All Saints Middleton Stoney

 

I have driven through Middleton Stoney many times on my way to Silverstone back in the  1970'sI knew the crossroads and the gates that opened for the manor there, I never thought about the church that would be there let alone stopping off. This was the church I did not get to see on my first trip to the area, getting to it behind the gates turned out easier than I thought after getting in touch with  the churchwardens. the day was a little overcast so the photos outside are a bit darker

"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are Norman, built in the middle of the 12th century. In about 1190 the chancel arch was inserted and the north aisle and three-bay arcade were added in a transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic. In the 14th century the south aisle and its two-bay arcade were built. The nave has a clerestory that was added in the 15th century.

In 1805 a transeptal mausoleum was added to the north side of the chancel for the Child-Villiers family. In 1858 the church was restored under the direction of the architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, under whom the west tower was rebuilt and the Jersey mausoleum was Normanised.

In 1860 a 14th-century Gothic baptismal font was presented to the church. On its base a 17th-century inscription says This fonte came/from the Kings/chapel in Islipp... and claims that Edward the Confessor was baptised in it. If true, it would be a Saxon font that was re-cut and Gothicised in the 14th century. It may have been salvaged from the Saxon chapel of the Royal House of Wessex at Islip, which was damaged in the English Civil War in 1645 and demolished in the 1780s.

In 1868 the church was refitted to designs by the Oxford Diocesan architect GE Street, who added a vestry, reredos, choir stalls and new pulpit. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

The west tower has a ring of six bells, all cast in 1717 by Henry III Bagley of Chacombe. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the tenor and treble bells in 1883 and the fifth bell in 1885.

The parish churchyard has a Commonwealth War Graves Commission section with 27 Second World War burials. All but one are airmen from RAF Upper Heyford in the next parish, including 10 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and two from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The exception is a Royal Navy officer, Lieut Conroy Ancil, who served on the escort carrier HMS Stalker and died in 1943.

All Saints' is now part of the Akeman Church of England Benefice, which includes the parishes of Bletchingdon, Chesterton, Hampton Gay, Kirtlington, Wendlebury and Weston-on-the-Green."

^{Lychgate leads to the church}

 The church from the Lychgate the north chapel gives it an unusual look

West end showing the tower

South view from over the churchyard

Priest door in the chancel

Old entrance to the north aisle

North east view

The churchyard looking to the lychgate

Graves over near east boundary wall

Looking west as you come in the churchyard

headstones and a tomb chest east of the church

Looking over towards the south boundary wall

Towards the west boundary

 

The south side with commonwealth war cemetery over near the wall

 

The commonwealth war grave cemetery

Leaf strew graves

headstone in the cemetery

The commonwealth war graves in the cemetery all contain airmen who died in WWII from RAF Upper Hayford

The one grave not among them is John Douglas Young MC of the Royal Hussars who died in 1928

Headstone and crosses

Inside the porch you are faced with a Norman doorway

Above with is a tipanium

Either side of the doorway the carvings are quite outstanding

Inside looking at the chancel arch

Stepping back behind the font

In the chancel

Altar and east window

Closer view of the altar and east window

Cross and flowers

The east window

Back through the chancel and nave

Nave from the arch

Pulpit

From the pulpit

Lancet window

Plain glass window

1707 is the date on one of the memorials and looking at the second I would think the same era

 South corner of the chancel

One of the choir stall banks

This is the entrance to the chapel you see in the photo above

Tomb with bibles on the top

Memorial panel above the tomb

Reading on the floor

Memorials on the east wall

Inscription on the memorial

The south wall with the gate

Looking up at the roof

 

This memorial was quite stunning

The other memorials in the chapel

Memorial to Henry Elliott

First time I have seen a portrait of King Charles III in a church

South aisle

With a well preserved bier

Cross in the window with the roll of honor

Hand written Roll of Honor

Second roll

 

Memorial to John Douglas Young MC

Memorial to William Davis Little and family

Clawed base on the pillar

Chancel arch

Carvings on the arch

More carving to see on the pillars

The font which I found out that Edward the Confessor was allegedly baptised in the font

 

Inscription on the font 

With that I will take my leave, till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

St Mary Lower Hayford

 

The next church St Mary in Lower Hayford was not that far away and this time looked a little more interesting to look at

"Wufwig, Bishop of Dorchester consecrated a parish church at Lower Heyford in the 11th century. The current Church of England parish church of Saint Mary was built in the 13th century. It was largely rebuilt in a Decorated Gothic style in the first half of the 14th century, with north and south aisles joined to the nave by two-bay arcades. The east end of the south aisle is a chapel with niches for statues or figurative reliefs. In the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and south porch were added, and a rood screen with a rood loft for which a stair turret was inserted in the south aisle.

An opening high in the wall west of the south arcade suggests that the nave once had a west gallery. This has been removed, as has the rood and rood loft, but the 15th-century wooden screen to the chancel survives.

The building was twice restored in the 19th century: first in 1848 under the direction of Henry Jones Underwood, and then in 1867–68 directed by Charles Buckeridge. It is a Grade II* listed building.

In the reign of Edward VI the west tower had a ring of four bells. It now has a ring of six, of which the second and fourth were cast in 1766 by Matthew III Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire. W&J Taylor cast the fifth bell in 1825, presumably at their then foundry in Oxford. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the tenor bell in 1867 and the treble and third bells in 1925.

The church is said to have had a 17th-century clock that was made in 1695 and removed during the 1867–68 restoration.

St Mary's is now part of the Benefice of Cherwell Valley along with five other parishes: Ardley, Fritwell, Somerton, Souldern and Upper Heyford."

 The south side of St Mary's church

Walking down to look from the east end

East end view of the church

Going around to look from the north east

The tower at the west end

 North west view of the church

The north aisle entrance door

Couple of views of the tower, no chance of a wide view as the boundary was not far behind me

The west door

I tend to look for benchmarks like this one on churches

But also noticed some graffiti, the bottom one in particular is dated 1696

The churchyard at the south west looking north

Looking east

Further east along the churchyard

Further still you find a few tombs

More towards the end of the churchyard

The porch with old sundial above

Inside another doorway leading in

Guarded by a lost teddy

Inside looking towards the chancel

I should have taken a photo of the rood screen this is cropped form the above photo

Inside the chancel

The altar simply dressed

The east window above

Turning back to look at the screen

Then from the screen to the back of the church

The pulpit with colorful display beneath

Then a view from the pulpit. Wen I went to look at the back of the church I did look at the door you see to the left of the rear arch at the time I did wonder about it. This may have been the opening to a west gallery the door and stares the would have been on the other side was not visible as they had built a kitchen at the back of the south aisle and it was locked, this also stopped me seeing a stained glass window and a memorial

The south aisle

The altar at the end of the south aisle

The east window looking beautiful

The reredos behind the roll of honor

Both WWI & WWII

This is were it got interesting for me, I had noticed the high doorway by the chancel arch, the entrance with the stares was in the south aisle. The screen across the chancel is 15th century and used to have a rood loft across the top

The organ in the chancel

The north aisle with font at the end

The font which is probably looks older than being Victorian now stands where I should think stood an altar

Memorial and a stoup along with a recess which can be seen in the aisle

Memorial to William Filmer

Two more of the memorials in the church

The chest looks very old

More stained glass

I will leave you with this photo of a funerary hatchment which is quite bright compared to others I have seen.

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week