Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

CHARLTON ON 0TM00R HIGH STREET SP5615 (North side) 11/9 Church of St. Mary the Virgin 07/12/66 GV I Church. C13 and C14; restored 1857 by G.E. Street. Limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings; concrete plain-tile and Welsh-slate roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, west tower and south porch. Late C14 chancel, in squared limestone with a tiled roof, has a 4-light reticulated east window with 2 full-height mullions, and has 2-light side windows with flowing tracery, the third pair, at the west end, at a lower level to act as low side windows; priest's door to south with continuous moulding. Narrow south aisle retains a 2-light C13 east window with plate tracery, but to south has a 2-light C14 window and a 3-light square-headed C16 window with uncusped lights and a label. Parapet with shallow quatrefoils is probably C19. C14 porch has an outer doorway of 2 chamfered orders and a lancet to east; it shelters a simple double-chamfered doorway with an old plank door above which is a C15 panel containing 3 image niches, (identical to one in the same position, at Merton Church (q.v.)). North aisle has two C14 2-light windows and a small rectangular opening; the north door is blocked. Clerestory has 3 C14 quatrefoil windows plus a later window to north, and has mullioned windows to south. The lower 3 stages of the crenellated tower are C13 but the bell-chamber stage is C14 with 2-light arched openings; the third stage has 2-light openings with Y-tracery, and there are lancets in the lower stages plus stepped clasping buttresses to the bottom stage; the parapet, corner gargoyles and panelled pinnacles are probably C16/C17. Interior: chancel has an arched tomb recess to north and, to south, a triple sedilia and piscina with ogee tracery, combined below a label mould with head stops; C19 panelled roof. Large Decorated chancel arch has continuous mouldings. 4-bay late C13 nave arcades have octagonal piers and round capitals, more elaborately moulded to south, which carry arches of 2 chamfered orders; tower arch of 2 unchamfered orders is early C13. 4-bay C14 nave roof has cusped arched bracing above the tie beams, between queen- and king-posts; late medieval north aisle roof has cambered tie beams. Both aisles have simple piscinas. Traces of wall paintings survive on the north wall and over the rood screen, as well as extensive painted decoration on the nave arcades plus 2 consecration crosses in the chancel. Fragments of medieval stained glass remain in the chancel tracery lights. Fittings include a tub font with a C16 oak cover, C16/C17 bench pews in the aisles, a simple pedestal pulpit dated 1616, and fine late C17 communion rails carved with ancathus scrolls and cherubs heads. The notable early C16 rood screen is complete with loft, and has an open arcade of decorated columns supporting traceried arches; the deep coving to the loft has a richly-carved pattern of intersecting ribs with ornamental panels and it supports a frieze of vines; the lower section and double gates have linenfold panelling. 2 broad steps in the sanctuary have medieval encaustic tiles laid in geometrical patterns. Monuments include wall tablets to Adam Airay (died 1658) and Katherine Lamplugh (died 1671), both with scrolled pediments, and a large marble wall monument with Corinthiarn columns, to Robert Benn (died 1752); brass to Thomas Key (died 1476). (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.Vl, pp.90-91; Buildings of England: 0xfordshire, pp.529-30).

Listing NGR: SP5619415827

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

243246

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1959), 90-91
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 529-30

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.