Christ Church Cathedral Oxford

 

This week the Church Explorer visits Christ Church Cathedral Oxford a place I have long wanted to visit and finally made the time to do so 

 

Memory walk

 

 This will be a memory for some one who reads this and might make them smile with all the bad weather going on over the pond there.

This is an old roman road that runs through Cholsey on it's way past Dorchester which is the other side of the horizon 

Just after I took the last photo I noticed a clump of daffodils growing

I had taken the dog out for a walk along a different route leading to this place known as Silly Bridge. If your wondering why the name well back when the buiilt the railway the locals used to take their cattle and sheep to graze on the common land on the other side. The railway did not want to build it but the locals insisted, in the end they got their way. Not long after the enclosures act cam in and the local landowners grabbed the common land and the locals lost the right to take their stock over the bridge. It just leads to the fields on the other side. Mind you they also built a lunatic asylum a mile away and it was a favorite place to go and jump off so that cold also be where the name came from.

That's the railway below now electrified

That;s what it looks like by the bridge, no way do you survive that little jump

Nice juicy sloes the birds have yet to eat  

The track leading to Silly Bridge

And back to the village

Nearer the village, just ahead was a place we called the pit  and the kids used to play in, it was an old chalk quarry, it was filled in many years ago more is the shame. I might add there was also a WWII Horsa Glider that was nearby and a lady mad into a house, after she died it was moved off and restored 

End of the walk and back to the village

 Happy SkyWatch

St Nicholas, Rotherfield Greys

 

This week the Church Explorer makes a return visit St Nicholas Rotherfield Greys to have a look around this wonderful church and the impressive Knollys tomb

Unlucky for some

 

Friday 13th I popped into Wallingford and while I waited for the bus which was about an half hour wait I went out for  a quick walk.

The Thames was in flood and the seat was in the water meaning you would get your feet wet if you sat on it

The water was flowing freely under the bridge, still 5ft lower that the high of 2024

The phone box is near the bridge, normally now they are used for other purposes but this one still has a phone in I did not check if it worked

 The high street was shut off so unlucky if you wanted to go along it.

Happy SkyWatch 

All Saints, Rotherfield Peppard

 

The church Explorer visits All Saints Rotherfield Peppard, a revisit to this lovely little church as I happened to be nearby. 

 

Avebury Sky

 

I know everyone goes to Stone Henge but one place that people visit and is not as well know is Avebury Stone Circle, fact is it's bigger and I think does line up with Stone Henge. |The photos were taken back in 2014 when I visited with my wife and reminds me I would like to go again  

It is well worth walking around the whole site as you can get up and personal with the stones

You can walk around the outer ring ditch

One of the trees growing in the stone circle near the village

The village of Avebury is right in the middle of the stone circle

Three of the large stones

They are all different shapes and sizes

Stitch photo of the circle looking towards Avebury

 And one from the opposite side of the village

Happy SkyWatch 

A few places in Wallingford

 

I took my wife to the opticians the other day for a eye test so while she was in there I took the dog for a walk around Wallingford and went to see some places to see how they changed .

Goldsmith lane gets it name fact the Royal mint was here in Norman times. The houses on the left there are new only being built a few years ago

 The window opens into a short covered ally 

This plaque is on the wall, the club used to be in the building behind and closed many years ago 

 This is what is there now, housing and they look quite nice

 A bit further along the lane is the Masonic hall which is in need of some TLC now a days

 This is around the back of the bank old building, there is some talk of redevelopment but I have heard nothing more lately 

 Around St Peters Place I see a new business, there was a cafe and a light shop but the leases must have run out because the cafe moved, the poor guy who owned the light shop died and no one took it on. Now it's Toddler town

Las of all this place, when I was a teenager the place was a motorist shop and I was always going in buying things for my car, since then its been occupied  by different companies and the whole block was empty last time I came along here and I thought it would be redeveloped but no it seems places are no being leased again

Take Care 

Edmund Hall Chapel

 

This week the Church Explorer shows you St Edmunds Hall chapel which I visited while a the Library the former St Peters church  

Miserable weather

 

We have been having some miserable weather over here in the UK so when my wife & I had our wedding anniversary the end of January we went out  for a few hours to visit Basildon Park 

This is the house but  we did not go in, just had some tea and cake in the cafe

Portico, the entrance is through the three arches. Some of the rooms inside were used in filming Downton Abbey

I took these as we going, it's the old stable and carriage yard

Those were the stables no converted to toilets and a gift shop, the cartage house was behind me

I had to go to the local supermarket later and stopped to get a photo of Didcot Marsh

It going to be built on and the water you see is where the topsoil has been stripped back no doubt so they can do an archeological dig but at the moment it's living up to it's name and being a marsh. Good lock to who ever lives there. 

Happy SkyWatch 

St Nicholas Chippingham

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Nicholas Chippingham, the Georgian church that was the place where the young Francis Kilvert grew up