky looks little dark because I had a filter on the lens

Looking across the churchyard towards the west end of the church

Porch and spire

East end with blocked chancel window

West end showing the spire

Down the north side to the north transept

north aisle looking west

East end of the church with north transept

West end with spire

From the main entrance off the road you come to the village war memorial

Some of the headstones near the porch

I've been coming across a few of these type chest tombs, I think they are called pillow or bale tombs

Collage of the churchyard

This corner is a bit of a puzzle, it looks like there was a chapel here, the blocked door, window and arch hint that they were open at one time

The area is covered in tombs, Family chapel?

More old headstones

The far west end is where the more recent burials are

Which looks quite full now though there looks to be another part beyond the trees to the right

The church framed between a couple of conifers

If you look around by the west end you will find an ordinance survey bench mark with what look suspiciously like mass dials

Inside the porch

The nave looking towards the chancel arch

Iphone shot

The chancel arch, with arches leading off to the transepts

Closer view of the chancel arch, if you look to the right of the top of the arch you can see a door, this would have taken you out on the rood loft that would have been there

The altar table which is used for services

Inside the chancel with choir stalls either side

Going towards the altar

Altar and east window

Altar and east window

The old altar

A beautifully carved figure of Christ carrying the cross

Looking back through the nave to the back

The west end with a could of memorials on it, the door I assume leads to the bell ropes

Choir stall with carvings on them

The three stained glass lancet windows

Over to the right another stained glass window

There are other stained glass windows to see

This one looks to be looks to be made of medieval glass

Close up of the stained glass which is in the South transept chapel 

Look up in the chancel at the roof an see angels looking down

They are beautifully carved

Each playing a musical instrument

I could not tell you what this one is playing

The pulpit, I did not get a photo from it as I did not want to get all the lady's who were in the church in the photo

North and south aisles

Memorials on the walls

Strickland family memorials over the north door

 

 

 I was struck by the corbels around the church

 

So much so I made a second visit, these are very old and still have paint on the,
 

 

 The bottom one looks gruesome but has been damaged but looks to me like a woman with medieval headdress on

 

 

One one the other reasons for returning was the nave has angles looking down on you as well

 

 The carving is amazing

 

South transept east window

 

 It's also where you find the font, the old cover was removed as the pulley above was considered unsafe

 

Headless statue which has paint on, I could not tell you it's origin

 

 

 An unpainted statue of St John the Evangelist with the eagles claws  on his arm

 

The carvings on the ends of the pews and quite some thing to look at

 

 St Catherine

 

Other interesting items in the church

 

Floor memorials in the shape of a cross, I doubt they are original but laid when the floor was replaced 

 

I will lave you with this photo of one of the Angles  in the chancel

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend

St John the Evangelist Catholic church Banbury

 

Funny enough I have passed this church before when I visited Banbury with my wife. I took photos and posted them on Geograph. I have visited a few Catholic churches though I tend to find most closed and few have churchyards to look around. They still hold a place in my heart as I was brought up a Catholic. The only history I could find on the church was on it's website. St Johns Church was constructed in 1838 one of 35 Catholic Churches built in England between the years 1837 & 1845

 St John the Evangelist from the corner of the churchyard

 

From the footpath looking through the gate

From the south west side

Just in front of the gates, I had to use wide angle on the first few photos as it was the only way I could show the whole church

There is not much of a churchyard though there are a few headstones there. Over on the south west side is a shrine to the Virgin Mary and the bottom photo shows what looks like a capital of a column from it an demolished abbey, it hides a spotlight

The atrium as you walk in the church

Looking down the nave

The chancel arch and apse behind, in front is the altar

The altar with the tree apse windows behind

The altar that is used for services, behind the still have the old altar with tabernacle

The central apse window

The altar and tabernacle, when I was younger at Mass the priest would say mass with his back to you, that changed  in the 1960's and he faces you now

The central apse window

Looking back through the church

 

 

 You need to look up in the apse, it's impressive

Wide view of the apse

View from the pulpit

Looking up at the organ loft

you will find three statues sin the church, the top I presume is St John the Evangelist, middle the Virgin Mary and bottom Jesus Christ

Along the walls like all Catholic churches you will find the stations of the cross

The all give a description of the scene

Some churches stations are quite small but these are large and east to see

The windows with stained panels

All the corbels are decorated, this was the clearest I managed to get with my phone

I will take my leave with this photo of the font where they hold the baptisms. A beautiful church which I was glad I visited. 

Till next time I wish you all a peaceful weekend

St Mary Banbury

 

A visit to the Horton Hospital with my son for a routine scan gave me the opportunity to see if I could visit St Mary's Church  I had a hour to spare before picking my son up. I probably should have phoned their office to see if the church was open rather than rely on what it said on Google Maps as I found the church locked but then it was the 13th

St Mary's church from over the road

 

That is the best photo I could get of the church showing the west end and entrance to the church. There are a lot of trees surrounding it and it was hard to get a decent shot

 

This is around the back or east end of the church, the sun does not help much

 

 from the south side 

North west view of the church

 

One thing you notice are the amount of tomb chests around

 

One monument on it's own

 

Tomb with effigy, I could not tell you how old it was

 

More tombs around the east end

Collage of the tombs

 

Churchyard

 

headstones

 

 

Old and eroded

collage of a couple of interesting headstones

 

Tomb slabs making a paved area

 

 

Tomb slab which is in good condition apart from moss and dirt filling the inscription

 

Chest tombs hear forming a seated area 

 

Tomb chest with the church in the background

 

 St Mary from the footpath. I did manage to get around three churches that evening the second was open and I will show it next week. The third was closed so I took a few photos

 

 

Apart from the side view here with the north entrance you could not see much more of Marborough Road Methodist Church

I would have though that this was the west entrance at one time

 

This is as much of the south side you can see. I thought it was a wonderful building and worth showing on The Church Explorer. Some interesting churches on my quick visit. I may well go back and see if I can see the inside of St Mary, the photos I have seen make it look worthwhile

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend