This is the St. John’s Church in Stanmore. It is an extraordinary sight. A very old and a new church, side by side, but you will see what I mean.
But first you see this as one parks the car in the quiet lane next to the church. 
And the notice board welcomes you. 
One enters the gate and walks up the path. 
A well maintained graveyard surrounds the church. 
A war veteran who died here. Now why havent the commonwealth graves commission taken this up? 
There is the old brick church but more of that later, like a miser, I hoarded a visit to there for later. 
Turning right
An extraordinarily beautiful door, just check out the hinges and the mason’s heads on both sides. 
The water drainage pipes emerge from a lion’s head carved into the stone. 
Pigeons on the roof top. 
We are on the flight path to Northolt, a small private airfield and the oldest RAF airfield, a private jet coming into land. 
A memorial plaque to Albert Ernest Denman…
Another lovely window. 
A war memorial. I love this idea of war memorials in every borough and town. This ensures the citizens know their rights as well as duties towards their country. You remember your neighbours who gave up the ultimate sacrifice. These days, memorials like these are ignored somewhat, which is a shame. 
The names of the fallen are on this metal plaque and another plaque talks about the first great war. Nobody remembers it now and the last surviving soldier died few years back. 
Looking back, you can see both churches..
Lovely stepped roofs. 
This was a fairly important trading route going back couple of millennia. This was on the road from London to St. Albans and the Saxons created a church around here in the 600’s. 
I walk around and there is the church tower. 
A child’s grave. 
Couple of more lions heads. 
A mossy angel looking over this grave. 
Walking up another path on the other side of the church. 
Another mossy angel on a tomb. 
Here is the lychgate
The background to this is lost in the mists of time, but a lych gate is used to keep the coffin and the priest here performs the first part of the burial rights under this temporary shelter before the coffin is taken in.
This is an old old structure, you can see how the wood has started to wear away, erected in 1818. I usually try to touch these lych gates and seriously you can almost feel the emotions. This is the first step towards the burial of your loved one in the church so obviously these old wooden posts would have absorbed so much emotion of the bereaved friends and family. 
The crocuses have started to peek out. 
The bell tower. 
The angel which I photographed before, but this time from the back. This was perhaps more poignant..
Some local worthies? perhaps a priest on the right hand side? 
The stone clad bell tower. 
Fascinating window..
I turn right, this looks like a gatehouse although it also seems like its boarded up
I turn the corner and the old brick church is exposed to view. 
This is the old part of the graveyard. 
Looking back at the bell tower. 
A casket memorial. 
A coat of arms, unfortunately too worn away to identify who it belonged to. 
Quite an interesting grave, its brick lined but seems to be coming out of the ground or the ground has sunken
A carved stone. Strange. 
The walls of the brick church are covered with these memorial plaques. 
Peeking inside the ruined church. It is obviously no longer used as a church but has all these graves inside now. 
Starting to walk around the old brick church. The bricks are mossy….
A window…
Quite old, the wooden frame has worn away and the wood worms have feasted well on it. 
The brick bell tower through one of the miserable netting on a window. 
The very old part of the graveyard. You can see the gravestones all leaning higgly piggely
An interesting little gravestone with a crucifix. 
The bell tower is supported by these fat buttresses.
These staples were put into help the walls from bulging out. 
A metal gravestone marker in the form of a Celtic cross. You don't see many of these around. 
The bell tower is now stabilised after renovation and restoration. One can go into the church and climb the tower even during the summer. 
Another Celtic cross with some detailed stone carvings..lovely work. 
Looking back at the church tower. Highlighted by the sun. 
The ivy is coming back…
The graveyard. Its not empty, just that the graves are now overgrown by grass. 
Peeking through the gate
Graffiti on the walls. 
Consecrated in 1632 by an Archbishop. He lost his head because he indulged in a Papist ritual, lol. Poor chap. 
A pigeon nest..
An extraordinarily ornate if ruined tomb. 
Man, those spikes are dangerous. Just who was breaking into this ruined church? 
This grave looks more like a tub than a grave. 
The back end of the church. 
Man, the cherubs on this look pretty scary..
A sailor’s tomb? 
A hugely impressive tomb with a giant angel. I kept on thinking, the angel aint going to fly on those wings. 
Neither will this one.
they liked their angels here. 
Amusing and cute. A bird’s nest up on the tree as a memorial to Granny Montague. 
Snowdrops on the edge of a grave. 
Zooming into one of the windows of the brick tower. 
Walking across the road to see both churches. 
I finish and wave goodbye to the pigeon and the church. Lovely church. One day I have to get inside them as well…but for some reason, my timing sucks. lol. Still, a lovely history lesson and some lovely old bricks and stones.
No comments:
Post a Comment