St Mary's, Undy - a potted history

I photographed St Mary's church a couple of days ago and thought it might be of interest to add a little about our village church's history.

St Mary's church, Undy

St Mary's was erected in the early/mid 12^th century, although the church we see today bears little resemblance to the original.

The chancel was added in the 13^th century and later extended to its present size (date unknown). In 1880 a major restoration took place and a window was added to the north nave, though many of the other windows are much older. At this time a small central tower was removed and replaced by the bell turret we see today.

St Mary's church, Undy

The single bell housed in the turret dates from the 14^th century and is one of the church's most valued possessions. The church also features a Norman font and an ancient west doorway.

St Mary's 14^th Century Bell

Montage of St Mary's, Undy

Back in the bad old days before digital photography, electronic editing and photo-stitching I used to have a lot of fun shooting a series of images, which I would later build into a montage. I can't remember the last time I did this, but while walking through the village the other day with nothing but a 50 mm prime lens on my camera I decided to drop in on St Mary's and see if I could still remember how to do it!

Montage of St Mary's, Undy

Well the truth is I failed! I completely forgot to shoot the foreground so although I've captured the main part of our little village church in four images I had to chop the bottom off... stupid me, huh?

Typical!

So we had two dry days and I must say it was lovely being able to go out and walk Tilly in the sunshine. Even if it was damn cold, it was dry and both dog and I enjoyed it. But you guessed it we're back to normal again today and it's raining. :(

I suppose I shouldn't complain really... at least we didn't suffer the horrific flooding other areas had prior to Christmas, nor did we match Eglwyswru's 85 rainy days. That said I'd be interested to know just how many wet days we've had here in Undy over the last three months... seems like the hell of a lot to me!

Yet More Rain