St Nicholas Islip

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Nicholas Islip  the second of the churches I visited around North Oxford a s few weeks ago. This is a church I was looking forward to seeing after realising it was not too far away. A little History off Wikipedia below though if you go to the link above you can read a little more :-

"Edward the Confessor (born circa 1004, died 1066) was born in Islip and tradition holds that he was baptised in a church here. Parts of the present church date from about 1200. The chancel was rebuilt in 1780 and the church was restored in 1861. The church is Islip's only Grade I Listed Building. The belltower has a ring of eight bells. Since 1987 the Church of England parish has been part of the Ray Valley Benefice.

A chapel associated with Edward the Confessor existed north of the church. The chapel was damaged in April 1645 in a military engagement in the English Civil War, and in the 1780s it was demolished.

The former rectory was built in 1689 for Robert South and enlarged in 1807 for William Vincent. It is one of several Grade II* Listed Buildings in Islip"

 

 This is the view of the church from near the village centre and where you could park

Walking along the path to the opposite side you come to the west end an bell tower

Looking across the churchyard to the east end

Walking past the chancel end with the priest door

Another view of the west end and tower

Here you can see the tower and north aisle

Walking around the north side you can see an extension that has been added on with chimney indicating this may be a vestry

 

 

 The north side of the church

 

Looking from further along towards the east end
 

East end of the church with a fenced tomb chest
 

 

Another shot of the east end from near the path

 

 

A lot of older graves can be seen here at the east end

Roy Stuart Lee and Catherine were a long way from their native home

Graves you can see while walking along the path on the south side

Further along at the west end

And the south west end

A couple of tombs can be seen here on the west end of the church

Looking east along the north side

This is one of the tombs on at the west end of the church

Simple headstone of Gerard L'estrange Turner and his wife Helen Elizabeth

Mixture of headstones on the far north side of the church

Looking west on the same side

East end showing a couple of tombs

In the south side is this wonderful old chest tomb

Near the chancel end you find these older headstones

By the church this older one with the inscription gone

Another sinking in the ground the headstone eroding

 

I will leave you with this shot of the cowslips that grown in the churchyard.

Visit this link to see the inside 

Till Next time Take Care and have a wonderful weekend

 

St Giles Noke

 

Noke is a little village in a backwater of Oxfordshire  and was the first church on my list for the day. The history I found on Wikipedia.:- "Noke had a parish church by 1191 but the present Church of England parish church of Saint Giles dates from the first half of the 13th century. At the end of the 16th century a mortuary chapel was added for the Winchcombe family on the north side of the church, but in 1745 the chapel was in a ruinous condition and was demolished"

 

Parking nearby I walk along the road and take this shot of St Giles over the wall

 

The main entrance to the churchyard is by the west end of the church

 

 

Walk over to the south a bit and you get a wonderful view of the church

 

 Walking around the west end of the church

 

You come around to the north side

 

Were you can carry on to the east end of the church

 And look at  the east end of the church

 

Finally yo get back to the south side of the church

 

 

Look up at the bell cote with it's two bells
 

The porch with it's door leading to the church which was locked when I checked

 

 The West end of the church

 

From the outside you can make out the stained glass window

 

 

The gravestone of Thomas and Sarah Jones
 

 

Headstones along the south side of the church

 

Gordon Holder of the RAF

The churchyard beside the path at the west end of the church

Chest tomb near the porch

Around on the east end of the church

Looking back west on the south side

 

 

Looking north across the east end

Back on looking east over the south side

An interesting headstone with a poem made from letters making Malcolm

This headstone was right over in the corner of the churchyard

 

A last look at St Giles from the corner

I will leave you with this shot of some cowslips that were growing in the churchyard.

Till Next time I wish you a pleasant weekend

Stay Safe