Church Of St Mary Magdalene

SP4528 DUNS TEW 9/245 Church of St. Mary Magdalene 08/12/55

GV II Church. C12 and C14/C15, restored c.1665 and largely rebuilt c.1861 by Sir G.G. Scott for Sir Henry Dashwood. Coursed squared marlstone and limestone with some banding and with limestone- and marlstone-ashlar dressings; Stonesfieid-slate roof. Chancel, nave, north-east vestry, north aisle, south porch and west tower. C19 chancel, in marlstone with limestone banding and dressings, has to south two 2-light traceried windows in Decorated style plus a round-headed priest's door, but to east has a re-used 3-light window with Perpendicular tracery, and to north a C13 lancet. North aisle and vestry also incorporate earlier windows: the vestry a 2-light C14 window with ogee tracery, and the aisle a similar window plus a large square-headed 3-light C15 window with a label mould; to west is a large C19 traceried window. South wall of nave and the porch are earlier, although probably partly C17; to right of the porch is a 3-light C14 window and to left a 2-light square-headed window with arched lights and a label (probably C17). Porch has a C19 arch of 2 chamfered orders but shelters a small late C12 door with a moulded arch; the gable parapet and foliated cross are C19, as on the other gables. An inscription in the porch gable states "Tower and Porch/Rebuilt Anno 1665/The Church/Restored A.D.1861". Banded 3-stage tower, with stepped diagonal buttresses and a plain parapet, incorporates a C14 west door with continuous wave mouldings but the square-headed windows with arched lights and recessed spandrels are C17. One of the crocketed pinnacles is inscribed "This/bee/built/166(?)". Interior: walls are all in Cl9 banded stonework, and the arch to the vestry and the chancel arch are also C19, the latter with moulded corbels rising from carved heads. 3-bay nave arcade is late C14 and has octagonal columns and arches of 2 chamfered orders springing from richly-moulded quatrefoil capitals with carved heads, matched by corbelled responds. Tower arch of 3 chamfered orders is probably partly medieval but has renewed impost blocks. Roofs are all C19. Fittings include an elaborate painted and gilded screen forming a sacristy behind the sanctuary, which is probably c.1900 and not by Scott. C12 tub font has chevron and arcaded decoration. A fragment of medieval sculpture and a canopy have been re-set to left of the chancel arch. C19 stained glass in east window. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p590; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol XI, p220)

Listing NGR: SP4571228470