Adventures with Local Turret Clocks N.O4
St Marys’ Addington, Addington Village Rd, Croydon CR0 5AS
Adventures with local turret clocks continues with a visit to quite a nice church in Addington.
The church was founded in about 1080 A.D (in which the previous church on the site was built). It is considered the oldest working public building in Croydon and the chancel of the church is considered the oldest, dating from the Saxon times.
The windows behind the altar date from 1140 and in 1180 the first tower was built (however this was oblong in comparison to the current square tower).
However, restoration in 1875 resulted in the tower being extended to accommodate an extra floor for bellringers to ring in (they previously rung on ground level). In the 1980s the roof was replaced.
We entered the church at about 2:30pm in which we were greeted by Dave, who had kindly organised the tour of the tower with me.
I immediately noticed the fantastic altar at the chancel part of the church. As already said above, it dates from the Saxon times!
Turning left as we entered, we came across a door very similar to the one at the entrance of the church. As the door opened, we yet again saw… a very small staircase that was contained directly behind the door (quite similar to that in St Leonards, Streatham).
Emerging into the bellringing room, Dave showed
Clockman's Adventures! 