St Mary's Church, Cholsey - Agatha Christies resting place

Happy New Year everyone, this, my first post of 2025 and time to establish some new ideas and projects for the year ahead, to keep me hiving along. I enjoy the habit of writing here, the overal experience in my view beats other platfroms but I might just leave these thoughts for a post of their own.

Yesterday we were watching some programmes on iplayer, as it was horrid outside and one of them was Lucy Worsley's documentary on Agatha Christie, which was very interesting.

We ended up hopping in the car to drive over to Cholsey which is not that far away but got there as the sun was setting, well, there was a very vague dreary sunset at least. So this meant I could only get one photo and that was of the sign below.

Which led to an idea, yes one of my many ideas that I have but this one is easily doable.

How about archiving signs like this on the chain? Take a photo, capture the text and embellish them with questions or prompts for other activities/outings.

So here we go....

ST. MARY'S CHURCH CHOLSEY & AGATHA CHRISTIE

St. Mary's Church

Cholsey church was part of the monastic system set up by Ethelread the Unready in about 986 A.D. The lower part of the tower of St Mary's Church shows traces of Saxon style stonework in the form of 'long and short" quoins. In 1121 when Henry I founded Reading abbey he endowed it with the monastic lands at Cholsey. those days everyone had to pay a tithe - a tenth part of the annual produce of land or labour. The tithe was usually paid in goods and Cholsey produced so much that a huge barn was built - said to be the biggest in Europe.

Great Barn

The church and manor were given to Reading Abbey by Henry Ist in 1121 A.D. It was a most valuable part of the abbey's possessions. In the 13th & 14th centuries the largest barn in Europe was erected close by the church.

Unfortunately, this was demolished in the early 19th century. On the right, as you enter the churchyard you can see a large barn - the original barn was bigger than this. The Great Barn was 303 feet long and had seventeen stone piers on each side supporting the roof timbers.

The Church Bells

There are eight bells in the tower. The Sanctus bell was made by Richard de Wymbish, one of the earliest London Bell founders.

Only a few bells made by him now exist.

The Cholsey bell is still regularly rung.

It was rehung in 1972 and bears the inscription RICARDUS: DE: WIMBUS:
ME: FECIT (Richard de Wymbish made me.)

Cholsey First School

In 1837 a school building was erected by the churchyard gates. The school was built by subscription and then adopted by the National Society and was used for Sunday school and evening classes.

Agatha Christie

The world renowned writer Agatha Christie was a resident of the parish of Cholsey. She was born on the 15th September 1890 in Torquay, Devon.

In December 1914 she married an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps - Archibald Christie, but this ended in divorce in 1928.

There was one child from the marriage. In 1930 she married her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan. They bought Winterbrook House in 1934. They attended St. Mary's Curch, Cholsey and are buried in the graveyard of their parish church.

After entering the churchyard walk along the path to the porch and then veer right across the grass towards the wall and you will see a large gravestone

The grave of Agatha Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan is tucked into a corner of the graveyard of St. Mary's Church. Agatha Christie was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956.

In 1971 she received the Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire. Dame Agatha Christie died on the 12th January 1976 at the age of 85.

To return to Wallingford you need to go back through the churchyard and out to the road. You can then

Cross the road and go back the way you came.

If you wish to start the Agatha Christie Trail, cross the road follow the path to the bypass. Cross carefully and walk down Winterbrook Lane until you reach the main road. You need to cross and you will soon reach Winterbrook House which is almost hidden by a hedge.

Turn right and walk carefully over the bridge, past the school and turn right through the gate and walk across Whitehead Meadow. Turn left through the recreation ground towards the Pavilion. On leaving the recreation ground, turn left and walk into the centre of the village where it is possible to catch a bus into Wallingford.

Turn right and follow the pavement into Cholsey. At the first mini roundabout turn left and head back towards Wallingford After the Red Lion there is a long straight road until you reach the bypass. Winterbrook House is on the right hand side of Reading Road.

Exploring further

Without any doubt, we will return on another occasion to explore the church fully and to follow the Agatha Christie trail, that sounds very interesting and find the house in which the couple lived their latter years.

Reading Abbey is very interesting and I don't think I've written or shared any photos of it on Hive, though I could be wrong but it's time I revisited to take some fresh photos.

Tithe barns are interesting, as there are manyf them scattered across our countryside, many of them restored for other uses these days (obvs).

Having rung some bells recently at a church in Alton, my interest in them has been rekindled somewhat, so will be interesting to research the history behind them and make connections with other churches. I recall visiing a church in the middle of West Berkshire with stained glass windows, designed by Sir Ninian Comper, you will find other examples of his work at Westminster Abbey in London.

The more you dig, the more interesting it all becomes!!