St Peter’s, Besford

After completing our engineering education, we made a plan to visit together a well-known church. All the session fellows agreed on the St Peter’s, Besford. We fixed a day for our trip. We hired company cabs so that we don’t face any traffic problems at all. On a fixed day, we got up early in the morning, took our breakfast from the hostel cafe and reached the London City Airport. The company cab driver was already present at the gate of the airport. He greeted us warmly. We all friends sat in the cab and our journey started from the London City Airport. The driver was driving slowly and smoothly.

Three hours and 10 minutes later, we were at St Peter’s, Besford. The church was very beautiful. Its construction was on old material based. Besford is a small settlement off the A4014 south of Pershore. It was well worth the effort because the church has England's only timber-framed nave. The small church, built around 1400, was located at the far end of the village. In the nineteenth century, the chancel was rebuilt in stone. We notice that the small steps lead into the nave, which has 17th-century panelled walls and old pews with carved squares with flowers on the ends.

The outside view of the church was very awesome. When we entered the church, we saw that the massive wood beams support the roof. The ceiling was panelled, with carved bosses and a bottom frieze of grapes and vine leaves. Above the west end, the Royal Coat of Arms was displayed. The ancient wooden reredos was propped against the wall beneath it. The initials IHS are in the centre, surrounded by small carved flowers. There are quatrefoils with flower motifs on either side, as on the rood loft. A hatchment is supported by one of the beams.

Just inside the door is a triptych dedicated to John Harewell, who died in 1600. The doors open in fours, with the top two being larger than the bottom two. Outside, the remains of painted shields can be found. When you open the doors, you will notice a kneeling figure in the centre. On the left door is a grim reaper with a scythe, and on the right is a skeleton. The inscriptions on the panels below are too worn to read. In the centre bottom, there is a corpse in a shroud (rather than a naked woman, as I first assumed), with putti on the inside of the bottom doors.

We also saw paintings there. The paintings were in bad shape, but there were framed paintings beneath that show what they might have looked like. The nave is lit by electricity, but the chancel is still lit by candles. The 1450 rood loft was a stunning example of pre-Reformation architecture supported by wooden pillars. Carved grapes and quatrefoils with carved flowers run along the bottom. The original red and gold paint remains. Above was a crucifix carved in Oberammergau in 1956. After visiting the whole Church, we moved towards the London City Airport from St Peter’s, Besford by using the company cab. The behaviour of the cab driver was very good with us. We reached late night at the airport. We paid charges to the cab driver, and he took his money and moved back. It was the first and most interesting trip of my life.