Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a Grade I listed church on Parson's Lane in Ewelme. The building comprises an aisled nave, chancel with a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist to the south, and a west tower. The early 14th-century west tower is the oldest part of the structure, while the remainder dates from around 1432. The north porch was rebuilt in 1832 and the south porch repaired in 1874. The walls are constructed of mixed flint and limestone rubble, with banded knapped flint and ashlar limestone to the porches. The clerestory and aisles feature red brick crenellated parapets.

The church is built in Perpendicular style. The south porch has a Tudor archway and paired trefoil lancets to its left and right returns. A 15th-century double-leaf door with Perpendicular tracery pattern, ribbing and studding fills a flattened two-centre moulded stone arch with quatrefoil carving to the spandrels and hood mould. A water-stoop stands to the left of the door. The porch has a ribbed wooden roof. The aisle walls feature three three-light stone Perpendicular tracery windows with diamond-leading and hood moulds, separated by stepped buttresses. Seven two-light trefoil-topped stone mullion windows light the clerestory, each with hood moulds. A moulded string-course runs below the clerestory parapet, decorated with carved stone faces between the windows. The west tower has a two-light stone Y-tracery louvred opening at the top with hood mould and a crenellated stone parapet.

The north elevation displays knapped flint and ashlar limestone in a chequer pattern. The chancel has a five-light stone Perpendicular tracery window. The chapel has a four-light stone Perpendicular tracery window, while the vestry to its right features a two-light stone mullioned window with triangular cusped tracery at the top.

The rear of the church shows an open timber frame porch to the left of centre in the aisle, with a 15th-century ribbed and studded door. Three three-light stone Perpendicular tracery windows with splayed reveals and hood moulds light the aisle. A 15th-century ribbed and studded door with quatrefoil carving to the spandrels and hood mould gives access to the chapel. The chapel is lit by two three-light stone Perpendicular tracery windows with splayed reveals and hood moulds. Seven two-light trefoil-topped stone mullion windows with hood moulds light the rear clerestory, which has a moulded string-course with carved stone faces between the windows. The tower to the left has a two-light stone Y-tracery louvred opening at the top with hood mould and a crenellated stone parapet.

Interior features include two-centre arched arcades to the aisles with piers of clustered columns. The spandrels are carved with angels bearing shields, except to the south of the nave where the shields are left blank. The chapel has a 15th-century ribbed roof with feather-bodied angels having out-spread wings at the intersection of the beams.

An octagonal bowl font with quatrefoil carving and shields to each side stands on a panelled base with blind ogee arches. The spectacular wooden font cover, presented by John, Duke of Suffolk, after his mother's death in 1475, consists of four tiers of cusped and crocketted arches with a figure of St. Michael at the apex; the counterpoise is a carved Tudor rose.

The chapel contains a chest tomb to Thomas Chaucer (died 1434) and his wife Matilda Burghersh (died 1436), featuring fine brasses to the top and painted coats of arms to the sides. An alabaster chest tomb to Alice, Duchess of Suffolk (died 1475), stands between the chapel and chancel. It is decorated with an arched canopy and displays an effigy of the Duchess wearing a coronet, robes and the Order of the Garter. Angels under canopies appear to the sides, and beneath in a traceried base lies a stone cadaver. Fifteenth-century wood screens, shortened in 1844 and restored in 1925, are also present. The chapel reredos and altar were designed by Sir Ninian Comper in 1902.

The church was originally dedicated to All Saints and was rebuilt around 1432 at the expense of the Earl and Countess of Suffolk. The Countess, née Alice Chaucer, was born in Ewelme in 1409, the daughter of Thomas Chaucer, lord of the manor, and granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. She married William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in 1430 (he was created Duke of Suffolk in 1448). He "for love of his wife and the commodity of her lands felt much to dwell in Oxfordshire". The couple rebuilt the church, established the adjoining almshouse, and built the school. The use of brick in the church parapet and other buildings represents some of the earliest use of this material in the county.