St Mary's church in Ashby Magna was built about 1220AD by a Robert Esseby (from which the name 'Ashby' is derived), a descendant of William Peveril who held the manor after the Norman Conquest. There was probably an earlier church on the site before but none remains in the present fabric. The church has been restored many times and the oldest parts of the church now reside in the north aisle and arcade which are 13th century.
The church consists of a tower, nave, north aisle, vestry and chancel. The tower dates from the 14th century, and the original entrance is thought to have been through the west tower. The nave and south windows were restored in 1860 as well as the removal of a decaying gallery and pews. Also added at this time was a bath stone pulpit and font. The original font’s location and whereabouts are unknown.
In 1907 the chancel was heavily restored, the floor of the chancel was raised and curiously the Victorians used some tiles with the City of Cardiff’s motif on them. They also added the wording above the chancel arch. There is medieval piscina in the chancel and aumbry recess on the north wall. The church has a nice ‘homely’ feel perhaps because of the different carpets and rugs scattered around the floor of the nave and chancel. The organ seems large and out of place in its present location and perhaps resided in the chancel area or against the west tower arch.
The graveyard is particularly interesting as there are a number of iron graveposts which I have not seen elsewhere. They are all badly worn, but seem to date from the 19th century. When I visited, the grass was rather long, but the churchyard has a rather novel way of keeping it under control. See if you can tell what it is.
At the published co-ordinates you will find a small plaque with two 4-digit numbers on. Consider these as ABCD and EFGH.
The cache can be found at: N52° (C-B)(G-C).(F-A)(C-G)(F-E) W001° (A-B)(C-G).(D-A)(D-B)(G-H).
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first at churchmicro@gmail.com so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication. There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list