Church Of St Mary And St John

CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST JOHN

Built 1875-83 by architect Alfred William Mardon Mowbray, with the tower added in 1892-3. The spire was never constructed. Later additions include an eastern vestry and church rooms, which are wider than the chancel.

The building is constructed of rock-faced, coursed limestone with ashlar and freestone dressings, beneath red clay-tiled roofs (with flat roofs to the eastern vestries). The plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, non-projecting transepts, chancel, church rooms and vestry at the eastern end, and a western tower with an attached southern porch.

This is an imposing Gothic Revival town church drawing its details primarily from the Geometrical and early Decorated styles of the late 13th to around 1300. The clerestoried nave is flanked by low lean-to aisles. The various building components are separately articulated, with parapets absent except on the tower, which features battlements, and on the eastern vestry and rooms, which have a plain parapet.

At the western end stands a bulky four-stage tower with a gabled porch attached to its south face and a corresponding door on the north side. The tower has a small two-light western window and belfry windows with cusped Y-tracery. At the corners of the three upper stages are polygonal turrets; the northwest corner turret contains the stair and rises above the tower's body. The aisles comprise four bays demarcated by buttresses, each with three closely-spaced lancet windows. The nave is tall with a clerestory containing two-light windows in each bay, featuring alternating Y-tracery and cusped circles in their heads. The transepts, under transverse gabled roofs, do not project beyond the aisles and each contains a three-light Geometrical window with a cinquefoiled circle in the head. The chancel, slightly lower than the nave, features an impressive six-light eastern window with cusped circles in the tracery. High on the eastern gable is a carved, canopied depiction of Christ the King, a favourite subject of the church's founder, Father Benson.

The interior creates an impressive and spacious volume with dignified solemnity derived from bare ashlar stone facing. The nave is tall with a wooden vaulted roof and tall moulded arcades on quatrefoil piers separating it from the aisles. Stone half-arches span the aisles, creating dramatic effect. The original design included elaborate carved capitals and corbels; where executed, the carving is rich, though most items remain uncarved.

The focal point is an ornate gilded and painted figured reredos across the eastern wall of the chancel. The stone pulpit is approached by a curving stair, supported on marble columns, and has open arches to its sides. The church contains a good collection of stained glass in the main windows, with many others having uncoloured or plain lightly-tinted glass. The church was never provided with fixed seating.

To the southwest of the church stands a cross on steps, erected as a memorial to Father Benson.

In 1868, Father Richard Meux Benson (1824-1915), vicar of St James, Cowley, relocated to eastern Oxford to serve the spiritual, educational and social needs of the growing working-class population. Using Meux family money, he purchased the site in 1870. St John's Hospital for Incurables, opened in 1873, formed another element of this philanthropic project. The church was built in stages as funds became available, but the spire was never constructed, despite the tower being clearly designed to receive one. The result is a large and impressive building playing an important part in the townscape of Cowley Road, its unfinished state exemplifying how Victorian church-building often represented a struggle between architectural intent and available resources.

Architect Alfred William Mardon Mowbray (1849-1915) was articled to Charles Buckeridge of Oxford from 1865 to 1870, then worked as assistant to London-based Joseph Clarke and others between 1870 and 1872. He established his own practice in Oxford in 1872, moved to Eastbourne in 1877, and returned to Oxford in 1890.