Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Chipping Norton

The Church of St Mary is a substantial medieval parish church with significant later additions and restoration. It has a 12th-century foundation, of which only a few fragments survive in the west wall of the nave. The main structure reflects rebuilding of the 13th and 14th centuries, particularly visible in the chancel and aisles. The nave dates from around 1485, the west tower from 1823 by John Hudson, and the whole church underwent comprehensive restoration in 1878 by E G Bruton.

The building comprises a four-bay nave, two-bay chancel, inner and outer north aisles (the latter known as the Over Norton Aisle), each of six bays, a former Lady Chapel to the northeast with vestry attached, a four-bay south aisle, a west tower, and a south porch. There is also a northwest Dawkins family vault dating from 1800. The construction uses rubble stone for the chancel, squared and coursed rubble stone for the north aisles, ashlar for the remainder, and dressed stone for parapets, openings and buttresses. Slate roofs cover the entire building throughout.

The west tower, dated 1823 on its west face, rises four storeys with battering at the base. It features diagonal buttresses with set-offs to the third stage, moulded string courses, the lower one carrying gargoyles from the original medieval tower, and a moulded embattled parapet with crocketted corner pinnacles. The west face displays a plain moulded surround with a pointed hood mould over the west door, a two-cusped light window to the second stage, and a bell opening of cusped Y tracery under a pointed head with hood mould. These elements are repeated on the other facades. At third-stage level on the south face is a moulded blind roundel in a square surround with trefoiled mouchettes in the spandrels, clearly intended for a clock. This detailing makes a deliberate archaeological reference to the Perpendicular work of the nave.

The south aisle and chancel south windows contain either two or three Decorated lights, some original and others dating from the 1878 restoration. Remarkably, the east end window of the south aisle features a great Decorated window of six lights with a wheel in the head, traditionally said to have been brought from the nearby Bruern Abbey following its dissolution in 1535. The Perpendicular clerestory windows of the nave comprise five main cusped lights with ten smaller lights above under flat heads. The chancel, though 13th-century in origin, has been refenestrated with Decorated and Perpendicular windows. Its east window is Late Decorated with flowing tracery, and further Decorated and Perpendicular windows occupy the chancel north and south walls. The north aisle displays plain three and four-light panel tracery Perpendicular windows on the north wall, but its west end windows show more complex tracery and are later 17th-century examples of Gothic Survival.

The south porch is a rare hexagonal structure of two storeys with a parvise above. The entrance features an octopartite vault with bosses depicting grinning devils and green men leading to the inner south door, which has an order of large ballflowers entwined in tendrils. Externally, the porch has diagonal buttresses with set-offs, a parapet with gargoyles, and a crenellated hexagonal chimney with a bellcote between the merlons. A sundial adorns the south face at parapet level. The parvise is lit by windows of two cusped lights with a quatrefoil above under pointed heads, while the porch entrance has two cusped light openings under flat heads.

On the north wall of the Over Norton Aisle, built of pink ashlar, projects the Dawkins family vault constructed by Henry Dawkins of Over Norton in 1800. It is executed in the Gothick style with pasteboard parapets, corner pinnacles, and central gables on three sides bearing crosses below. The family coat of arms, motto, and date are recorded on the north face.

The interior of the nave displays arcading that produces the effect of panelled curtain walling. The piers comprise clustered shafts on a lozenge plan with vestigial octagonal capitals and thin moulded arches supporting blind tracery in the triforium and glazed panelled tracery in the clerestory. Quatrefoils and mouchettes appear in the spandrels, and these elements combined with the traceried upper storeys create a delicate filigree effect. The piers feature springing shafts supporting a contemporary open rafter roof with arched tie beams whose carved spandrels echo those of the arcade. This decorative scheme continues on the east wall above the chancel arch, where a window is set behind a skin of open cusping and quatrefoils. Two crocketted niches and pedestals, now empty of statues, flank this window. On the north pier of the chancel arch are remains of the Trinity Guild chantry comprising three crocketted niches and pedestals, which were transformed in 1878 with the addition of a lower reading desk into a pulpit.

The north arcade between the two north aisles comprises six bays. The five bays from west to east feature octagonal 14th-century piers with pointed arches of two chamfered orders and heads carved in the spandrels. The sixth pier is Early English with a stiff-leaf capital, and from this projects a four-centred arch with a reset Early English window above. The two piers on the north side of the chancel are further survivors of the Early English period.

The church contains several notable monuments. On the south and north walls of the outer north aisle are mural tablets, and two chest tombs occupy the southwest angle of the aisle. One commemorates Thomas Rickardes (died 1570) and his wife, featuring two alabaster effigies on a Renaissance chest with stripped-down strapwork. The other honours Rev E Redrobe, vicar from 1683 to 1721, and his wife, with a Purbeck marble top on a chest with swags and corner ball finials. The south wall displays a brass to Henry Cornish (died 1618), son of Henry Cornish who endowed the almshouses. In the former Lady Chapel east of the inner north aisle stands an alabaster chest tomb to Richard Croft (died 1502) and his wife (died 1509), featuring two complete effigies still Gothic in line and detail, on a crocketted niched chest with angels and shields. Flanking the entrance to the Dawkins vault on the north wall of the outer north aisle is a marble urn to James Dawkins (died 1766), sculpted by Nicholas Revett, co-author of The Antiquities of Athens. Brasses mostly of the 15th century, commemorating the wool merchants of the town, are displayed on the north wall of the outer north aisle. The church contains good late 19th-century stained glass windows, particularly the Bruern Abbey window.

The font is 14th-century, octagonal with blind traceried panels on each face.

To the northeast of the churchyard lie earthworks marking the site of an Early Norman motte and bailey castle, which is a scheduled Ancient Monument (Oxfordshire No 40).