Church of St Mary

Details

GLYMPTON SP4221 11/58 Church of Saint Mary 27/08/57

GV II

Church. c.1200 with C16 or C17 tower; heavily restored, chancel rebuilt and porch and vestry added in 1872 by G.E. Street. Squared and coursed limestone with ashlar dressings; stone slate roofs. Four-bay nave with south porch, 3-bay chancel with north vestry, and west tower. C19 work in a Decorated-Gothic style. Tower: 3 stages. Moulded plinth, moulded cornice and parapet with coping. Large buttress/stairtower to south with chamfered offsets and partly C19 buttress to north. Square-headed belfry opening to west with 2 cinquefoil-headed lights and hollow-chamfered reveals; small hollow-chamfered rectangular belfry opening to south. Small rectagnular window in second stage to south and chamfered rectangular window in second stage to north. Three-light stone west window with chamfered mullions, hollow-chamfered reveals and relieving arch. Some reset C12 chevrom ornamented masonry in north wall of tower. Nave: high chamfered plinth, moulded cill string, buttresses with chamfered offsets, and parapeted gable end to east with coping, gabled kneelers and cross at apex. Two south windows to right, of 2 and 3 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery and returned hood moulds. South doorway to left with continuously-chamfered inner arch, moulded outer arch, one order of shafts with moulded bases and capitals, hood mould with carved stops, and boarded door with decorative strap hinges. Porch with chamfered plinth, chamfered,corners with bar stops, string course, carried over archway as hood mould, and parapeted gable with coping and cross at apex. Entrance with moulded bases and capitals, and continuously-chamfered outer arch; interior of porch with turned-rafter roof, stone side benches and encaustic tiled floor. Two north windows each of 3 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery, reticulated in right-hand window. Chamfered rectangular opening below right-hand window. Chancel: chamfered plinth, moulded cill string, diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets, and low buttress to east, and parapeted gable end with coping, gabled kneelers and cross at apex. Weathering against east wall of nave. Two south windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and returned hood moulds. Stone steps with low side walls up to central priest's doorway with continuous hollow-chamfered arch, string course carried over as hood mould and boarded door with strap hinges. East window of 3 lights, the outer trefoil headed and the centre one cinquefoil-headed, with cusped tracery, moulded reveals and hood mould with uncarved stops. Lean-to vestry: chamfered plinth, moulded cill string and parapeted end walls with copings and gabled kneelers. Pair of chamfered trefoil-headed lancets with wrought-iron bars. Window in left-hand return front of 2 trefoil-headed lights. Boarded door in right-hand return front with strap hinges, chamfered arch and string course carried over as hood mould. Interior: C19 four-bay nave roof with double hammer beams, cusped spandrels, king posts from collars, pairs of purlins and moulded wooden wall plates. Reused c12 carved stone corbels supporting roof. Double chamfered tower arch of c.1200, the inner chamfer springing from corbels and the outer chamfer continuous. Restored and widened (1846) chancel arch of c.1200 with deep roll moulding, dogtooth ornament and responds consisting of 2 orders of shafts with cushion capitals. (one with volutes) and abaci with dogtooth ornament. Inscription on north respond: "DEDICATIO HUIUS TEMPLI IDUS MARTII". C19 three-bay chancel roof with moulded arched-braced, collars, king posts with pierced cusped spandrels, wooden wall plates with billet ornament and ashlar pieces, and single purlins. Double-chamfered arch to vestry, the inner dying into responds and the outer continuous. Sedilia beneath south-east window; arch, moulded cill, scalloped bowl and half shaft with moulded base and capital supporting half-octagonal stone shelf in front. Chamfered rear arches in nave and chamfered rear arches with bar stops in chancel. Mainly C19 fittings: low stone reredos consisting of quatrefoil band above altar shelf and flanking pairs of blind trefoil arches on shafts with moulded bases and capitals and with quatrefoil panels in spandrels. C19 wooden altar with blind trefoil arches. Wrought-iron and brass altar rails. Low stone screen with moulded base and top. Wooden lectern. Polygonal wooden pulpit with blind traceried panels and stone steps. Wooden choir stalls and pews; some front pews incorporate possible revised medieval traceried panels,. possibly from former screen. C12 circular stone font with wide bands of incised-triangular ornament to bowl, mouldings and chevron ornament to base, C19 step and C19 iron-bound wooden cover. C20 organ on timber super structure at west end. Old iron-bound chest in vestry. C19 stained glass in east and south windows of chancel and in nave windows. Monuments: brass to Thomas Tesdale. Alabaster wall monument to Maud Tesdale (d. 19 June 1616) and her husband (d.1610) consisting of 2 opposed kneeling figures under round arches, flanking free-standing unfluted Corinthian columns supporting frieze and cornice, shield with scrollwork above and gadrooned base on brackets with inscription between; marble tablet to Frances Sackville Lloyd Wheate Esq. (d. 19 September 1812) with free-standing unfluted columns supporting frieze and cornice and with shield flanked by scrolls above; marble Gothic wall monument to the Reverend William May (d. 12 August 1845). The church stands adjacent to Glympton Park (q.v.). The village, of which the church once formed the centre, was Roved to the south-east when the park was created, probably in the early to mid-C17. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp612-3; VCH: Oxfordshire: p130)

Listing NGR: SP4239621861

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

252499

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 612-13

End of official list entry

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