Church Of St Giles

The Church of St Giles is a church largely of the 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th centuries, located in Bletchingdon. The chancel dates to the mid-13th century, while the nave and tower are of the 15th century. A porch was added in 1695, and the church was restored in 1878 based on plans from 1869 by Charles Buckeridge.

The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a stone-coped gabled stone slate roof. It comprises a chancel, an aisled nave, and a west tower. The two-bay chancel features mid-19th century three-light east window, an early 17th-century two-light hollow-moulded, round-arched north window, and a late-19th century two-light window to the south. A blocked 13th-century lancet is also visible to the north. The mid-19th century north aisle has 2- and 3-light cinquefoiled, ogee-headed windows. The south side of the nave displays a memorial tablet dated 1754, a reset 12th-century lintel carved with a star-in-square pattern, a 15th-century Perpendicular three-light window, and a restored early 14th-century two-light, cinquefoiled, ogee-headed window. The south porch, dated 1695, has a sundial above its hood mould and a hollow-moulded, pointed-arched doorway with rosettes carved in the stops. The two-stage west tower has a 14th-century pointed-arched doorway, a 2-light cinquefoil-headed window above, and stone-louvred belfry windows. A 14th-century spirelet tops the tower, and gargoyles are present on the moulded parapet string course.

Inside, a late-19th century reredos with carved figures, a round-arched piscina, late-19th century choir stalls, and a late-19th century double-chamfered chancel arch are notable. The 15th-century four-bay north arcade features hollow-moulded capitals. A restored Jacobean pulpit, with panelled sides, 17th-century caryatids, and a late-19th century stone base, stands within the church. Seven Jacobean pews in the north aisle are distinguished by panelled backs, bench ends with acorn finials, and pedimented aedicules with strapwork. An early 18th-century cup-shaped font rests on an octagonal shaft, and a 15th-century cinquefoiled stoup is situated to the east of the south door. Late-19th century roofs, including an arch-braced north aisle roof, complete the interior. A fragment of a 15th-century wall painting depicting flowers set in masonry lines is found on the west end of the north chancel wall. The chancel holds a wall tablet dated 1685, two 18th-century architectural wall monuments with segmental pediments, a monument to John Hooke, d.1673, with an oval tablet and laurel leaf surround, and a large architectural wall monument to the children of Henry and Thomas Coghill, d.1628 and 1630, framed by Corinthian columns and strapwork. Another monument commemorates Sir Thomas Coghill, d.1708, and family, created by J. Piddington of Oxford, featuring a tasselled canopy and flaming urns. A 19th-century wall tablet memorializes Arthur Arnesley, d.1841, with an urn, honeysuckle frieze, and wheatear pilasters. The church contains late-19th-century stained glass.