Church Of St Mary

SOULDERN CHURCH LANE SP5231 (North side) 14/80 Church of St. Mary 07/12/66

GV II*

Church. Mid-C12 north wall and doorway. Romanesque tower and tower arch rebuilt by G.F. Bodley in 1906 re-using the old materials. Foundations of apsidal Romanesque chancel discovered in 1896. South aisle added in late C12 and rebuilt in the C14 re-using the Romanesque round piers but employing new pointed arches and the capitals of the responds carved with heads. Corbel table of similar heads on the south wall added by T. Rickman in the early C19. Chancel rebuilt in the C18 and again in 1897 by Sir Ninian Comper. Coursed and squared coursed limestone rubble. South aisle has lead roof, others not visible. Chancel, nave, south aisle and porch, west tower. Chancel has renewed Decorated and Perpendicular style windows in ironstone: 4-light on east, 2- and 3-light on south and 2-light on north. Renewed priest's door on north. Diagonal and clasping buttresses. Shallow parapet. Nave has Romanesque north doorway. Two 2-light Perpendicular windows with square heads, and hood moulds and label stops on north. Both north and south clerestorys have 4 small square Decorated windows. Shallow stone parapets. South aisle. 3-light window with reticulated tracery. 2- and 3-light Decorated windows flanking porch and 3-light window with intersecting tracery on west. Diagonal buttresses, gargoyle and corbel table with carved heads. Shallow stone parapet. C15 south porch has wide pointed arched doorway, stone bench seats and stoup. South doorway has a pointed arched head with hood moulds with head stops. West tower of 4 stages with strings to 1st, 2nd and 3rd stages. 2-light Romanesque opening to bell-turret. Parapet. Interior: chancel has 4-bay C19 roof. Nave has an arched tie beam roof. South aisle has original C14 roof. Chancel arch has foliage and carved head on the responds indicating a rebuilding of c.1300. Three-bay south arcade. North wall has remains of a large St. Christopher. C12 tub font. Chancel has 3 brasses. One to Thomas Warner dated 1514 and another to an unknown woman, C16. Also a heart with scrolls c.1460, the original inscription has been replaced by a C16 inscription to J. Throckmorton. Wall memorial in chancel to Thomas Hardinge dated 1648. C19 reading desk, pulpit and pews. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp768-9; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol VI: pp309-311)

Listing NGR: SP5230131691