On Friday morning I drove along the lane to St Leonard's church at Hatfield as I had seen that they were holding a Harvest Festival there.
St Leonard's is the third oldest church in Herefordshire. The nave is C11th and may even be pre-Conquest in origin. The church was constructed partly of tufa and was extended to the west in the C14th when the chancel was probably rebuilt. There were restorations of the chancel in 1878 and the nave in 1903.
The bell turret may be medieval and the weather boarding was added in 1903.
(Sorry to repeat the history if you are a regular reader of this blog).
I really love this blocked north doorway with three stones on the lintel and a tympanum with Opus reticulatum (ie square stones set diagonally).
Open timber porch partly C14th.
Churchyard to the rear. In the Spring and summer it is a lovely example of a living churchyard where the grass and wild flowers are allowed to grow attracting butterflies and bees.
I'd only got trainers on and the grass was too wet to search for waxcaps. I know there is at least one species to be found there.
Flowers for the Harvest Festival had been left in the porch.
Norman tub font
which has been replaced by this unprepossessing font presumably installed during the 1903 restoration :(
There were flower displays on the windows and at the end of the pews.
Sorry the photos are quite poor - it was cloudy outside and the interior of the church is quite dark.
Altar with more flowers and a pumpkin.
Looking down the nave towards the west gallery.
It is always good to have a look around St Leonard's - such a peaceful church in a lovely location.
In the afternoon we were supposed to have the gas boiler serviced but the engineer never turned up. We were not very happy as we had stayed in to wait for him. Apparently he was busy with emergencies!
We came home on the Saturday.
Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or one of my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
2 comments:
That sounds typical of service/repair people! Our fridge has broken down (luckily we have another but it is crammed now) and someone is coming out next week, only 187 euros!!! At least that includes spare parts and labour if necessary. A lot cheaper than buying a new one. We are disappointed as all the white goods we have had since moving to France have lasted for donkey's years, so 5.5 years is not good enough!
This church is very cute and the decorations are lovely. Your photos look perfectly good to me!
Millymollymandy - Thank you. Sorry to hear about your fridge - hope it is fixed soon. Fortunately the shower was under warranty so didn't cost us anything.
Glad you liked the church and thanks re the photos.
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