Details
SP 4105,
21/296
STANTON HARCOURT
Church of St Michael
12/09/55
GV
I
Church. Mid C12; transepts added and chancel enlarged in mid C13 and late C13;
C15 bell-stage to tower; Harcourt Chapel probably by William Orchard, c1470;
transepts remodelled in C15. Coursed limestone rubble; rendered chancel, nave
and lower stage of tower; Harcourt Chapel of ashlar. Gabled stone slate roof.
Cruciform plan, with tower over crossing.
Chancel: east gable has offset corner
buttresses and three mid C13 graduated lancets, with string course forming hoods
over these and two groups of triple lancets to north wall and one to south; simple
blocked Norman door to north. Harcourt Chapel: 4-light Perpendicular east window
of panel tracery; similar 3-light windows, divided by offset buttresses, to
3-bay south wall which has inserted C17 round-arched doorway; corbel table with
carved heads, bird, roses and flowers; parapet with pierced quatrefoils, and
pinnacles. South transept: mid C13 string course forming hoods over blocked
lancet to north-east, two lancets to west and mid C13 pointed moulded doorway to
south; remodelled in C15 with 5-light panel tracery window to south and plain
parapet. North transept: mid C13 string course forming hoods over two lancets in
each side wall and pointed chamfered doorway to north; remodelled in C15 with
3-light panel-tracery window to south and plain parapet. Stair-turret with
broached spire adjoins chancel. Tower over crossing: mid C12 double-chamfered
round-arched windows to lower stage; C15 bell-stage with 2-light windows and
crenellated parapet with gargoyles at corners. South side of nave has two mid C12
round-arched roll-moulded windows and mid C12 doorway: pelleted hood over
roll-moulded arch set on jamb shafts with scalloped capitals, and chamfered
inner arch. North side of nave has two similar C12 windows, and small C15
Perpendicular 2-light window set in C13 archway with ballflower-decorated hood.
North porch of 1843: fine mid C12 north door, with sawtooth-decorated hood,
outer hollow-chamfered order and inner roll-moulded order set on jamb shafts
with scalloped capitals. Perpendicular 5-light west window with panel tracery.
C15 parapet to nave. Memorial on south transept wall to John Hewet and Sarah
Drew, with epitaph by Alexander Pope.
INTERIOR: mid C13 rere-arches set on
clustered shafts, with stiff-leaf capitals to east and bell capitals to side
windows. In south-west corner are shafts with stiff-leaf capital and springers
of former mid C13 vaulted recess. C13 string forms hood over pointed
roll-molded recess housing credence table above pillar piscina. All mid C13
features are picked out in red ochre (uncovered 1970). Two C15 archways to
Harcourt Chapel, blocked in early C18 with early C19 wrought-iron gateway. Mid
C13 chancel screen, a very rare example: has trefoiled openings set on banded
shafts, and pierced quatrefoils etc. in screen below; door has original C13
bolt, lock and fittings. C17 parish chest in chancel. Crossing arches:
double-chamfered, with chamfered inner order set on shafts with bell capitals
and piscina with head corbel to south-east. North transept: rere-arches to east
set on clustered shaft with naturalistic leaf-carved capital; sill-band set on
head and leaf corbels; piscina and two round-arched heads to west. South transept:
two similar hoodmoulds to west and early C18 wrought-iron gates set in C15
archway with two orders of shafts and capitals to Harcourt Chapel. Each transept
has C15 two-bay tie-beam roof with moulded and quartered beams. Nave has four
statue corbels and fine C15-style font of 1831; C15 four-bay king-post roof with
cusped struts and C12 and C13 head corbels supporting arch braces with traceried
spandrels. Early C19 pews include box pews with panelled dados in south
transept; early C19 Gothick-style pulpit with steps. Shrine of St. Edburg in
north wall of chancel: dated 1294-1317, removed from Bicester Priory at the
Dissolution by Sir Simon Harcourt. Painted and gilded Purbeck Marble canopy has
crocketed ogee arches, armorial shields in spandrels and small statues set under
similar canopied niches in corners; frieze of carved head, and two bays of
octopartite vaulting inside.
MONUMENTS: chancel: C17 and C18 marble ledgers,
brasses of Ellen Camby (died 1516) and Sir Henry Dodschone (died 1519). Tomb of
Maud, wife of Sir Thomas Harcourt, (died 1394), under arched recess in north
wall: stone effigy, painted red, lies on tomb-chest with painted shields. Small
wall tablet to Christopher Hovenden (died 1610), and marble wall tablets with
urns and weeping women to Robert Huntington (died 1685) and William Gibbons
(died 1728). Harcourt Chapel: floor brasses to Thomas Harcourt (died 1460) and
Nicholas Atherton (died 1454). Fine tomb of Sir Robert Harcourt (died 1471) and
wife: alabaster effigies, painted in C19 restoration, set on tomb-chest with
shields in traceried panels. Similar painted effigy and tomb chest of his
grandson Sir Robert Harcourt (died c.1509) with carved figures of angels and
bedesmen, and Tudor roses: remains of standard above said to be that which Sir
Robert carried at Bosworth Field (1485) for Henry VII. Part of a C14 chest
tomb behind. Pedimented marble wall-tablet to Simon Harcourt (died 1720), with
epitaph by Alexander Pope; wall tablet with Greek Doric frame to Simon, first
Earl Harcourt (died 1777) probably by James Stuart; another neoclassical
wall-monument to William, third Earl Harcourt (died 1830) by R.W. Sievier;
medieval-style monuments, with recumbent effigies on tomb-chests, to George
Simon Harcourt (died 1809), and Archbishop Edward Vernon Harcourt (died 1847) by M.
Noble, 1858; wall-monument to George Granville Harcourt (died 1861) by M. Noble,
has classical bust on Gothic pedestal. South transept: original plaster models
for statues of Field Marshal William, third Earl Harcourt, and Sir William
Vernon Harcourt; the former, by Sievier (1832) in St. George's Chapel, Windsor,
and the latter in the Houses of Parliament. Tomb chest to Sir Simon Harcourt
(died 1547), reduced in length, has black marble top and shields set in
quatrefoils to sides. Very fine Baroque architectural wall monument, with
portrait busts in oval niches of Sir Philip Harcourt (died 1688) and wife.
Stained glass; restored 1960-1962. In south lancets of chancel are rare remains
of C13 grisaille glass and a figure of St. James Major. Harcourt Chapel has
remnants of canopy designs dated c.1475-80 in heads of east window; armorial
glass of c.1475-80 and two mid C13 roundels of a king and an ecclesiastic in the
south window.
An exceptional church: notable features are the remarkable C13
chancel screen and shrine, and its fine monuments.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp. 778-781; National Monuments Record;
Bodleian Library, Topographical Drawings, for many late C18 and C19 prints and
drawings).
Listing NGR: SP4167705653
