Holy Trinity Finstock

 

This week the Church Explorer visits the Holy Trinity Finstock which was one church I did not realise was there till I found it on the benefice website then looked at the maps. I had to take my car to the garage for some work so blagged a car off them for an hour. On getting to the church it was locked with a note telling people that they try to have the church open but sorry if you found it locked, Just my luck. Still there was some interesting things to see in the churchyard

"Holy Trinity Church of England parish church is a Gothic Revival building of 1841. Its ornate chancel was added in 1905 and its elaborate south window by the architect Morley Horder in 1929.

T. S. Eliot came to Finstock to be received into the Church of England. William Force Stead was a fellow American and came to England as an American consul but soon found that his real bents in life were literature and religion. He was ordained, became chaplain of Worcester College, Oxford and after meeting Eliot in 1923 (with whom he shared a love of cats) steadily drew him towards Anglicanism and agreed to baptise him.

He was then living in "a fine seventeenth century gabled house at Finstock", Finstock Manor, and invited Eliot to stay there to meet his godfathers, B. H. Streeter and Vere Somerset, before his baptism at Finstock on 29 June 1927. The novelist Barbara Pym lived at Finstock after her retirement and is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity. The current (in 2021) Vicar, the Reverend Paul Mansell, arrived in February 2010; he was trained at Ripon College, Cuddesdon and ordained at Christ Church, Oxford."

The south side of the church, the tall trees from around the churchyard making the place darker

The north side as you come in with the churchyard

East end with graves

Looking from the north east

The north side, the chancel end is behind the trees

West end with bellcote, the door is the main entrance

South west view

One of the vestry

Leaf strewn churchyard by the west end

Looking further along to the south west side

Looking east south of the church

Collage of the headstones

The grave of Richard Dore and his family

This family vault made the visit a little more interesting 

It's not what you would expect in a country churchyard

Gated doors

Over to the right are I presume more family tombs

I'm not sure about the three headstones laid here though

The Du Cross family Vault

The church from the vault

Keep walking up the churchyard and you come to the new part

Which is bigger than you would expect

You can just see the church in the trees from the cemetery

The cemetery from the churcyard

Forgotten family plots, the ivy taking over now

Nearly covered this one

Cross and tomb

I will take my leave of you with this photo of the church with the sun lighting it up, If I get a chance I will try and revisit to get photos inside but I will make sure it is open first.

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

2024 Review Pt2

 

 

This week I review the second half of 2024 where I managed to visit more Churches in Oxfordshire plus a few revisits 

July  

We start with St Peter Filkins which did not have much history due to it being built in Victorian times, none the less it was a nice church to see

St Peter Broughton Poggs is only a short distance from the last one and was a church I had been looking forward to seeing. It dates back to Norman times and still looks old inside  

While in Wales the previous month I also visited a couple of Welsh Chapels which were both locked though I did get photos through the window of one.

I decided that I would try and visit some of the churches on The Clerics trail when I go to Wales and managed to visit St Michael & All Angeles Clyro which was the fist church that Rev Francis Kilvert was rector of 

August 

 

I stopped off at St Meilig Llowes on the was back from Clyro because Kilvert had visited the church which was interesting especially and it has St Meiligs cross 

For the next church it was back on the Oxfordshire Best Churches trail and I went to St Nicholas Idbury which was about as far west as you can get in Oxfordshire. It was a really nice church with an unusual tomb in the churchyard 

The next church was St Simon & St Jude at Milton-Uner-Wychwood It was featured in the Oxfordshires best churches but I wonder why as it was Victorian and did not look that special apart from the bell turret

St Mary Shipton-under-Wychwood came next and had a mention in the book in the information on another church but in truth I felt it more worthy than the last church

I managed to visit St Michael Leafield for the last church on this trip which did feature in Oxfordshires Best Churches and though it was another Victorian Church this one I could see why it was in the book, it also had a very impressive spire

September 

The first church in September was All Saints Spelsbury where I bumped into the Family History Society who were recording the names on headstones, the churchyard had some old headstones but the church was more interesting to look around with some interesting monuments.

