St Mary's church at Drayton Beachamp (near Aylesbury) is a beautiful largely 15th century church in a peaceful setting with much to offer the visitor. The decorative checquered flint effect on the exterior is particularly attractive.
Inside there are good monuments, specifically two large memorial brasses of knights flanking the altar and an impressive (if somewhat pompous) Baroque affair on the north side of the chancel. There is a fine sequence of Victorian stained glass windows in the nave aisles by Clayton & Bell of London, however the star attraction here is the original medieval glass in the chancel, with an almost complete east window based on the Apostle's creed c1430, with ten Apostle figures holding seperate pieces of the text (two figures are Victorian replacements). There is also a damaged figure of Mary nearby, the oldest piece in the church.
I got to know this church in 2005 through work, when Norgrove Studios was asked to relead the plain clerestorey glazing. Initially I therefore experienced the interior as a building site half full of dust-sheets and scaffolding; only at the very end of the project could I appreciate the full beauty of this church.
Tags: drayton beauchamp church buckinghamshire
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St Botolph's at Newbold on Avon (now virtually a suburb of Rugby) is one of the more interesting of the historic churches in this part of Warwickshire with a collection of monuments to the Boughton Family of various dates.
The nave and tower date mostly from the 15th century rebuilding but the plain chancel was rebuilt in the early Victorian period. The interior is light with little Victorian stained glass, unusually confined to the nave aisles (three by Heaton, Butler & Bayne on the north side, one by Burlison & Grylls on the south). The main east window is mostly plain.
The monuments are from distinct periods, two 15th century tombs in the south aisle have flat incised slabs with the images of Geoffrey Allesley and John Boughton with their respective wives. Also in the south aisle two wall monuments with small, rather folksy figures carved in relief to two generations of the Boughton family (of Little Lawford Hall). The largest of all is that to William Boughton & wife from 1716, a rather pompous Baroque piece with standing figures that dominates the chancel.
This a church that certainly rewards the visitor but alas is normally kept locked, though there may be keyholder information or phonenumbers given (I called in on Heritage weekend when it was opened and seemed to be recieving a constant flow of visitors).
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St Mary's at Swynnerton dates back to the 12th century and still preserves two Norman doorways in the west tower (the reset outer one somewhat restored, the inner one usually locked away). Otherwise most of the present building is of the 13th and 14th centuries with some considerable Victorian restoration.
Within there remains a fine late medieval chancel screen and an effigy of a 13th century knight (John de Swynnerton) but the chief item of interest here is in the closed-off south chapel, sadly innaccessible without prior arrangement, a 7ft 13th century sculpture of Christ enthroned. The most likely origin of this extremely rare survival (far too large to have been made for an ordinary parish church)appears to be the summit of the west facade of Lichfield Cathedral, where such a figure survived in situ up until the Civil War.
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St Nicholas's church, Radford Semele, Warwickshire.
Scanned slide from 1999.
The church was destroyed by an arson attack in the early hours of Palm Sunday March 2008 www.flickr.com/photos/27970490@N02/2609505693/in/set-7215...
The same view taken soon after the fire can be seen here
www.flickr.com/photos/27970490@N02/2611130130/
The church now has a website devoted to the restoration fund
www.stnicholasrestoration.com/
The church also has it's own Flickr photostream with images of the church before, during and after the fire:-
www.flickr.com/photos/27970490@N02/
Tags: radford semele radfordsemele stnicholas church destroyed fire warwickshire
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Oundle School Chapel
View from the south, the chapel is free standing and somewhat remote from much of the main school complex at Oundle.
A treasure house of modern stained glass, from the altar windows by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens (their first commission from 1954-6, often considered the first windows in a modern style in Britain) to the scheme of aisle windows recently commissioned from Mark Angus.
Tags: oundle school chapel northamptonshire piper reyntiens stained glass stainedglass window church modern
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