Chapel of St John

CHAPEL OF ST JOHN, PRIORY LANE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1266497
Date first listed:
12-Sept-1955
List Entry Name:
Chapel of St John
Statutory Address:
CHAPEL OF ST JOHN, PRIORY LANE

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. 

There is a problem

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:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2005-03-26
Reference:
IOE01/14023/21
Rights:
© Mr Anthony Rau. Source: Historic England Archive

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 more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1266497
Date first listed:
12-Sept-1955
Date of most recent amendment:
01-Mar-1990
List Entry Name:
Chapel of St John
Statutory Address 1:
CHAPEL OF ST JOHN, PRIORY LANE

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
CHAPEL OF ST JOHN, PRIORY LANE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Oxfordshire
District:
West Oxfordshire (District Authority)
Parish:
Burford
National Grid Reference:
SP 24996 12334

Details

BURFORD AND UPTON PRIORY LANE AND SIGNET (West End) SP2412-2512; SP2512(Enlargement) Chapel of St John 5/181; 7/181 (Previously listed 12.9.55 with The Burford Priory and chapel)

GV II*

Manor House Chapel. 1661-2 for William (Speaker) Lenthall restored 1937 by W H Godfrey. Ashlar with Cotswold stone roof. Rectangular box in classicized Gothic. 2-bay flanks with 3 Ionic pilaster strips (the outer ones corner piers) on high plinths; cornice and parapet, North bay with panel supporting pediment with enriched tympanum. Skelton's engraving shews a matching arrangement on south window too; end finials with crude crocket-work. 2 traceried windows with ogee mouldings, the south one a wheel window in square frame with ogee rosettes in spandrels of trefoil ends and panels in the spandrels. The right-hand window is of 3-light with round arches, central heart-shaped light and flanking mouchettes (a sort of Oxford College Fontainbleau style), also set in square frames with low relief dragons in spandrels. Shaped gables with tracery-panelled saddle-stone finials. The south (ritual east) has arched 3-light window of Serlian proportion but with a wheel-fanlight over. The north gable is highly enriched with high relief royal arms; Corinthian pilastered doorcase on 1st floor with pediment, cornice returned from sides, raised up; ground floor door has lotus caps to plain pilasters and putti and garland panels in the frieze. Interior: reconstructed plaster barrel vault (c.1937) with guilloche panels, moulded cornice with egg and dart bed-mould. Ashlar lined above wood panelled dado, latter restored in deal with dentil cornice and drapery swagged enrichments to upper panels; main panels have satin-wood veneer. Black insets to diamond-flag floor. The main feature is the family pew at North End, with panelled front, recessed in centre on spiral fluted Corinthian columns with enriched panel bases; the door is framed by a remarkable sculpture of 2 angels and the burning bush in deeply undercut stone. The windows are in carved 'panels with moulded architraves, south window flanked by mural tablets and inscriptions. B of E Oxfordshire S Sherwood and NP pp 512; Country Life, 4 March 1911, pp 306-315; 3 June 1939, pp 586-591; Oxoniensia Vol IV 1939, pp 71-88.

Listing NGR: SP2499712334

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
421459
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 512
Oxoniensia in Oxoniensia, Vol. 4, (1939), 71-88
Country Life in 3 June, (1939), 586-591
Country Life in 4 March, (1911), 306-315

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Chapel of St John

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 19-Jun-2026 at 04:20:50.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos