Kidlington & Woodstock – Day 9 of 2025 England Pilgrimage

Saturday 9/27/2025

We had another “lie in” and a leasurely start to the morning. While Steve went to the gym (somebody had to do it), we went into the small business area of Kidlington for Jennie to mail some things. The town has a Saturday street market which was fun to see. The post office is located inside a grocery store so Gregg and I enjoyed browsing while Jennie was at the post office window.

Afterwards, we drove to St. Mary’s Church Kidlington. It dates from 1220 and has a beautiful, very tall (164 feet) spire. The inside is beautiful, although parts of it have been updated to 21st century decor, such as removing the pews and replacing them with chairs. Any changes to historic churches must be approved so the church can’t just do anything they want with the building.

It must be a hard call – these churches have been here for hundreds of years, some over 1,000 years. How much of the original should be preserved for future generations vs making changes to suit the current needs, desires, preferences of today.

We all regrouped at the house and set off for a quaint, very old, nearby town of Woodstock. After a delicious lunch and coffee, we walked to St. Mary Magdalene’s Woodstock. Over and over, it is amazing to think that people have been worshipping in these churches for 800 years or more.

I assumed that Christianity in England had “faded out.” I had expected most of the old churches to be deserted except for tourists. And any “worship” to be rote and lifeless. (I feel so conceited admitting that.) We’ve not found that to be the case. Many have vibrant congregations, whether their numbers be large or small, who are worshipping regularly and reaching out to their communities with practical help and sharing the love of Jesus.

Steve and I went into the Red Cross thrift store where he found a “jumper” (pull-over sweater.) Next was a visit to local art gallery shop, the butcher shop, and the fruit and veg shop. Gregg found some Red Leicester cheese at the fruit and veg shop. We loved this cheese in Ireland.

We finished the day going through The Oxfordshire Museum which was very interesting, sharing a lot of history from this area. On our way out of town, we took a quick drive past the Blenheim Palace. The ticket agent allowed me to step inside the gate to take a photo. Wow!

Back home, we enjoyed relaxing, talking, eating a delicious dinner that Jennie made (with a tiny bit of help from me,) several cups of tea, and some good laughs watching a Wallace and Gromit show on TV. It is amazing to think that these shows were made out of clay, movement by movement.

Sunday will be church at Oxford’s Basilica in the morning and an Evensong in the evening which Jennie will be singing in the choir.

I’m out of time to add photos properly. They uploaded backwards timewise throughout the day.