Some Bucks churches

A Bank Holiday Monday, and a short trip out along the A418 between Aylesbury and Thame to see what I can find. Sadly pretty much a complete blank as far as the Green Man is concerned, but plenty of other stuff to keep my interest up!

Stone, St John

St John's lies on a man-made mound which some say was a pre-Roman burial ground. The church however, was not built until the Normans came. The church apparently has a very attractive Norman doorway, but it was locked on this visit, as it was on previous visits here. Maybe I'll have to time it to attend a service??

The tower is highly decorated with small stone heads, but I was unable to see any Green Man motif amongst them.

Dinton, SS Peter and Paul

Another Norman church which has been locked every time I've visited, this one at least allows the casual visitor to admire the wonderful carved Tympanum over the South Door. There is a grand manor house adjoining the church, in a similar architectural style, but I've no idea if the house is contemporary with the church.

Cuddington, St Nicholas

Another church on this run which I've visited previously, but that was back in the day before I was looking for the Green Man. On this occasion the church was open, but again I drew a blank. There is one 15C corbel head remaining, but no flora to be seen on it.

Nether Winchendon, St Nicholas

A very pleasant setting, with thatched cottages in evidence and an old Victorian brick pillar box on a patch of green by the junction.

This church is listed in Simon Jenkins' book England's Thousand Best Churches, and with good reason. There are fragments of Dutch glass in the windows, box pews, a musician's gallery and a most wonderful pulpit. Fragments of rough-hewn stone at the base of the tower suggest the church's Saxon origins.

Chearsley, St Nicholas

A simple A4 information sheet available in the church says all you need to know about this church:

"The building reflects the history of the village which, until recently, has always been small, and never wealthy."

The dedication to St Nicholas, patron saint of children, was borne out by the presence of a church banner, and by fragments of a 14C wall painting of the saint on the North wall.

Haddenham, St Mary

Haddenham is famous for several things: St Tiggywinkles animal hospital, Wychert (a form of wall building), it's ponds where Aylesbury Ducks were bred, and as the set for several episodes of the Midsomer Murders TV series. None of which has anything to do with the church, which was built in the 13C, and is situated by a pond, with a bit of green surrounded by cottages, all very 'typical English village'.

Internally, the font is of some interest, depicting two dragons. There are several poppy heads with faces on them on the pews too, but none which could be described as Green Man images.

Externally, I was unable to make out the corbel decorations on the tower, some of which looked as if they may have had faces on them.

Aston Sandford, St Michael

With a chancel of 18'6" by 12', and a nave of 38' by 14', this is supposedly one of the smallest churches in the country. It underwent extensive renovation and rebuilding in the 1878 and was locked on my visit, so I have very few details to hand.

Kingsey, St Nicholas

Another St Nicholas, and another locked church with no external features to assist in determining the likelihood of internal decoration.

Note: In preparing this entry, it occurred to me that many churches in an area tend to have the same dedication, e.g. today there were 4 St Nicholas churches out of 8 visited. In yesterday's trip, 6 out of 11 were St Mary's. I'll keep an eye open for this pattern in future trips.

Hunting the Green Man - NE Herts

I recently checked out a couple of churches to the south of Royston, one of which had a rather splendid Green Man in it, but I had no camera on me on the day (it was a last minute decision to travel out).

So, being a Bank Holiday weekend, I decided to return to the area to get a picture, and to look at some other churches. The route took us up the A10, doubling back down to the A120 via several villages to the east. With a total of 11 churches visited, this turned into quite a long trip to write up!

Buckland, St Andrew

Buckland is a small hilltop settlement, just off the A10. It now comprises not much more than a dozen or so houses and a farm. The church is now tended by the Churches Conservation Trust, but still caters for around half a dozen services a year. The church is usually locked, but a (very large) key is available from a couple of the nearby houses.

Although the church underwent a major restoration in the late 1800's, there are still several stone corbel heads to be seen, both inside and outside, but sadly no Green Men that I could spot.

Reed, St Mary

St Mary's is described as an 'isolated Saxon Church', and is built on one of the highest points in Hertfordshire, slightly apart from the main village. It has been noted that apart from St Alban's Cathedral, no other Hertfordshire church has as much Saxon work visible.

Inside, the Rood stairs disappear into the wall, and the North Door appears only as a round headed recess. Externally however, the North Door is preserved almost intact in it's original form.

