MURSTON

 Not a place I've ever really thought about, as it is mostly taken over with the football stadium and a huge industrial complex.

However, if you go down Crown Quay Lane, under the railway bridge, and work your way through the busy estate to the said football stadium, just as you get there, there is a pretty little park on the left.

This was once the graveyard for Murston Old church, and there it still stands, in the middle of the exquisite lawns. They have turned the barn that stands there into a cafe/tea rooms. As I discovered, it's a wonderful place to sit and relax.  

As you can see, it was locked. However, I will return. It's just too beautiful for words.

Most of the old church has gone, and what's left is just the chancel. In 1623, a rector of Murston was charged with neglect of his duties and with keeping his horse in church, even during Sunday services, when it “did begin to neigh aloud and make a great noise whereat … some of the younger members of the congregation were moved to unseemly merriment”.

As the parish succumbed to the growth in both industry and population, the old church was too small; and laying as it did, surrounded by unhealthy wetlands and industry, it was decided to build a new one, further away from the water. A lot of the building materials for the new church came from demolishing this one.

What remains was saved in 1976 and is now listed as a scheduled ancient monument, and is managed  by the Murston All Saints Trust.