The Ruins of St Mary's Church, Stoke Mandeville

Yet another place ticked off my "to visit" list.
Carol dropped me off at the public footpath sign in Stoke Mandeville & I hobbled down a lane across a field to this place, hidden in a copse of trees in the middle of no-where. I say no-where but the old village of Stoke Mandeville was once located here. There are definite earthworks and possible leats which would mean an old mill somewhere nearby.

The church itself was built in the 12th century but fell out of use because of the migration of the modern day village. In the 1960s there were still standing walls but because of their poor condition it was demolished by the Royal Engineers in 1966. The bump in the centre of the shot is all there is left although I did find a couple of places where you could still see the lower parts of the outside walls. There is lots of stonework just lying around and of course quite a number of gravestones. The bells from the church were saved & installed in the "new" church which was built in the centre of the village, The font was also saved & is now in Lt Kimble church (I think) just down the road.

On the way there I walked through "Horse Country" & chatted with the yard manager who told me that she could remember the church still standing in the 1950s & 1960s. She told me she would be sad to see HS2 plough straight through the centre of the ruin along with the remains of the deserted village. I took quite few pictures here as I knew that I would never visit it again. When HS2 is built they will remove all of the dead & reinter them somewhere else. Unfortunately none of the site is Scheduled or Listed & so as far as they are concerned it hardly exists.

Yes...it a very interesting area, on the way back I was sure I could see the remains of a moat which was probably originally fed by a stream running nearby. I must do a bit of Internet research to get the detailed history here. Carol picked me up having visited her mum. Needless to say I can not walk now - but it was worth the trip...

Fine day with a shower in the morning & threatening clouds in the afternoon but I remained dry on my adventure.