But again, no evidence of the elusive Green Man.

Barkway, St Mary Magdelene

This is the church that sparked this particular trip, as I'd been here a couple of weeks ago, without a camera. The main attraction of the church is the Burma Star window - a commemorative stained glass window in memory of the Burma Star Association. But my attention was drawn upwards in the nave and north aisle, where a succession of carved figures and heads appear. The finest of these is at the east end of the north aisle, where a fine Green Man foliate head looks down. Unfortunately, I found this difficult to photograph both with and without flash giving less than ideal results:

At the west end of the north aisle, was another foliate head, this time more leonine in nature and even more difficult to photograph due to the intrusion of a vestry room into the aisle, leaving only a very short space below the head to photograph from. Maybe I need yet another trip with the camera mounted on a pole to capture this one?

Anstey, St George

No Green men, but a couple of items that are worth mentioning here. The church is near the site of Anstey Castle, and it's thought that some of the stone from the castle was used in rebuilding the church - the chancel walls have some notable military-style 13th century graffiti, and it's possible that these were originally drawn on the castle walls.

Also in the chancel are 12 old stalls, which include a number of miserichords. One of these is a 'tongue-poker' image, possibly dating from the 1400s.

The design on the Norman font is described in the church information leaflet as being 'four mermen holding their split tails with both hands, making a symmetrical pattern along the four sides of the bowl...possibly symbolic of the Ark of Christ's Church. Such a motif is rare, occurring in only one other place in England - St Peter's, Castle Street, Cambridge'. Whilst I can understand this interpretation, my first impression was of four men in Viking Longships, possibly pointing to an even earlier origin for the church building. I guess it depends what you expect to see!

Wyddial, St Giles

A service was in full flow when I arrived, so I was unable/unwilling to enter the church. The exterior gave no real clues as to its possible contents.

Great Hormead, St Nicholas

The first of the two Hormead churches which lie some 300 yards apart, St Nicholas is the present church for the parish, and was first built in the 1200s. There are some quite remarkable carved heads both within and without the church.

In the south aisle is a most horrendous head, being both a mouth-puller and a nose picker at the same time! Flash photography sadly does not do it justice. There is also what can only be described as a 'Cheshire Cat' type face, grinning away like it's just stepped out of a Lewis Carrol story, although it predates the books by a few hundred years...

Externally, there are a series of grotesque heads, one of which resembles a Wild Wose with animal (donkey?) ears, and another with a single flower in it's mouth. Neither is really a Green Man, but the closest I found in this church. The latter head resembles another inside which has two similar flowers in its mouth.

Little Hormead, St Mary

Another church under the control of the Churches Conservation Trust, the sign in the porch states that 'the church is always kept open'. Oh no it isn't! The door was firmly locked on my visit, though I understand that services are still held here in the summer months. Still, this was only my second access failure of the day.

The brick-built porch tells a story of earlier times, as a scratched sundial can be seen on the wall by the door. On my visit, someone had been busy with the coloured chalk, as images of the Virgin Mary were very much in evidence.

Brent Pelham, St Mary

The church at Brent Pelham is extraordinarily 'cavernous' inside. There are a pair of old stocks just outside the church gate, but the main item of interest inside is the tomb in the north wall of one O Piers Shonks, Dragonslayer, who died in 1086!

The story goes that he killed a great serpent. This so enraged the Devil that he swore he would claim Shonks for his own, whether he was buried inside the church, or out. Shonks was buried in the fabric of the north wall, which was neither in nor out, thus frustrating the Devil.

I'm not sure the church wall is actually that old, but it's a wonderful story.

Furneux Pelham, St Mary

Having had very little luck (other than Barkway) on the Green Man front, I was starting to despair. That changed at Furneux Pelham, in a surprising way. No stone heads here.

Tucked away at the end of the south aisle was an enormous wooden cabinet, some eight feet tall. The parish chest? There was no guide book or leaflet to help me so I can only guess as to its origin or why it was there. But the cabinet was covered in all manner of grotesque carved heads.

Some had a distinct Japanese or Polynesian feel, but there were also several foliate heads in the mix, which seemed to be in a state of anguish.

The chest did not fit with the 'feel' of the rest of the church, which was quite light and airy with brightly painted angels in the rafters. It felt quite sinister, and I'd love to know the story behind it.

