All Saints Shorthampton

 

Last church on this trip was All Saints Shorhampton, one which I was looking forward to seeing as it had Wall Paintings 

"The present chancel arch is small and was built in the 13th or 14th century. Most of the current windows are Perpendicular Gothic. All Saints' has box pews that were added in the 18th century and a south porch that was built in the 19th century. All Saints' contains several 15th century wall paintings including a rare one of the "Miracle of the Clay Birds" from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and another of Saint Zita. All Saints' is a Grade II* listed building. All Saints' is part of the Benefice of Charlbury with Shorthampton. Most church services are now held at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Charlbury.^"

The road past the church leads to a farm

 

 

 From the road the south east end

 Wider view of the south east

 

 The south side of the church 

 

North side from the west end

 

North again from the east
 

Small window in the chancel south side

 

 

Older headstones near the east end of the church

 

Looking north from near the church

 

Looking north west across the churchyard

 

Westerly view

 

Wide view of the church from over the wall

 

Inside the porch and the doorway

The door from inside

 

The nave from the back showing the wall paintings you can see

Going down to near where you walk in the church

 

The chancel arch which is offset is one of the smallest I have seen

The chancel opens up when you go through the arch

The altar table and east window

The altar table looks just that with a screen placed at the back

The east window has some orange stained glass framing it, the view out the window is enough. There is no other stained glass in the church

Looking back through the arch

One side is a huge squint more like a door that has been cut in to view the service

In the chancel is a small organ

Outside in the nave you will find the pulpit which is up high

 

After climbing the steps to it you look down in the box pews

I like seeing box pews and these are upholstered in velvet which is very unusual from what I have seen

The north wall with lancet window and wall paintings

A closer view of the lancet shows the inside was decorated once

One of the 15th century paintings showing a figure 

 

The paint is clear but I'm at a loss as to what it shows

 

Closer view of the figure 

This one is very faded

This one at the south west wall shows a painted prayer

I wondered if this was a dragons wing

Collage showing the paintings

One the squint wall is this painting of the Miracle of Clay Birds

You can see figures in this one as well

Even the chancel arch was painted at one time

The memorials in the church, the roll of honour I felt was simple and to the point

The holy Bible left open

The roof space

 

The font is most likely Norman and one has to wonder how mans souls have been christened in it.

Till Next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

St Nicholas Chadlington

 

 The second church on my trip to visit more of Oxfordshire Best Churches took  me past St Nicholas Chadlington which was not in the book. The church looked later than I thought but after looking around you could see that it dated back to Norman times

 

"The Church of England parish church of Saint Nicholas was originally Norman, and the blocked head of a Norman window above the north arcade show that the building had a clerestory in Norman times. It is extremely likely, however, that a church, probably of timber, stood on the site by the late Anglo-Saxon period at the latest. The church's orientation, which is almost south-west/north-east, is somewhat idiosyncratic, and might suggest that it was inserted into the framework of a pre-existing settlement plan. In the 13th century, Early English Gothic north and south aisles were added, with four-bay arcades linking the aisles with the nave. Both aisles still retain some lancet windows from this period. The bell tower was built early in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. A chapel was added at the east end of the north aisle. The chapel's east and north windows in the Transitional style between Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic date it to the chancel about the middle of the 14th century. Later pure Perpendicular Gothic additions include the windows and north door in the north aisle, the present clerestory and nave roof and the chancel arch. In 1870, the Gothic Revival architect Charles Buckeridge completely rebuilt the chancel. St. Nicholas' church is a Grade II* listed building.

The tower has a ring of six bells. Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester cast the second and third bells in 1714. William Taylor of Loughborough cast the fifth and tenor bells in 1846 at the bellfoundry he then had in Oxford. Thomas Bond of Burford cast the fourth bell in 1911. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present tenor bell in 2006. There is also a Sanctus bell that Thomas Bond cast in 1911. In 2001, the Church of England Benefice of Ascott-under-Wychwood, Chadlington and Spelsbury merged with that of Enstone and Heythrop to form the Chase Benefice. The Parsonage was designed by William Wilkinson and built in 1863. It is now Chadlington House."

 ^{The church is not quite aligned on the compass this is the west end}

^{Heading over to the south with view of the 14th century tower}

What is normally the south side

North transept

East end with north transept and south aisle

South east view

 The small north aisle

Which is where I noticed something interesting

 Head carvings of Gargoyls, there are more but I would have needed my zoom lens, these were taken on my phone

 North aisle and tower

 From the east end of the churchyard

Behind me was this Angel

West of the church a few of the graves near the wall

Though it looks sparse from on the path looking at the same place

There are more memorials and chest tombs on the south side of the church

Most over near the wall. A lot of wealthy people back then making not wanting to be forgotten

I dare say no one remembers where they are now

The headstones and mostly covered in lichen and moss

But I have to say the grass was reasonably short

The church with graves in the foreground

The porch

Inside the door leading in

You walk across this tomb slab

Inside the church looking over to the north aisle

The nave

Chancel arch

Altar and east window

The stained glass east window

Looking back through the arch to the back

On the south side of the altar

The organ in the north aisle

The pulpit

Looking over the nave and south aisle

This stunning window is in the chancel

This one might be as well

Plenty of memorials to look at

The squint on the left is over to the left of the chancel arch which could indicate there was a rood loft once but there are no indications of any around the rest of the church

Looking up to the roof space

And the upper windows, I spotted the carved head corbels and wished I had my zoom for mt camera

The roll of honour

Below you can the two men listed from WWII

Other memorials around the church

A mosaic of them on the wall, these I think may have been in the floor at sometime

This one is on the north wall of the south aisle in the vestry, I took it over the top from the pulpit

The window at the end of the north aisle

The pews have kneelers on them

A lot of them all hand made by the local MU

The font

Beautiful floral display

One last look at the church

So I could show the photo of the beautiful angel again

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week