A while back when I was exploring the little Winterbourne stream and using up my roll of Ektachrome, I went to the village of Sturminster Marshall for the first time. It’s a bit off the beaten track! I parked in the car pack of the Red Lion, and had a 5 minute exploration about the river and church before moving on. The pub looked nice, so I made a mental note, and looked it up when I got back. It got good reviews, so I made a note to return at some point, and that point came a couple weeks back.
I ordered the chicken with crushed new potatoes and salad – very nice it was too! When finished we crossed over the road, and made a visit to the church of St Marys.
The church dates from the 12th Century, had some 13th century extensions, changes were made in the 14th and 15th century, then largely left alone until the tower was rebuilt in 1805. It then had a major restoration in 1859, overseen by one Henry Woodyer. Just inside and either side of the porch there are some medieval, stone coffin lids.
My book of old Dorset, describes the “ancient old helmet that probably belonged to the Churchill family, and a bronze plaque to King Alfred…” Meanwhile an insert in the “clear” windows state that “the clear windows in this church were restored thanks to the generosity of John and Laura Bailey in 1988”. The windows made a couple of good black and white subjects..
From a photographic scanning point of view, above is a scan straight out of the scanner, no photoshop whatever, maybe my best scan yet!? All the others did have a little “tinker” but nothing major. The photo’s were made with my Nikon F3 and it’s trusty 50mm lens, on my bulk loaded Ilford FP4 movie film.
S.H.O.U.T. 