St Magaret Little Faringdon

 

As there were a couple of days where the weather was clear so I took the opportunity to visit a couple of churches that were in the book Oxfordshire Best Churches, these were over near the boarder with Wiltshire after a drive through some narrow lanes I arrived at St Margaret Little Faringdon. Some things I should point out. You will find some of the photos were taken on the wrong setting so have a different hue to them I might point out I missed some interesting features around the church so I hopefully will return sometime and get photos of what I missed

"The parish church is Norman, built in the 12th century as a dependent chapelry of Langford. It has Norman lancet windows in the chancel. In about 1200 the church was enlarged with the addition of a north aisle. The arcade between the nave and north aisle is in a transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic. In the 14th century the porch and south door were added. A south aisle seems to have been added at about the same time but has since been lost. In about 1500 two Perpendicular Gothic clerestory windows were added to south side of the nave. The west window of the nave is also a late Medieval Perpendicular Gothic addition.

The church became the parish church when Little Faringdon became a separate parish in 1864. The vicarage to the south of the church was designed by the Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield and completed in 1867. The church's original dedication is unknown. In 2000 it was dedicated to St Margaret of England. The church is a Grade II* listed building. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, Shilton and Westwell."

^{Looking along the path from the gate to the church}

 

 My first impression was this church retained a lot of its old features

 The porch and south side of the church

Down to the south east end

South east again taken with phone

The west end taken as I came up the path

^{North side view}

North aisle from the west end

North door and carving over it and filled in arch from the south side

Family plot which has been forgotten about

Further along crosses which I suspect are members of the same family

Looking across to the road boundary

Looking west to the road boundary hedge

Collage of headstones in the churchyard

Along by the path at the west end y the road

Cart iron grave marker, the information inside said these were rare though I have seen quite a few now they are still not as common as stone headstones

More recent headstone which took my eye

The west end churchyard by the road

Broken off wooden cross

The14th century porch which does hide a stoup and a crusader cross I missed 

Looking down the nave

Wide view from the back

Chancel arch

Arches that lead off to the north aisle

Inside the chancel

Altar and twin east windows

Looking back through the chancel arch

Down the nave from the arch

Cancel using my iphone

East windows again and altar

The twin Norman Lancets with possible early English niche 

Stone built altar

Early English aumbry or could be an Easter Sepluchre 

Collage of the Aumbry

Collage of the lancet windows

These two windows I really liked

The pulpit was quote open

Looking down to the nave from the pulpit

This window as most interesting

It had parts that were medieval

which I found rather beautiful

I felt the window and been made sympathetically

using the glass they has

Victorian stained glass window

This lancet is at the west end

The painting of the  church in a deteriorated state

Memorial to Baron De Mauley and his wife beneath the west window

Memorial to Captain Gerald Ponsonby

 

William Ashley Webb

Captain Ashley W N Ponsonby

Beautifully hand written Roll of Honour

Maurice John George Ponsonby memorial

Mary & William Vizard

Other items of interest in the church

Carving on one of the arch columns which you van see the marks. Plaque commemorating Queen Elizabeth II  Diamond Jublee 

The arches on the north aisle

where if you look you can see all these headstops

The blocked arch from the south aisle

Which has some headstops and also traces of the paint that was used on the arch

Collage of the headstops on the arch

I will leave you with the 12th century tub font

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful weekend 

St Mary Ipsden

 

I stopped off here after looking for a nearby place. St Mary Ipsden is a church I have written about before back in 2013but I cannot say I was happy with all the photos so I thought I would write another blog on the church

Some history on the church from Wikipedia 

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke. It is said to have been the replacement for an earlier church that fell into disrepair in that century. The north aisle of the present church was built in the 12th century and retains a Norman window. The chancel arch is 13th century and the present south doorway is 14th century. There had been a south aisle but this has been lost and its arcade blocked up. Perpendicular Gothic windows occupy the south wall of the nave where the arcade had been. The chancel east window is also Perpendicular Gothic. The south porch was added in 1634 and the belfry in the 19th century. It is of five bays and built of red brick with a pattern of blue bricks.

St. Mary the Virgin parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a benefice that also includes the parishes of Checkendon, North Stoke, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Woodcote. The date of the vicarage has been disputed: the former Department of the Environment (DoE) dated it to 1643 but the architectural historians Jennifer Sherwood and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner considered 1700 to be more likely."

Looking down the path after going through the gate

 Moving over to the west of the churchyard 

North side view

East end of the church with the north aisle

Blocked earlier priest door

Headstones over on the east side of the path

West side

Looking down the north east side

Couple of tombs

Couple of old forgotten fenced family graves

Two Commonwealth War Graves belonging to Signalman E.C.Slones and Private Harry House

Looking down the north side of the churchyard

Older head and footstones

Inside the porch

headstop carvings and poppy display

Looking down the nave

The chancel arch is a narrow one

but the chancel opens up

Altar & east window

rather nicely quilted altar covering

The east window

Looking back to the chancel arch

The nave from the arch

The organ up on the balcony

The pulpit is a bit minimalist

View from the pulpit

Stained glass window by the pulpit

This stained glass window is beside the font

The font which looks like it is Victorian to me

The lancet windows in the church

More modern one in the north aisle at the west end

Different lighting in the church

British legion flag beside the Rolls of Honor

The Rolls of Honor show the man who died in both wars

The arches leading to the north aisle

The north aisle

There is an altar in the north aisle

Around the you can see the some of the decorations from the middle ages

Memorials in the floor

There are even more on the walls around the church

Lectern with bible on it

Looking up at the organ

The organ from the balcony, it's a tight squeeze fro the organist

But it is worth going up to look down into the church

I will leave you with this floral display.This will not be the last revisit of a church this year as I hope to go to a few more one of them is in this parish a few miles away.

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend