The next church after my visit was St Mary the Virgin Ambrosden, it was not one that I had on my list but was in the vicinity of the churches I was visiting and there are more in this area I will be visiting. The History is direct from Wikipedia:-
"The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is the 12th-century Norman north doorway. The Early English Gothic west tower was built slightly later. The south aisle was added in the 14th century and the chancel was rebuilt in the 15th century with Perpendicular Gothic traceried windows.
The church plan, as existed and as chronicled in 1823 records, and in possession of John Wayland, esq. of Woodeaton, had a large courtyard entered through two elegant gates with a cross fixed at the northern part. The southern end of courtyard also had a cemetery. The main church building comprised:... an embattled tower of two stories, with a vane at each angle; a nave, a chancel, and a south aisle; the latter crowned with a parapet, pierced with trefoils and supported by three handsome buttresses, ornamented with niches, once containing statues of saints.
The south porch leads to an aisle that is lit by four two-light windows. Between the aisle and the nave is a four-bay arcade. The nave has three clerestory windows similar to those in the north wall of the church. The nave pews are 17th-century. The pulpit and reading desk are late 17th-century, added in the reign of James II. The pulpit was refurbished in 1819 with cushion and cloth given by Lady Turner, bearing insignia of the Turner family. The nave had a west gallery where there was a painting of the Resurrection of Jesus. According to inscriptions it was given by the parishioners.
The church is a Grade II* listed building.
The bell tower has a ring of eight bells. The third bell was cast by Richard Keene of Woodstock in 1697. The fourth was cast by Henry III Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire in 1716. Bagley had more than one bell-foundry, but the nearest was at Witney. The fifth was cast by Edward Hemins of Bicester in 1743. St Mary's has a bell cast by W. & J. Taylor in 1840, presumably at their then Oxford foundry. In 1928 Taylors cast the treble, second and tenor bells, but at their Loughborough foundry St Mary's also has a small Sanctus bell cast by Peter de Weston of Londonin about 1336.
The ecclesiastical parish of Ambrosden is now part of the Ray Valley Benefice, and St Mary's also serves as the British Army garrison chapel.
The nearby vicarage dates from 1638. The Reverend White Kennett (1660–1728) was vicar of Ambrosden from 1685 until 1708. During his incumbency, Kennett became tutor and vice-principal at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and published a number of scholarly works. Kennett was also Rector of St Botolph's Aldgate in London from 1700, Archdeacon of Huntingdon from 1701 and Dean of Peterborough from 1707. It therefore seems likely that Kennett may have been largely absent from Ambrosden in the latter years of his tenure. He relinquished the living of Ambrosden in 1708. Kennett was consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in 1718"
The porch and bell tower, the open door a good sign plus I hear people talking in there
Walking over to the west end of the churchyard to get a view of the church along the south side
Getting a view of the north side is very hard due to all the trees growing in the churchyard so I ended up taking this one along the side of the building from the east end
The east end of the church
Looking up at the tower you can see a couple of old plaques
Closer view of the two plaques show one in good condition the other very deteriorated. The right hand one is dated 1587 and at the bottom restored1892
This new part of the church intrigued me
It covers the old Norman north door
Looking in the porch I find the door to the church open
On the right is the south aisle. Inside was a hive of activity with a lot of the local ladies flower arranging. I did say it was OK for me to take photos so I did but as I would rather not have people in the photos I worked around them. You will find a few of the people who were there in a few of the photos
Here we look down the nave towards the chancel
Inside the chancel looking at the altar
The altar & east window
Closer shot of the altar and east window
and the altar
Over to the right of the chancel arch is the pulpit
Looking down from the pulpit at the organ and the guy playing. He was only playing a few keys and mentioned he did not have his music. The the organ sound is beautiful I might add
The south aisle altar and window
These are outside on the arch leading to the bell ropes
As the place was also used to store stuff on item I noticed was the old font cover. It would have been pulled up by a rope and pulley but I would think it became unsafe so now stored
The font with its cover and the very neat cloth cover made from neck ties
A church guild banner dated 1875 with a kneeler above
This is a modern with window with badges of the Bicester Garrison, when I asked it turned out Bicester was only a couple of miles away. The church is also the Garrison Chapel
Toll of honour for the village of Ambrosden
There is another Roll of honour with a longer list which is a little puzzling
Beautiful Mothers Union Banner
You can find the stained panel near the altar in the south aisle
Where you can also see this east window showing St Ambrose and St Francis
The East window in the chancel
One of the stained glass windows you can see in the church, most of them are similar to this one
Around the walls you can see quite a few memorials
The words on some more legible that others
Royal British Legion flags
If you remember the door that too you in the church, in the background you could see another one which takes you to the new extension. just inside on display is the old clock mechanism
The extension housed the WC and was funded by the MOD
Flowers around the church
These were being made on the kitchen counter
Back outside and here we look north past the old cross stump towards the east end of the church
Some of the old headstones near the porch
Few of them becoming covered in ivy
In the middle stands a fenced off tomb
I always find one that catches my eye, not often you come across the name Zachariah, he is buried here with is with Catherine
Looking further north you see the churchyard extends further
Warrant Officer D Balme
Captain James Dawson Steel
Private M.A.G.Hood. You might notice that the three names listed are more recent and were all from the Royal Ordnance Corps, I suspect they were part of the Bomb Disposal team that were based nearby
Private G.B.Hopcraft
This grave looked quite recent though I could not find out who it belonged to as there was no plate I could find
Part of the north churchyard towards the west boundary wall
This is looking at the north side of the church across the churchyard, you can just see the church through the trees
Looking the the other way north from near the church
Looking west near the north side of the church
And from near the east end looking north west
Graves and a tomb near the east end of the church
These are along the south east end near the part which may well be a vestry or an old chapel
Looking west from the south east end
Very eroded headstone, the carving on the told still clear
The fenced tomb
Just beside the porch you can see these head carvings and a gargoyle
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