Church of St Mary

Details

SP5019 KIRTLINGTON CHURCH LANE (East side)

16/48 Church of St. Mary 07/12/66

GV II*

Church. Early C12 (or possibly earlier), mid C13, C14 and C15; tower rebuilt 1853 by Benjamin Ferrey; restored and chancel rebuilt 1877 by G.G. Scott; restored 1905. Limestone rubble (squared and coursed where rebuilt) with ashlar dressings; lead and Stonesfield-slate roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, central tower, south chapel and south porch. C19 slated chancel incorporates much re-used stonework in the round-headed lancets of the side windows and in the quoins of the stepped angle buttresses; large 5-light east window with intersecting tracery, priest's door and a 2-light Perpendicular low-side window are probably also original; east gable has tall octagonal corner pinnacles. A monument on the north wall commemorates "Thomas, Sir Robert Dashwood's Black" (died 1691). South aisle extends beside central tower and has 2 large square-headed C15 windows of 3 cinquefoiled lights plus a similar window to west; monuments on the south side include several early-C17 inscriptions and a pedimented Baroque monument. South porch has C15 entrance arch and shelters the early-C14 south door with continuous hollow mouldings. West wall of nave has a similar doorway below a C14 window with 3 lights and cusped intersecting tracery; 2-light west window of north aisle is similar. North wall has a renewed square-headed Perpendicular window and a small blocked mid-C13 doorway with deep mouldings and a shouldered inner arch. Clerestory windows each have 2 rectangular lights. Rectangular tower in Norman style is externally C19 and has paired bell-chamber openings of 3 orders with cushion capitals below an arcaded corbel table; rounded stair turret to north. Interior: chancel incorporates a C13 trefoil-headed double piscina with restored projecting bowls, but is otherwise C19 with fine foliage corbels supporting a waggon roof, and an elaborate encaustic-tile and marble floor. Rebuilt east tower arch has crude square imposts on later semi-octagonal responds and may be partly pre-Conquest; west arch is unchamfered and has a hood of chevron with renewed head stops. Lower C14 arch to south leads to the Dashwood Chapel. A C11/C12 carved tympanum is re-set over the vestry door. 3-bay C13 nave arcades have quatrefoil columns, with stiff-leaf capitals to south and moulded capitals to north, and have carved headstops to the hoods. Roofs are in C15 style and incorporate some original work. Large wall painting on the north wall. Fittings include a C17 communion table with baluster legs, a mid-C17 octagonal pulpit with arched perspective panels, and richly-carved chancel furnishings by Scott. The entrance to the Dashwood Chapel has an early-C18 wrought-iron screen and gates with urn-topped side panels and a sumptuous crested overthrow. Monuments include a Baroque cartouche to James Evans (died 1702) and, in the Dashwood Chapel, a large marble wall monument of 1724, with a broken-segmental pediment and flanking drapery, commemorating numerous members of the family and signed William and Thomas Williams of Middleton Stoney. There are also many hatchments. Stained glass of c.1852 in south aisle by Thomas Willement, and of 1877 in chancel. (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire,'Vol.VI, p.229-31; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.675-6). -- ---'-' --- -- - ------------------' -------

Listing NGR: SP5002119493

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

243433

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1959), 229-31
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 675-6

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.