St Nicholas Chadlington was not in the book but must have been in the running as it was a beautiful church to look around

All Saints Shorhampton is out in the country beside a farm but when you walk in you can see why it was listed in the book with the  medieval wall art to view and the simplicity of the church

For the last church of the month I revisited St Luke's Garford a church I visited years ago and never got to see inside, the revisit rectified that and I was really pleads I made the effort to arrange the visit

October  

I started October off with a visit to All Saints Marcham which was another return visit for me. On my first visit I only had a quick look around but this time I found more to see.

St Mary Magdalene Shipon was a return visit only this time I managed to go inside for a good look around the church

St Peter Wilcote was the first of three churches close together that I wanted to visit to fill in an area on my map of churches I had missed

St James Ramsden was one church that I missed on a previous visit to the area so this time I managed to get to it for a look around and found  a beautiful Victorian church

November  

Started with a visit to St John the Evangilist Hailey which was built back in 1761 and I found to be a nice church to visit, there was also a nearby cemetery that looked like it belonged to the previous church

St Peter Bucknell had me back after churches in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches and I could see why it was considered one of them

St Mary Ardley was next and it had a Georgian look about it but it was letdown for me as the church was locked so I came away with disappointment which only  worse when I found the next church I had in mind I could not find a way to get to due to being on a private estate behind gates, this got rectified at a later date.

St James the Apostle Somertom came next in my quest to visit churches from the book I had and it proved why it was included in the book as it was quiet a church to visit

St Mary Upper Hayford was the last church I posted in Novemeber , the churchyard looked quite empty till you noticed the cemetery opposite the church and inside turned out more interesting than it did outside

December 

St Mary Lower Hayford is only a could of miles away and I found a much nicer church to visit with more of interest both inside & out 

All Saints Middleton Stoney was the church I could not get  to on a previous visit but after emailing the church warden I found out it was quite easy to access and it was a church that I found very interesting with a large Commonwealth War Cemetery

My blogs are written in the order I visit the churches and I usually like to write one with some hint of Christmas in it for the last one of the year so felt let down when I could not get in the church I was going to post about but as luck would have it I managed to revisit St Peter Alviscott which I was really glad I made the effort to revisit.

I did manage to visit St Edburg Bicster just before Christmas but that is a blog for next year. I hope you enjoyed the churches I visited during 2024 and I hope to bring you more in 2025 which will comprise of a few revisits to churches I would like to get new photos of. As there are about 14 churches I would like to visit from Oxfordshires Best Churches I intend to try and get to those even though they take over an hour to drive to, I also intend to get to some more churches in Berkshire as well as a few more in Wales. Thank you for visiting my blog and  I hope you will come back again in 2025

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

2024 Review

 

 Happy New Year to you all It is time for my review of the churches I visited during 2024, my intention to start with was to visit more of the churches in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches and at the start of the year I had quite a few to get through by the end I have around 14 left as well as a few on Oxford itself. The problem is now they are taking an hours driving to reach so I have to try and combine a few other churches along with them to make the trip worth the effort. This year I revisited a few of the churches I had been to before, visited more in Wales as well as thous in Oxfordshire, by Decemeber I had managed to visit 52 churches the most I have done in one year

January 

St Bartholomew Ducklington was the first church I wrote about and was one of the churches from Oxfordshires Best Churches, at the time of my visit it was being readied for Christmas and was quite a superb church to visit with some stunning carvings to see around tomb recesses in the south aisle not to mention the other carvings high up on the walls

St Mary Cogges  was not far from the last church but I fund quite hard to get to so I had to make a visit through a back road to get there. The church is another one mentioned in Oxfordshires Best Churches though from my point of view I found it a bit disappointing 

