Old Church of St Nicholas
OLD CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1052776
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Old Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address:
- OLD CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS
Have you got a photo to share?
Join the Missing Pieces Project. We want you to share your photos and memories.
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1052776
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Old Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address 1:
- OLD CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS
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:
- OLD CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- West Oxfordshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Heythrop
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 35223 27713
Details
HEYTHROP SP32NE 5/80 Old Church of St. Nicholas 27/08/57
GV II*
Chancel of church, now cemetery chapel. C12 and C15, altered C19. Limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; Stonesfield-slate roof. 2-bay chancel. 4-centre-arched C15 east window has Perpendicular drop tracery. Square-headed windows of 2 and 3 lights facing south are also C15 and have cusped lights, deep casement mouldings and square-stopped labels; between them is a blocked round-headed lancet above which is a relief of the Agnus Dei, and the south-west buttress also has a re-set early relief of 2 figures holding crooks. North wall has a small blocked round-headed window below a small square blocking. West wall incorporates the C12 chancel arch, with a band of alternating cable mould, flanked by pairs of round-headed niches, each with roll-moulded arch and jamb shafts; set into the chancel arch is the C12 former south doorway, with an elaborate arch of 5 ornamented orders, the jambs including 2 pairs of detached shafts with waterleaf capitals. Interior: fine trefoil-headed C13 piscina has a moulded surround, a stone credence shelf and a carving of a bunch of grapes at the rear. Cinquefoil-headed recess and a blocked round-headed doorway to north. Butt-purlin roof is probably C17/C18 but has re-used rafters. Elaborate panelled chest tomb to south of sanctuary has a Purbeck-marble cover with brasses commemorating John Ashfield (d.1521) and his wife Elenor, and forms part of a larger monument with the window above, in which they are also shown with their children in stained glass. Monuments also include a large coloured-marble wall memorial to George Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury (d.1787) by J.F. Moore, with an oval relief below an achievment of arms; and a white marble monument commemorating Mary, the mother of the 15th Earl. The east window also includes medieval stained glass. Small stone font on a panelled stem may be C17. (Buildings of England: Oxforeshire: pp696-7; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol XI, pp141-2)
Listing NGR: SP3522327713
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 253261
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1983), 141-2
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 696-7
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 22-Jun-2026 at 10:10:36.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.