Church of St Mary
CHURCH OF ST MARY, SOMERTON ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1046881
- Date first listed:
- 07-Dec-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, SOMERTON ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-06-09
- Reference:
- IOE01/12363/29
- Rights:
- © Mr J. B. Moseley. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1046881
- Date first listed:
- 07-Dec-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, SOMERTON ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, SOMERTON ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- Cherwell (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Ardley
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 54242 27371
Details
ARDLEY SOMERTON ROAD SP52NW (North side) 3/3 Church of St. Mary 07/12/66 GV II*
Church. C14 (possibly partly earlier) and 1792, restored 1865. Limestone and some marlstone rubble with limestone-ashlar dressings; limestone ashlar; Stonesfield-slate roofs. Chancel, nave and west tower. C14 rubble chancel has good flowing tracery in the 3-light east window and in the 2-light windows to west of it; the 2 westernmost windows are square headed but may be of the same date, that to south with a blocked lower section below a transom. C14 priest's door. Plain ashlar nave of 1792 has 3 simple pointed windows each side, the middle window to south blocked. The saddleback-roofed tower, which has c14 diagonal buttresses and marlstone banding to its lower stages, has a pointed western doorway of c.1792 below a square-headed 2-light C14 window. The limestone rubble of the upper stage looks earlier and there are simple 2-light openings to the top stage facing north and south, which may be Romanesque. Interior: Chancel has an unusual C13 double recess, one half of which is a piscina; it has linked trefoiled heads with a central piercing, and the jambs are ornamented with dogtooth. To north is an elaborately-cusped ogee-headed C14 tomb recess. The plain chancel arch has C13 detached shafts with moulded capitals, but the northern base may be earlier, The tower arch is probably C14 but is partly concealed by a western gallery of 1834. Fittings include a C12 tub font and two C17 chests, There is a wall monument of 1753 in the chancel, and several plainer tablets. (VCH: Oxfordshire, Vol VI, p13; Buildings of England; Oxfordshire, pp422-3)
Listing NGR: SP5424227371
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 244528
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1959), 13
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 422-3
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 11:51:06.
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