St Mary Ipsden is only a few miles from where I live and I felt it was time to update the photos with a re visit. It is one of thous churches that you can spend a few moments of peace in

February 

St Margaret Little Faringdon is one of the churches featured in the  book Oxfordshires Best Churches but was not an east place to get to being in the west of Oxfrodshirebut it was worth the effort of getting there

St Matthew Langford  was the next church I visited from the book Oxfordshires Best Churches, it was an odd church to look at but did have some really interesting features to see

St Mary the Virgin North Stoke is only across the river from our village and was a revisit to update the photos I took back in 2013. The church is on the Ridgeway path and one which is well worth looking at if you are walking the route, it was also another off my list of churches in Oxfordshire Best Churches

St James the Great Stonesfield rounded off February and ticked another of the list form the book. It was a beautiful church to visit with some superb stained glass and pulpit dated 1629 to see 

March

March saw me visiting St Mary Chalrbury a church that you may have seen on the TV series Father Brown.

The next church I went along to was St Mary Witney a rather formidable looking church with a tall spire and lots of history surrounding it. It was another tick in my Oxfrodshire Best Churches list

 St Johns Burford was a revisit for me to get photos of what I missed the first time so the blog was republished and another of Oxfordshires Best Churches. This church gets a lot of visitors during the year looking around the church and the churchyard with its famous bale tombs

St Kenelm Minster Lovell is a lovely church to visit with nearby ruins of the hall to visit as well.

St Nicholas Asthall is not that far form Minster Lovell and is an unusual church to look at and worth looking around, it also had some of the oldest dating headstones I have seen

April

Come April I wrote about St Mary Swinbrook a church that had some wonderful tomb effigies to see from one family plus a churchyard with very old headstones and lots of bale tombs to see

I went local for the next church which was Wallingford Methodist Church, as it happened I found it open when I walked past one day so went inside to find out if it was OK to get photo's. Turned out to be a lovely little church

My next church was St James the Great Fullbrook which was just up the road from Burford where I went after. It was a beautiful church with a superb mass dial on the chancel wall, though I missed out hearing the organ being played. Another church ticked of by list of Oxfordshires Best Churches

St Oswold Widford is another church in Oxfordshires Best Churches, this one looks like it is in a time warp sitting out in the middle of a field where a Medieval village once stood

May

On my visit to St Mary Westwell I found that I was nearly in Gloucestershire the village was so close to the county, what I found was a beautiful old church with an interesting churchyard and I could see why it was in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches

The next church was one I passed by on my way to Shilton so I stopped off at St Mary Holwell for a look at this Victorian church which to my disappointment was locked, being where it is I doubt I well revisit

I managed my first visit to a church in Wales at St Ellyws Llanelieu which was one I had been looking forward to visit for a while, the reason was because I thought it had a rood loft but what I found was a rather superb rood screen 

June 

Come June I had also visited Talgarth a town I drive though going to our caravan, the church I had spotted as I drove through so on the way back from the last church I stopped off at St Guwendoline for some photos  

I also updated a couple of churches I had visited in Wales many years ago with some new photos  St Michael Cefnllys is a lovely church sat out below a hill out in the countryside with sheep for compnay. This time I found out the pulpit was dated 1660. St Michael Bryngwyn was the second church I visited to update the photos I was not happy with

St Peter Alvescott turned out a disappointment for me because I found the church closed for what turned out to be safety reasons but there was a happy ending I as I managed to return for photos of the inside

 

St George Kencot did not disappoint, it was open and had some wonderful old features to see around the church dating back to the Normans 

St Stephen Clanfield was next and was another beautiful old church to visit with a Medieval statue of St Stephen to see on the tower

St Peter & St Paul Broadwell was another beautiful church with it's spire and churchyard with very old headstones dating back to the 1600's, inside was no less a joy to look around.

I will leave you at that and next week bring the second review of 2024,

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week