Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

696/1/58 HART STREET 26-JAN-51 PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN

GV II*

Aisled church with clerestory, N & S chancel chapels, Perp tower at W end of N aisle. C13 origins, although externally Perp and C19. C13 arcades, rebuilt and heightened in C14/C15. C15 NE chapel of 1460. South aisle rebuilt in 1789. Second N aisle added by Benjamin Ferrey in 1853-4, in the Decorated style. Ferrey also replaced windows and added a clerestory. INTERIOR: interior has a C17 font (now disused), together with an active Victorian one. 1920 rood screen by G H Fellowes Prynne; elaborate wrought iron Victorian screens N & S of chancel. 1890 painted shield and stencilling in chancel. 1621 monument to Dame Elizabeth Periam with effigy, stylistically progressive for date. Much Victorian stained glass, largely 1890 by Lavers & Westlake. HISTORY: A charter of 1272 granting indulgences to those contributing to the building or repair of the church is the earliest key date in the church's history. Little remains of this Early English phase, the church having undergone a major remodelling around 1400. The tower is traditionally assigned to the time of John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln 1521-47. A multi-phased medieval church with significant later phases and fittings, the parish church of St Mary forms part of notable groups on Church Avenue, Hart Street and at the bridgehead (Hart Street and Thameside Junction).

SOURCE: J. Sherwood & N. Pevsner, 'Buildings of England: Oxfordshire' (1974), 636-7.