This is where I took my kids for an afternoon walk on Halloween.
All Saints church is surrounded by a partly overgrown graveyard on a hill overlooking the small village of Godshill on the Isle Of Wight.
Access to the church is via a relatively steep foopath, the path starts at the base of the hill between some 16th / 17th Century cottages and gets progressively narrower as it curves up to the church.
Godshill is located on the Isle of Wight and is an ancient parish that existed before the compilation of the Domesday Book in AD 1086. The first recorded spelling of the village was Godeshulle.
The church was given by William Fitz-Osbern who died in 1070 to the Abbey of Lyra in Normandy.
The church today largely dates from the 14th Century and is the fourth church to be built on this site.
The hill on which the church stands was once a place of pagan worship and legend tells that the building of a church was begun at the foot of the hill but that on three successive nights the stones were removed unseen to the site of the present church. Work was restarted on the first two mornings but on the third day it was assumed that God wished the church to be built on the hill, hence the name Godshill.
All Saints church is surrounded by a partly overgrown graveyard on a hill overlooking the small village of Godshill on the Isle Of Wight.
Access to the church is via a relatively steep foopath, the path starts at the base of the hill between some 16th / 17th Century cottages and gets progressively narrower as it curves up to the church.
Godshill is located on the Isle of Wight and is an ancient parish that existed before the compilation of the Domesday Book in AD 1086. The first recorded spelling of the village was Godeshulle.
The church was given by William Fitz-Osbern who died in 1070 to the Abbey of Lyra in Normandy.
The church today largely dates from the 14th Century and is the fourth church to be built on this site.
The hill on which the church stands was once a place of pagan worship and legend tells that the building of a church was begun at the foot of the hill but that on three successive nights the stones were removed unseen to the site of the present church. Work was restarted on the first two mornings but on the third day it was assumed that God wished the church to be built on the hill, hence the name Godshill.
A damaged and overgrown mausoleum within the grounds of the church.
Most of the gravestones I saw were so eroded or covered in lichen they
were unreadable.
Most of the gravestones I saw were so eroded or covered in lichen they
were unreadable.
Another view of the church.
Godshill church has a peal of six bells.
They were recast in 1887 from the old peal which had been recast in 1815 with the village gun of 1543 being cast into the tenor bell.
Photographs taken 31 October 2013.
Godshill church has a peal of six bells.
They were recast in 1887 from the old peal which had been recast in 1815 with the village gun of 1543 being cast into the tenor bell.
Photographs taken 31 October 2013.
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