St Mary’s, Bloxham,
a spire in first light.

Five photographs move from the village and fields to the spire’s lichen-covered stone. A familiar landmark, changed by the light upon it.

A wide photograph of St Mary’s, Bloxham, with its sunlit spire above the church, village roofs, trees and green fields beneath a blue sky. — A Spire in the Landscape. The church and the village held in the same light.

One spire. A changing light.

Whilst working on a commission nearby, I kept tabs on the light moving around St Mary’s. Its organic, lichen-encrusted and quatrefoiled surfaces seemed to glow in the first light.

St Mary’s is a Grade I listed church with a fourteenth-century west tower and spire. The parish records a height of 198 feet, around 60 metres. Historic England describes the church as one of the finest in the country.

Explore the architecture of St Mary’s The parish history

Two ways of rising.

The Golden Needle gives the upper spire a broad sweep of sky. The Soaring Spire follows its complete vertical reach. Two formats, each giving the stone a different presence.

An illustrative room with a nominal 140 cm console. — The Golden Needle is shown on 30 × 23 cm paper beside The Soaring Spire on 23 × 30 cm paper. Oak frames; 6 cm gap.

The upper spire of St Mary’s, Bloxham, rises towards a golden weathercock, with village roofs and fields below a broad blue sky. — The Golden Needle is shown on 30 × 23 cm paper beside The Soaring Spire on 23 × 30 cm paper. Oak frames; 6 cm gap.

From skyline to surface.

Move from the full spire to the tower and then to its carved surface. The repeating portrait format brings the changing scale of each photograph into focus.

The complete spire and upper tower of St Mary’s, Bloxham, beneath a blue sky, with a golden weathercock, pinnacles, village roofs and green fields. — All three are shown on 23 × 30 cm paper, with illustrative deep blue frames and 4 cm gaps. Each paper size includes a 10 mm white border. No separate card mount is shown, above a nominal 140 cm console.

The place and its particulars.

Two closer views sit above the wider landscape. The smaller photographs invite a close look at the stone; the larger image gives the church its village and fields.

A close portrait of the tower and lower spire of St Mary’s, Bloxham, showing sunlit ironstone, lichen, bell openings and tracery, with village buildings and fields behind. — Tower and Spire and Lichen and Quatrefoil are each shown on 23 × 30 cm paper above A Spire in the Landscape on 45 × 26.19 cm paper. Walnut frames; 4 cm upper gap and 3 cm between rows.

Three Beverley Minster prints arranged on the Picture Room wall above Andy’s camera, brushes, watercolour box and model of Woody.

Andy Marshall’s Picture Room

Find a place for your own connections.

Choose photographs or watercolours, arrange them on the wall, and share a combination that feels your own.

Open the Picture Room

Combination Selector. Find your connection.

Choose your own combination of images.