Church Of St Denis

Church of St Denis, Little Compton

This is a church with 12th-century origins. The tower dates from the 14th century, while the remainder of the building was rebuilt in 1863–1864 by E.G. Bruton. It is constructed of squared coursed limestone rubble with a 20th-century tile roof.

The building comprises a chancel, nave with a short south aisle, and a south tower. The chancel spans three bays and features a chamfered plinth, quoins, a chamfered eaves cornice, and a coped gable to the east with moulded kneelers and a cross at the apex. To the east is a 19th-century window in 13th-century style, containing three trefoiled lights with a hood mould and plain labels. The south wall has three 13th-century reused windows, each of a single trefoiled light; the leftmost is set lower than the others. The north wall features a 19th-century gabled vestry with a 20th-century tile roof and coped gables with kneelers. To the east is a Tudor-arched doorway with a plank door. A trefoiled single-light window to the right may be reused. A further trefoiled window of a single light to the west is perhaps also reused.

The nave spans four bays with a chamfered plinth, quoins, a chamfered eaves cornice, and coped gables with moulded kneelers. To the south, in the angle between the south tower and the south wall of the nave, is a two-bay aisle with a parapet and coped gable with a moulded kneeler to the east. To the east of the aisle and extending to two south openings is a 19th-century square-headed window of two hollow-chamfered pointed lights. To the left of the nave's south wall is a 19th-century gabled porch with a pointed, ovolo-moulded doorway and a 19th-century door. To the left of this is a reset 14th-century pointed window of two ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil, with a 19th-century hood mould and plain labels. The north wall of the nave contains three 19th-century windows in 13th-century style, each with two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil-pierced plate tracery, hood moulds, and plain labels. To the right is a 19th-century doorway with a hood mould, plain labels, and a plank door. To the left is a 19th-century single-light window. The east gable end and the centre-right of the north wall feature a 19th-century stone stack. The west wall has a paired 19th-century window in 13th-century style with quatrefoil-pierced tracery, hood moulds, and plain labels.

The south tower is 14th-century, comprising three stages with a moulded plinth. A weather-course divides the first and second stages on the south and west faces. Flat buttresses project from the second stage at the north-east and north-west angles, while offset diagonal buttresses rise at the south-east and south-west angles. The tower is capped with a saddleback roof with coped gables to the north and south. The lower stage originally served as a chapel and has a 19th-century or restored 19th-century chamfered doorway. The south wall contains a segmental-pointed window of two round-headed lights with chamfered surrounds, set slightly back. To the east, visible from the south aisle, is a two-light mullioned window, now blocked. Each face of the second and third stages has a double-chamfered rectangular light.

Internally, the south wall of the chancel has notable window treatments: the easternmost window has a 13th-century moulded and trefoiled rere-arch; the central window has 13th-century moulded splays continuing into a moulded trefoiled arch; and the westernmost window has a moulded trefoiled rere-arch supported on shafts with moulded capitals. A 19th-century trefoiled piscina is set in the north wall, and a 19th-century double-chamfered chancel arch spans the width of the chancel. The south aisle arcade comprises two bays with a central round pier and responds bearing moulded bases and capitals, spanned by double-chamfered arches. To the west of the arcade is a 14th-century triple-chamfered tower arch. In the east wall of the tower is a 14th-century altar recess with a chamfered surround, and in the south wall is a small piscina. The roofs date to the 19th century: the chancel has a barrel-vaulted roof, the nave has an arch-braced collar truss roof, and the aisle has a panelled roof. The chancel east window and aisle windows contain 19th-century stained glass. The south-east window of the chancel displays reset fragments of 16th-century glass originally from the Church of Villers, destroyed in 1918.

Fittings and monuments include a large 13th-century round font. Grave slabs in the nave floor commemorate Thomas Juxon (died 1643), Elizabeth Pony (died 1652), Sir William Juxon (died 1739), and John Jones (died 1755, aged 57). A wall tablet in the north wall of the nave is dedicated to Susanna, Viscountess Fane, who died in 1792 and was the wife of William Juxon, whose grave lies in the nave floor.