Albury, St Mary

There was no information leaflet here, and the only item I noted of interest was the tomb of Sir Walter de la Lee and his wife, Margaret'. Both seemed impossibly small - Sir Walter's armour is of a style from King Richard II's time. The only surviving inscription reads:

SR WALTER AT LEA, AL'S SIR WALTER AT CLAY 1350 TO CIRCA 1395

Little Hadham, St Cecilia

The final stop on what was a very long day, and once again, no substantive reward. There are several carved corbels inside, but none of a design that is of interest here. Externally, the tower also holds some carved corbels and gargoyles, but I was unable to get a clear view of any details with my small camera.

Eleven churches (a personal record for a single day), only one of which has a 'true' Green man, but which all have their own curiosities and stories to tell. I'm beginning to really enjoy this journey!

Hunting the Green Man, Essex part 3

A beautiful Bank Holiday weekend is the perfect time to go for a drive in the sun. However, a Sunday is probably the worst day to go on the hunt for the Green Man.  Many churches are either in use, or locked tight. I make it a rule never to enter a church if a Service is in progress, out of respect. So it was that I was restricted to church exteriors for this trip, which provided a hit on only one church out of eight visited today.
So which was the lucky winner? Let's get that out of the way first. 
Thaxted, St John the Baptist
  
This church is quite spectacular externally, and is known as the 'Cathedral of Essex'. Every nook and cranny is seemingly filled with carvings of heads, faces, animals and various mythical beasts. There were far too many to count, each pinnacle having at least four faces.
  
Our man was on the west side of the South Porch and was of what I consider to be the 'classical' style, whilst on the north side I spotted at least two club-wielding Wild Woses, one taking pride of place on a pinnacle the North Transept.
  
  
This is a church I shall definitely have to return to in future. Who knows what delights await us inside? Entry to the church is unusually via the North porch, using a 'door within a door'.
Whilst in Thaxted, it would be boorish not to mention some of the other historical delights of the place, which include a Guildhall dating from 1390 (earlier than the church itself), and next to it a cottage where Dick Turpin was reputed to have lived.
  
Thaxted was also home to Gustav Holst, composer of the Planets Suite, and hosts a working windmill. the Thaxted Morrismen are supposedly one of the oldest sides in the country, and feature on the town signs at the North and South approaches to the town. The side were not in evidence during our visit, though there is a Fayre tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday) where they will be dancing out.
Ok, so Thaxted was an interesting stop and worth a visit all by itself, but where else did we go today? A brief list should suffice for our purposes as none of the other churches visited showed any external evidence of the Green Man, which is our main focus here.
Little Chesterford, St Mary the Virgin - there was a sign in the porch listing keyholders, but it was quite an early start for us, far too early to wake a keyholder!

Littlebury, Holy Trinity - this church had some ornate corbel heads on the East end of the church, but they almost looked too unworn to be of any age. The church was locked.

  
Radwinter, St Mary - the Service was just about to commence - bells were calling the parishioners in as I arrived, though I suspect many of them were attending the Boot Fair in nearby fields across the road. The church has an interesting 2 storey South porch, so may be worth a revisit if in the area.
  
Great Sampford, St Michael - a notice stated that the church is 'normally open. Summer 10-4, Winter 10-3'. It was 8:30 in the morning when we got here...

Little Bardfield, St Katharine - a delightful little church, set back from the road, and which was open. No evidence of the Green Man, internally or externally. There was a guide book for sale at £6.50, but a scan through the demo copy suggested this was more about the history of the parish and its people rather than the structure of the church.

Great Bardfield, St Mary the Virgin - locked tight, but the presence of Clerestory windows suggests that any possible Green Man roof bosses inside would be impossibly high and difficult to see.

Finchingfield, St John the Baptist - A Christening appeared to be in progress so I could not gain entry to the church itself. Several heads on the window stops appeared to be modern, one sporting what appeared to be aviator goggles! There was an older mouth-puller figure on the northwest side of the tower though (difficult to photograph against the sun).

 
The village itself is beautiful, but was busy with the hum of motorbike engines around the village pond. It seems to be one of those places they all converge on when the weather is as pleasant as it was today.

Looking at the map after the journey, it never fails to amaze me just how many churches there are still left to visit in this area.
See this trip on TravelSkoot.