Snitterfield

This village and Church has links with the Gunpowder Plot. The now demolished moated house of Norbrook  was the home of John Grant. He was a member of  the Gunpowder Plot along with Robert Wintour and Catesby's servant Thomas Bates. Norbrook became the plotters headquarters. After the failure of the plot on the discovery of Guy Fawkes, the plotters rode from here into Staffordshire where they made their last stand. Grant was blinded, his eyes being burnt out when a spark from the fire ignited the gunpowder they were trying to dry. He was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. After being found guilty along with the other conspirators, on Thursday 30 January 1606 he was executed at St Pauls Cathedral.

St. James the Great, Snitterfield

This Church was supposedly begun shortly before the Black Death struck in the 1350s. The tower especially has a distinct demarcation between different types of stonework. This is also visible on the outside walls of the chancel.










Of interest are the ancient tiles incorporated at various places in the walls. This is similar to the Saxon church at Brixworth (see earlier post), where the builders used tiles from a local Roman villa. There is of course a Roman town at Alcester just a few miles away. I wonder if there is any record of a villa nearby?

St James the Great, Snitterfield

Inside the Church

These two carvings on the choir stalls, along with the mermaids below, are among the few original pieces remaining from mediaeval times. There are a number of replacement modern carvings of other saints and apostles which are easy to identify by their undamaged state!

Sadly there is little to link the Church with its patron saint - James the Great, or with the pilgrimage to Compostela. I did however spot a small 'scallop shell' waymarker glued on a radiator at the back of the church!

Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire

The village is bordered on three sides by the rivers Windrush and Thames making an ideal defensive position. There is a reconstructed Bronze Age stone circle about a mile to the south.
The church of St. Michael stands to the east of the manor buildings; a typical Anglo-Saxon setting of church and manor. The nave of the church dates from 1120 - 1150 with the chancel dated at 1260.
A walk round the outside of the church reveals its Norman origins. Do not miss the plaque on the south side with its inscription recording the deaths of two young people.

St. Michael's, Stanton Harcourt 1

The interior of the church has a number of interesting features. One of the most interesting is the remains of the mediaeval shrine of St. Edburg (Eadburga) which was apparently 'rescued' from Bicester Priory at the dissolution by Sir Simon Harcourt, the base is dated as 1320.
Please read the comment below on the true dedication of the Saint depicted in the painting on the screen! My thanks to Chrisi for the information.
The screen itself has a number of roughly carved peep-holes through which a kneeling person could watch the Mass being celebrated.

St Michael's, Stanton Harcourt 2

In the Harcourt Chapel (among others) is the tomb and effigy of Sir Robert Harcourt Jr. who died c.1509. The Harcourts played a number of parts in the civil war between Lancaster and York. Sir Robert Harcourt Sr. was Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1455 and was killed by the Lancastrians in 1470. His son John Harcourt was outlawed in 1483 for his part in Buckingham's rebellion. John's son, Robert was made a Knight of the Bath in 1494 and succeeded his father before 1495. Sir Robert Jr. served as sheriff of both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. His tomb has above it a standard reputedly carried by him at the battle of Bosworth.
One of the brasses is to Henry Dodschone, the first Vicar of the parish who died in 1519. Before his incumbency the living was a Rectory in the gift of Reading Abbey.

Garway, Herefordshire

The church of St. Michael, Garway lies in the Welsh Marches not far from the famous church of Kilpeck. It is one of six churches in England attributable to the Knights Templar. There would seem to have been a church on this site before the Templars rebuilt it in about 1200 to their design. The Templar church originally had a circular nave - supposedly copied from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The Romanesque (Norman) chancel arch is from the Templar church. The nave has been rebuilt in the standard rectangular form with the circular nave foundations being hidden until their excavation in 1927.
The carving of the 'Agnus Dei' is now high on the west end wall. It was probably moved to that position at the time of the rebuilding of the nave. The chancel and side chapel are part of the original Templar building. In the farmyard next to the church is the dovecote which was part of the Templar's Preceptory.





Photos:
The foundations of the circular nave can be seen on the north side.

The chancel arch




On the outside of the chancel there are scratched carvings on many of the stones.

The carving of the 'Agnus Dei'

Garway, Herefordshire 2

More strange are the hand carved symbols over the piscina in the Templars chapel. These are a fish, the 'winged chalice' and a lamphrey
The carved head on the chancel arch is also of interest. In the heresy trials the Templars were accused of worshipping Baphomet - the horned god!
For readers of the Da Vinci Code this church is a 'must see'!