St Mary Shifford

St Mary's Chapel stands in a field near a local farm not far from the river Thames. I first saw the chapel from the Thames path when I was walking along it visiting WWII pillboxes, this was back in December 2010. the first set of photos were taken then and are the only ones I have due my dropping a hard drive and loosing some of the photos I took. When I first visited the church it was locked and I always meant to return, it took over 12 years because in September 2023 I made a point of visiting during the Stride & ride event and took my photos inside. It turned out to be a really nice little church

 The chapel is off the road and accessed via a footpath , the history below comes from Wikipedia

 Shifford was never an ecclesiastical parish but in medieval times it was a dependent chapelry of Bampton. The chapel was later described as "Georgian" and became derelict by the 19th century. In 1863 it was replaced with a Gothic Revival one designed by the architect Joseph Clarke. It is a Grade II listed building.

Looking from the south west

The gravel path leading past the churchyard

The churchyard with many old graves in 

The south side of the chapel

 

The headstones here look like the are older than the church

 

 

 

 Preaching cross stump

 

 

The porch and in front the remains of the preaching cross.

 

 

Collage of tomb chests and headstones
 

 Couple of headstones sinking beside a family grave

 

Collage of headstones

 

 Old headstone 

 

South of the church

north east side

The preaching cross and church

The door open for the ride and stride event

The nave and chancel

Inside the chancel with choir stalls

Wider view

The altar and east windows

Altar with simple wooden cross and candle holder

Altar cross and candle holder with east window behind

the stained glass above the east windows

As you walk around the church each window has a stained glass insert and inscription below

 

The west windows

The windows are beautiful in their simplicity

I like coming across these old notices

Memorial to Philip Wallis

Memorial to Kathleen Amanda Thompson

Pulpit on the left of the chancel arch

View from the pulpit

Near the back is the font. 

I did visit St Lawrence Tubney after on the off chance it would be open, it was so rather than posting another blog on the church I have updated the original. If you click on the link you can see the updated blog with photos of the inside of the church.

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend

St Mary Bampton

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Mary Bampton another church which is listed as one of Oxordshire's Best Churches and I can admit it is, some of you might recognise the church as being used in Downton Abbey. During my visit I encountered a couple of tours, one of them a party for Australia. There was also  wedding preparations going on with some young ladies decorating the church.The photos were taken over two visits so you will notice a change in the sky

"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin are 10th- or 11th-century, when it was built as a late Saxon Minster. It was rebuilt in the 12th century as a cruciform Norman church. It received Gothic additions from late in the 13th century to early in the 16th century. The architect Ewan Christian restored it in 1868–70. It is a Grade I listed building."

 From the gate looking to the church

 

 

 

Looking east towards the south transept

 

 This is where you can see a Norman doorway

 

South side of the church

Porch taking you in

South doorway in the transept I took this photo on a return visit along with the close-ups below

The carving on the doorway is beautiful

 

^{East end of the church}

 

Going around to the north east side
 

North transept, the corners in the photo are from my lens hood

Looking north east

Looking south west

The porch on the west end, I returned to get this photo

The carvings around the arch

The west doorway

I'm not sure what the carving was over the porch

This is how it looked on my first visit

Collage showing the carving on the arch

Churchyard looking south east

The headstones at the east end are old and eroded

Small and large chest tomb

Looking south

Over the east side of the church

This is around on the west side of the church

North side with tomb

Anchor and chain around a cross

Couple of nice cast iron crosses

Looking south west from near the church

Headstones

Tombs headstones and monument at the south west end of the churchyard

West end of the church

North west of the church

South west view

Around the outside of the spire are statues 

I will leave it here and show the the internal views in the next blog as I have taken a lot of photos inside. 

Till next time I wish you all a wonderful weekend