St Andrew's Church and Chantry, Trent

This morning I nipped into town to start looking for Christmas presents, mostly for the children this year. I shall be out of action following an op in a couple of weeks so must make plans!

N and I then drove over to Trent in Dorset to meet old friends at The Rose and Crown for some lunch and a good catch-up on all the news.

St Andrew's church spire is one of only three in Dorset. It dates back to the 14C while the rest of the church has had various alterations over the following couple of hundred years. Inside there is a colourful memorial to Anne, wife of Thomas Gerard the historian and antiquarian. He died in 1634. The former Archbishop Fisher and headmaster of Repton School retired to the village and was buried here. There is also a flagstone with the name of Field Marshal Lord Rawlinson, a senior commander of the British Army during WWI. But the most interesting family memorial is that of the Wyndhams, one of whom helped King Charles II escape in 1651 after the Battle of Worcester and let him stay in his house in the village before travelling on to Lyme Regis.

The Chantry next door was built in the time of Henry VI (1421-1471) and was once home to a priest.