Church Of St Mary

LOWER HEYFORD CHURCH LANE SP4824 (North side) 10/45 Church of St. Mary 07/12/66 GV II*

Church. C13, C14 and C15, restored 1848 by H.J. Underwood, and 1867 by C. Buckeridge. Partly-coursed limestone and marl stone rubble with limestone-ashlar dressings; lead and Stonesfield-slate roofs. Chancel, nave, north and south aisles, west tower and south porch. Stone-slate-roofed chancel, in marlstone with some limestone banding, retains a single C13 lancet to north, but the 3-light east window and the other side windows, all of lights, are C14 with flowing and reticulated tracery; restored priest's door to south. The nave and aisles are of limestone with shallow-pitched roofs: the south aisle with Decorated windows of 3 and 2 lights to east and west, plus a large square-headed 3-light C15 window to south; the north aisle with a similar C15 window to north, plus a 3-light window with intersecting tracery to east, and a small square-headed C15 window to west. North and south doors are both C14, the latter sheltered by a C15 porch with a moulded outer arch and tiny 2-light side windows. The C15 nave clerestory has square-headed 2-light windows below an ashlar parapet. The plain-parapetted C15 tower, in squared limestone with ashlar diagonal buttresses and moulded plinth, has an arched west doorway within a rectangular casement moulding, and has a 3-light west window with Perpendicular tracery; arched 2-light bell-chamber openings above a moulded string; stair projection at the south-east corner. Interior: Chancel has a C13 trefoil-headed piscina with a restored projecting bowl, and has a C19 braced collar-truss roof. C13/C14 chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders dying into responds; tall continuously-moulded C14 tower arch of 2 chamfered orders. 2-bay C14 nave arcades of 2 chamfered orders on octagonal columns, the south arcade probably later with richer mouldings to the capitals. Both arcades have image niches in the eastern responds, and both have masonry sections to east and west, the south arcade with traces of an earlier arcade to west, and to east a C15 rood stair projecting into the south aisle with a further niche. South aisle has similar niches with traceried heads flanking east window, a small restored C14 piscina, and an ogee-headed holy-water stoup. North aisle has a C14 column piscina with a stone shelf. C19 nave roof has traceried infill and curved braces to the shallow trusses; C19 aisle roofs have, moulded principal members. Fittings include a restored C15 screen with traceried panels, and a medieval chest. C19 corona lucis above the octagonal C14 font. Fragments of medieval stained glass in south aisle west window; glass of 1916 in south aisle east window; C19 glass in chancel. Monument to Gabriel and Alice Myrry (died 1684 and 1681) has a rectangular panel flanked by inverted cornucopiae, below a cartouche of arms. (VCH: Oxfordshire, Vol VI, p183; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp692-3)

Listing NGR: SP4851124872