A View From A Churchyard - a photo on Flickriver

            
A view of St. Nicholas Church , Great Bookham and not the usual one . Most photographs seen  are from the road at the centre of the village and not as here looking at the back of the church . As can be seen above the gravestones are in various conditions from good to damaged and fallen over . Looking nearly into the sun , the rear of the church was in heavy shadow so a lift of the shadows and a conversion to mono saved this shot from the bin .
It is likely that people have worshipped on this site since the seventh century. Originally a wooden church would have stood where the Nave now stands. The stone and flint church mentioned in the Domesday Book comprised the Nave of the church you see today with its two Saxon windows visible high on the north side. South and North Aisles were built in the twelfth century and the stone tower was started then. The large Chancel was built in 1341 and a South Porch in 1380 with a priest’s room above it. The Slyfield Chapel was built in the mid fifteenth century and then joined to the South Porch. The North Aisle was rebuilt with three arcades in 1844 and the church reordered with the Sacristy and Sexton’s shed added in 1885. The small South Porch was added in 1913, the Choir Vestry in 1923 and the Church Room in 1979 forming the structure you see today. Much internal reordering has taken place and continues to meet changing ways in which the building is used .

There are many fine stained glass windows and memorials in the church and it has associations with a number of famous people. Reviewing the list of incumbents we see such names as Samuel L’Isle (afterwards Bishop of St Asaph and briefly of Norwich), Samuel Cooke and Gerrard Andrewes DD also Dean of Canterbury. Samuel Cooke, who married Cassandra Leigh, was godfather to Jane Austen. Jane stayed with them in Bookham on a number of occasions and set several of her books based on places such as Bookham, Box Hill, Dorking and West Humble. Cassandra Cooke took great pleasure in the presence in the village of Fanny Burney who lived nearby .

The Chancel has a fine dedication tablet on the east wall south of the altar; it is one of the best examples of C14 lettering on stone in England. The Slyfields have a number of brasses dating from 1433 in the church. The Shiers, later owners of Slyfield House, are commemorated by both memorials and brasses. A number of owners of Polesden are buried in the church and churchyard including Col. Thomas Moore and his nephew William, Admiral Geary and Ronald Greville – husband of Margaret Greville. The descendants of Sir Charles Howard, Baron of Effingham, who commanded the English Fleet against the Spanish Armada, are well represented with memorials and a stained glass window. The east window of the Chancel contains six panels of fine C15 Flemish glass, installed in 1954 to replace the window damaged in World War II. An unusual willow tree memorial in the Chancel commemorates the Andrewes/Heberden family. William Heberden was Vicar then Rector for many years; his father was physician to King George III.

Taken in: UK / England / Mole Valley / Bookham (show map)

Taken on: January 30, 2022

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Camera: Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III, f/4.0, 1/500 sec, 15mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	15mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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