Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Long Wittenham High Street

A church of Grade I significance, built in stages from the 12th century onwards. The main structure dates to the 12th century, with the south aisle added in the 13th century, a south transept constructed around 1300, a north aisle and south porch built in the 14th century, and a west tower added in the 15th century. The chancel was rebuilt around 1850 by architect George Gilbert Scott, incorporating some re-used windows from earlier periods.

The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with stone dressings. The transept and chancel have old plain-tile roofs; the roofs of the nave, aisles and tower are not visible from outside. The church comprises a 6-bay aisled nave, south transept, chancel and west tower.

The south porch is an open timber-framed structure with a gabled end. It features a 15th-century double plank door set within a 2-centre archway, with shaped bargeboards decorated with ogee mouldings. The sides have an open balustrade. The porch interior contains a crown-post roof with arch braces carved with faces at their ends. The ribbed and studded double door opens to a 2-centre arched doorway with a hood mould and carved faces at the end stops. Two 2-light windows with reticulated tracery sit to the left.

The transept's end wall displays a window of three pointed trefoiled lights with a sexfoiled circle above. Paired trefoil lancets with a flat head and hood mould face the right return of the transept. Paired trefoil lancets with 2-centre arched heads appear at the end of the aisle and to the left of the chancel. A 2-centre arched doorway is positioned to the left of the chancel's centre, with two further lancets to the right. The chancel's east end contains a mid-19th-century window of geometrical tracery. Three paired lancets light the nave's clerestory.

The west tower rises in three stages on the left side. Its base features a Romanesque doorway. A lancet window occupies the second stage, with a sundial to its right. The third stage holds a louvred lancet. The tower is topped by a battlemented parapet.

The rear elevation shows a 2-centre arched doorway to the right of the centre aisle, with a 3-light window of Y-tracery to its left. 2-light windows with reticulated tracery appear to the right and at the right end of the aisle. Three paired lancets light the nave's clerestory. A 2-centred arched lancet sits to the left of the chancel, with a Romanesque lancet at its centre and a paired lancet to the right. The nave and aisle roofs carry a parapet. A tower on the right side displays a louvred lancet to its third stage and a 2-light window with rectilinear tracery to its left return.

The interior is notable for several features. The chancel has an arch-braced roof with two rows of wind braces. The nave and aisles feature a 15th-century Perpendicular roof. A trefoil-topped piscina is positioned to the right of the chancel. The choir stalls and desks date to the 17th century and display richly carved poppy heads at their ends, with wrought iron candelabra. A Romanesque chancel arch divides the chancel from the nave. An early 17th-century wood pulpit with carved panels sits to the left.

The nave's north arcade comprises three 2-centred arches. The south arcade contains four 2-centred arches, with a tomb-recess of segmental arch form at its chancel end. A Romanesque lead font on a round stone base stands in the north aisle, embossed with archbishops in arcaded form and wheels of the sun above. A 17th-century wood cover crowns the font. An early 17th-century screen separates the transept from the south aisle, featuring pilasters between open arches, winged heads in the spandrels and strapwork decoration. A piscina in the transept displays a trefoil top with winged angels above and a damaged hood-mould. A carved figure of a knight in armour sits at its base.

History: The original church was built by Walter Giffard, third Earl of Buckingham, around 1120. The transept was probably built by the widow of Gilbert de Glare, Earl of Gloucester and of Hertford. Around 1850, the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford funded the chancel's rebuilding. The choir stalls and desks, formerly in Exeter College Chapel, were presented to the church in 1875. The screen to the transept was given to Exeter College Chapel in 1621 by George Hakewill, Chaplain to Prince Charles, and was presented to Long Wittenham in 1888. The south porch is reputed to have come from Lincoln Cathedral.