Snowdrop Sunday at St. Botolph's Church, Swyncombe, South Oxfordshire

On our way down to Reading we saw hundreds of snowdrops in the Oxfordshire countryside.  There were daffodils in bloom too.  They had probably been planted and had spread and were growing wild along the verges and in the woods.

On our way back home to the north of England we did a detour to see the snowdrops and aconites growing in the churchyard at St. Botolph's Church, Swyncombe.  I've shared a visit to the church before, but as it was one of the weekends in February when everyone is invited to view these delicate flowers before they go over we took the opportunity during our journey to return.  Refreshments are served by members of the congregation on these special occasions, but we didn't stay long.  It was another chance for Mr P to rest before we joined the Oxford by-pass and then drive across country to the M1 motorway.  

It's a beautiful area.  There are woodland lanes, small villages and market towns on this stretch of the road.  It's also where the red kites hang out and it's good to know that the numbers are multiplying.  We saw them flying and sailing high up in the thermals in the home counties and even beyond Oxfordshire.

We turned off by the village war memorial at Cookley Green and followed other visitors who were going to the church.

St. Botolph's was probably built by Saxon workers under the supervision of the Normans.  It's situated on the Ridgeway Path which was once a major road from Avebury in Wiltshire to the flint mines of Norfolk.

The sheep in the surrounding fields still have their woolly Winter fleeces on.

There were daffodils in bloom that must have been planted by the residents of Watlington.  They were a bright sight to greet visitors.  Up here in the north of England daffodils are still tightly in bud in our garden and we look forward to sunnier, warmer weather for them to open.  (The ones below are from March 2022).

Happy St. David's Day to all my friends with Welsh connections!  

Thank you for coming by.  Have a good weekend everyone!

Signs of new life

We've just returned from a time in Berkshire where we st

The above photos are flowers in our own garden.  The snowdrops have been flowering for some weeks now.

Today I want to share the detour up a country lane to see the snowdrops and aconites in the churchyard of St. Botolph's Church in the village of Swyncombe in Oxfordshire.  I've shared photos on this blog of a previous visit to the church and other photos sent to me when our daughter visited there for 'Snowdrop Sunday' on the second Sunday of February when there are refreshments and a talk and blessing in the churchyard by a priest  - click on the side bar label for Oxfordshire and scroll down to the appropriate blog if you wish to see them.  It was good to be in the area at this time of the year to see the flowers for ourselves as well as the snowdrops flowering on the grassy banks and in the beech woods as we drove through the winding country lanes of south Oxfordshire. Comparing our daughter's photos and mine I think that the flowers were even more prolific this year. The flowers were also more open as they responded to the milder weather and sunshine last Sunday morning.

the War Memorial and avenue of trees through the nearby hamlet of Cookley Green

Finally, back home shrubs in the local park are beginning to burst into new life.

Snowdrops

The first snowdrops appeared in our garden at the end of January.

Every year in the month of February I think I'll make a return visit
to Babworth Church in Nottinghamshire
after going there in 2013 to do some family history research

 on my great grandfather, Charles. (At the time I was able to confirm
that he was buried somewhere in the woodland churchyard after contacting
the Nottingham Register Office of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
 The records were not in the church, although the church warden
was very helpful and looked in the registers kept there).

The church has a Snowdrop Weekend on the second Sunday of February
 when visitors can see the snowdrops that are growing there,
 but once more we missed the date, although I'm sure they'll
be flowering for a while longer just as they are in our garden.

However, our Berkshire daughter went with her friend
 to the church of St. Botolph's, Swyncombe
 in S. Oxfordshire on Sunday afternoon.
She told me about what she saw as she knew I would be interested
and sent me some photos.

 You can read more about Swyncombe Church which we visited
 one time on our way down to Berkshire here .

Summer 2013

February 2015

After prayers in the churchyard including The Canticle of the Sun,

 a song of praise composed by St. Francis of Assisi, 

there were refreshments of tea and  home-made cake in the church
and then the service of  Choral Evensong.

a lancet window with stained glass depicting St. Botolph

Swyncombe, Oxfordshire

Thankfully it's been another quiet week, but I'm very conscious that we're coming to the end of November and December days will be rather busy with seasonal events and social occasions before the Christmas holiday period.

Today I'm looking back to when we went down to Berkshire a few months ago. 

When we drive down to my home town we usually take a break in one of the Oxfordshire villages on the border with Berkshire where the winding road takes us through the beech woods and the Chiltern Hills. At the hamlet of Cookley Green on this last trip we turned down a narrow track lined with lime trees which gave us access to Swyncombe Church.

The name Swyncombe means 'the valley or hollow in the flank of the hill' (cumb) and 'wild boar' (swin). There was a Saxon settlement and the pre-Roman Ridgeway track, part of the Icknield Way, runs past the church.

  

                                                                       Cookley Green

                                                               
                                                         The Ridgeway track and Icknield Way

The church is early Norman with some Saxon parts and is dedicated to St. Botolph who lived in the 7th century AD. He was an Anglo-Saxon monk of the Benedictine order who made missionary journeys around East Anglia, Kent and Sussex, travelling on horseback or on foot and he was constantly exposed to danger from robbers who hid in the woods and forests.

It is thought that the church of flint and stone was built by Saxon builders under the direction of the Normans to a traditional design with one long nave terminating in an apse. The porch was added in the 19th century when the church was restored. The windows are Early English in style and only one in the  south side of the apse is original. Outside on the south side of the church can be seen a blocked Norman doorway and on the north side is another. Many of the grave headstones have inscriptions dating from the 18th century.

The stained glass of the lancet window depicts the three saints associated with the church, St. Botolph, St. Martin and St. Thomas Becket and the other shows the armorial bearings of the families who owned the estate of Swyncombe and the nearby Ewelme, including Thomas Chaucer, the son of the poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who married Alice, the daughter of Thomas and Matilda Chaucer.  

Later on these estates were given to Charles Brandon, married to Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, who became the appointed Duke of Suffolk. Then a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I owned them and the manor was an important one with hundreds of acres of land.  

The farm buildings next to the church looked as if they were derelict, but there were sheep in the pastures and the surrounding land was being farmed.

Although the settlement is tucked away in a secluded valley there are views across the Downs towards Oxford and one can imagine the travellers through the ages who would have used the ancient track of the Icknield Way which passes Swyncombe.