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<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55185038534/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55185038534_aebaa509c2_m.jpg" width="240" height="215" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183891437/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183891437_9a785a4c0d_m.jpg" width="240" height="229" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183058192/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183058192_8180ac5dce_m.jpg" width="240" height="232" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55184342695/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55184342695_5dabc5ed8f_m.jpg" width="237" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55184342880/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55184342880_b46f102692_m.jpg" width="240" height="237" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55182147577/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55182147577_6dcb311be4_m.jpg" width="67" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183197523/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183197523_582792555e_m.jpg" width="71" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183033691/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183033691_2db4462d1a_m.jpg" width="74" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183290809/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183290809_8e38dd41c5_m.jpg" width="74" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55183290834/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55183290834_42a4e7fef3_m.jpg" width="76" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/149450236@N06/">Simon C-S</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/149450236@N06/55182686950/" title="66726 - Warwick, Warwickshire"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55182686950_6d45e0aa22_m.jpg" width="240" height="111" alt="66726 - Warwick, Warwickshire" /></a></p> <p>GB Railfreight Class 66 diesel locomotive 66726 &quot;Sheffield Wednesday&quot; powers towards Warwick station with empty aggregate wagons running as 6G99 Tunstead Sidings to Banbury Reservoir Redland Aggregates.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/54358344@N05/">Bob J B</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54358344@N05/55182043180/" title="P1088748"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55182043180_e6416621ea_m.jpg" width="240" height="135" alt="P1088748" /></a></p> <p>Seen between Warwick and Leamington Spa on 31st March 2026, newly refurbished Cross Country class 220 &quot;Voyager&quot; <br /> 220028</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/54358344@N05/">Bob J B</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54358344@N05/55182043655/" title="P1088735"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55182043655_b8c4d41ee6_m.jpg" width="240" height="135" alt="P1088735" /></a></p> <p>Seen between Leamington Spa and Warwick on 31st March 2026, GB Railfreight class 666 66739 heading a Eastleigh to Mountsorrel empty aggregates working</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55181029751/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55181029751_a7eccb8d0b_m.jpg" width="76" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55181029761/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55181029761_8cd2fa5ab8_m.jpg" width="72" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55181029781/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55181029781_5dd3f441e2_m.jpg" width="72" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/jelltecks/">Jelltex</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/55181435365/" title="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55181435365_7f98e41f77_m.jpg" width="76" height="240" alt="The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick" /></a></p> <p>It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.<br /> <br /> I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.<br /> <br /> And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.<br /> <br /> One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.<br /> <br /> It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.<br /> <br /> Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.<br /> <br /> I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.<br /> <br /> But it was fine, I was in no hurry.<br /> <br /> So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.<br /> <br /> The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.<br /> <br /> All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.<br /> <br /> After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.<br /> <br /> A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre. <br /> <br /> If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.<br /> <br /> I walked towards it.<br /> <br /> St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.<br /> <br /> I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.<br /> <br /> The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.<br /> <br /> At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.<br /> <br /> Delicious.<br /> <br /> One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.<br /> <br /> Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.<br /> <br /> And waited.<br /> <br /> And waited some more.<br /> <br /> It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.<br /> <br /> Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.<br /> <br /> It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.<br /> <br /> I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.<br /> <br /> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is Grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network.<br /> <br /> The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.<br /> <br /> The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.<br /> <br /> The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the 14th century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (died 1369, later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[2] Between c. 1370 and 1394, the chancel, transept, nave and aisles were rebuilt, then forming a basilica with wooden roofs.[3] Thomas Beauchamp's descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of queen consort Catherine Parr.<br /> <br /> The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.<br /> <br /> The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson (appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being &quot;as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-century English Gothic&quot;.[6]<br /> <br /> The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary,_Warwick</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/198184252@N05/">padhahye36</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/198184252@N05/55180360529/" title="Last Catch of the Day"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55180360529_f29712e06f_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Last Catch of the Day" /></a></p> <p>A family tries to catch fish as the golden sun drops over the horizon.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/198184252@N05/">padhahye36</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/198184252@N05/55180360584/" title="The Lone Gaurd"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55180360584_441ae7db5e_m.jpg" width="240" height="166" alt="The Lone Gaurd" /></a></p> <p>A single tree over looking the habor where a popular amusement used to flourish.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/144291588@N06/">Scotland by NJC.</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144291588@N06/55178276372/" title="Warwick Castle from the Gatehouse and Portcullis, Warwickshire, England."><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55178276372_a094df6a88_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Warwick Castle from the Gatehouse and Portcullis, Warwickshire, England." /></a></p>

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