We popped to Herefordshire for a few days this week.
It was raining heavily on Wednesday when we left home.
Luckily yesterday was a lovely day - dry and sunny although a bit windy!
Pudleston is a small village only about 10 minutes drive away so we went to have a look at the church and for a walk around the village.
St Peter's, Pudleston
Another mounting block by the church gates (which were thankfully wide open!) :)
The church building is interesting. The tower was built c1200 and has a Norman West Door. Parts of the chancel are 13th century but the rest of the church is of much later date and dates from the 19th century and also the Woodyer Restoration of 1856/7. A spire rises on the tower from a truncated pyramidal roof.
The churchyard was quite manicured although there were some lovely yew trees.
Yew with a seat!
West Tower and
sundial.
South Porch
The church as you can see is now open again for private prayer. Some churches are making it clear they are open for casual visitors and church crawlers as well as for prayer. To be honest I was quite tempted to grab the hand sanitiser and disposable gloves and have a peek inside to see what Woodyer had done to the church as some of the stained glass and a few monuments sound interesting. But as B was with me I decided it wasn't fair and in any case am I yet ready to go inside buildings? Still it is close enough to return to.
In the field next door to the church were a couple of beautiful ancient oak trees.
Norman West Doorway of 2 orders - outer arch with lateral chevron and a restored (although to me it looked very weathered!) tympanum. The hood mould has dart foliage decoration which was a motif used by the Herefordshire School of Romanesque carvers on the West doorway of Leominster Priory.
Lichen on gravestones
War Memorial
I did read in one book on Herefordshire churches that the original font from the church was now in the churchyard but it was something I failed to spot.
We had a walk round the small village but I will leave that until Part 2.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.
12 comments:
What a pretty little church, and St Peter's Pudleston sounds so quaint and alliterative. Like you, I am not ready to go inside buildings or shops, but the time is coming when I must. I have heard our flu vaccines will be set up as a socially distanced conveyor belt in the local town hall!!
Rustic Pumpkin - Thanks so much. Herefordshire is turning out, as I suspected, to have so many hidden gems :)
Yes, we had a phone call too from our doctor's surgery to remind us of flu vaccines starting next month :( This will no doubt be at the surgery - goodness only knows how one would social distance in such a small waiting room and in the past they see one person after another :( Dreading it!!! Also have had to book car in for a service in a few weeks :( Although they say they sanitise it afterwards - I suspect I will be out there with the dettol spray as soon as it returns!!!
Too hard to take photos today in the howling wind!
What a lovely little church. So much character.
I am having to "man up" a bit and went into our little local PO/shop this week - only one allowed in at a time. Felt fine with that.
Going to the Co-op for essentials after a failure on the Asda order was a big ask though - I wore a mask and gloves (no one else had gloves on and only two other people with masks, as they're not mandatory here). It was busier than I'd have liked and I had to queue to pay . . .
St Peter's looks a lovely little church with lots of interesting features to explore on the outside. I hope you will go back and visit the inside when it feels safe to do so. I love the old Oaks and the Yew with a seat, a nice place to rest on a hot day. I like the sundial and the mounting block and the open, welcoming gates:)
Simon Douglas Thompson - Thank you - yes it was windy most of my wild flower photos were blurred!
Bovey Belle
Thanks so much - the Herefordshire churches are real gems - so much character and history.
You were brave going to the co-op! I wouldn't be going in a shop locally to home - infection rates round here far too high. Herefordshire though much lower so one day soon may do so - having to take food from home is a pain!
Rosie - Thanks so much. Yes I will go back as mentioned I was very tempted yesterday! It is a lovely little church. Even OH wandered round and said the church was lovely! A first!!!!!!
It's a lovely church and the big old Oaks look beautiful! At least the rain let up for you :)
Pam - Thanks. I check the weather forecast constantly before we go and was hoping for that one dry day! :)
This looks like a lovely place to visit :-)
CherryPie Thank you.
Wow those oaks are glorious! They must be hundreds of years old. I think you will be fine going inside a church if no-one is around. Do you have a mask with you? It may not be really that much safer for us wearing one, but I always do! We have to indoors here in France anyway.
Millymollymandy - Thanks so much - apologies again in delay in publishing your comment - we've been back there for a few days. I plucked up courage yesterday and went in a church! I'd put a mask in my bag because over here now you have to wear them in most places indoors including churches. There was no-one else there. When out now I carry hand sanitiser, mask and a small bottle of dettol spray! Oh and disposable gloves! What horrendous times we live in!!!
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