Uffington. CHURCH : ST MICHAEL
After visiting Ufford, Bainton and Tallington, the next church visited was that at Uffington. Whilst at Tallington, some very heavy black clouds had threatened a downpour, but by the time that I had reached Uffington the clouds had broken and the Sun was shining through. This set the tone for the rest of the day and by the time that I had reached home I had a slight case of Sunburn…definitely a rarity in the wet and dismal English Summer of 2007!
Whilst I was visiting this church, a working party was hard at work in the grounds cutting grass. Nice friendly bunch as well, with tentative plans being made to re-visit at some point and have take some photographs from the tower. This visit was made seven days after I had gone up the tower at Morton and my legs had just stopped hurting from then!
A priory was first founded here in the reign of Henry III, this was dedicated to St Leonard.
The church of St Michael is a large, imposing building this, with some fine views to be had. Interested to see the Flying Buttresses around the spire. Inside, an effigy of a knight, dating from around the 13th Century I was told, rests in the Chancel. Just take a look in the picture below at the carving of the face. Either the local stonemason of the day was having an off day or, more likely, ancient (or not so ancient) vandalism! There also appears to be an initial “A” carved in his chest.
Opposite the Knight is a monument featuring two men kneeling towards each other. Some real history here as it commemorates the final resting place of Sir Roger Manners, esquire to the body of Queen Mary (died 1558) and then Queen Elizabeth I. The inscription on the monument reads as follows...
'HERE LYES ROGER MANNERS, ESQUIRE TO THE BODYE TO QUEENE MARYE, AND QUEENE
ELIZABETHE, AND THERD SONNE TO THOMAS LATE ERLE OF RUTLAND: ANNO DOMINI 1587.
Doing a little internet research after my visit I looked up the Manners family crest on the internet. It said that their crest had a Peacock on it. This might account for the beautiful carving pictured bottom right found on the exterior of the church.
