Church Of St Thomas A Beckett

ELSFIELD SP50NW 4/48 Church of St. Thomas a 18/07/63 Beckett

GV II*

Church. Late C12, late C13 and early C15, restored 1849 and by G.E. Street in 1859. Limestone rubble and ashlar; stone-slate roofs. Nave, chancel, south porch and vestry. C13 chancel has 3 lancets each side, one later extended downwards, and a 3-light east window with flowing tracery. C15 south wall of nave has 2 windows of 3 pointed lights under a square head. Small early C19 porch has an arched entrance containing the old studded door from the C17 square-headed south doorway. Rebuilt north side of the nave has two C19 lancets. West wall has a central buttress between C13 lancets and a double bellcote. Interior: Transitional chancel arch with volute capitals and corner spurs to the bases; lowered side window in chancel with a stone bookrest; C13 trefoil-headed piscina; C19 arch-braced roofs. Chancel walls retain areas of C13 painted masonry and stencil decoration above a C18 mosaic dado and a mosaic reredos of c.1860 by Salviati. Fittings include a Jacobean pulpit, with arched panels, and communion rails with bulbous balusters and a carved pulvinated frieze, probably a reused desk front from late C17 stalls of very high quality. The church has strong links with Christ Church, Oxford which must be a possible origin. C19 stained glass in east window and 3 lancets in nave. Monuments include a C18 marble wall monument and a C17 black marble ledger. (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.V; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.591-2).

Listing NGR: SP5405309978