Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a building of group value, dating to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations over the subsequent centuries. The original 12th-century structure comprised the nave, to which a 13th-century chancel was added. In the 14th century, aisles and a tower were constructed, and a clerestory was built in the 15th century. Around 1811, the top stage of the tower was rebuilt by Isaac Stone of Thame. Further alterations occurred in the mid-19th century, culminating in a restoration in approximately 1884 by E.G. Bruton.

The church is primarily constructed of knapped flint with stone dressings, incorporating areas of brick and stone. The nave has a slate roof, while the north aisle has a lead roof, and the south aisle and chancel have coated lead roofs. A visible tower roof is absent. The church presents a five-bay nave, a four-bay north aisle, a three-bay south aisle, a two-bay chancel, and a west tower. A two-centre arched doorway is located to the left of the south aisle, fitted with a 19th-century double-leaf plank door. Aisle and chancel windows are largely two-light, Y-tracery structures, with a 3-light Y-tracery window at each end. A 3-light reticulated tracery window is positioned on the left side of the nave. The north aisle has a parapet. The clerestory features four paired lancet windows.

The tower comprises three stages, the second featuring a lancet window and the third having a two-light Y-tracery louvred opening. The tower is topped with a battle-mented parapet accentuated by banded obelisk finials at the corners. The rear elevation incorporates a re-set Romanesque round-arched doorway to the right of the aisle, with a 19th-century plank door. The west front of the tower has a two-centre arched doorway, a 3-light intersecting tracery window on the second stage, and a two-light Y-tracery louvred opening on the third.

Inside, the chancel roof is Perpendicular style, the nave has a flat plastered roof, and the aisles have lean-to roofs. A piscina is located to the right of the chancel, while a tomb recess sits to the left, featuring a cusped arch supported on half-columns and a hood mould with carved end stops. A two-centre chancel arch displays a run-out chamfer. The north and south arcades consist of two-centre arches resting on octagonal columns. A rood screen doorway is present to the left of the chancel arch, and a squint is situated to the right. Carved corbels are found between the clerestory windows, and a two-centred arch on cluster columns leads to the tower. The font is a 13th-century octagonal structure made of Purbeck marble, supported by columns. The north aisle retains remnants of a rood screen staircase to the right of the east window, and medieval glass fragments are visible in the top lights of the east window. Two Decorated tomb recesses with gabled canopies and quatrefoils are set into the north wall, along with a monument commemorating Lady Cicill Hobbee, dating to around 1618, and depicting a painted kneeling figure. The south aisle features a piscina in the south wall, good early 19th-century wall monuments, and mid-17th-century brasses on the floor.