Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a historic church located in Oxted, with origins dating back to the 12th century. The tower was built in the 12th century, the chancel in the 13th century, the aisles in the 14th century, and the porch in the 15th century, with some restoration work carried out in the 19th century. The church is constructed of rubblestone with brick dressings, and the tower features Bargate stone. The chancel is rendered, and the roofs are plain tiled, with the tower roof obscured by a stone-coped, battlemented parapet.

The church has a nave and aisle with the tower at the west end, a vestry to the north, and a chancel chapel and porch to the south. The square, unbuttressed tower has renewed Decorated details on the bell stage. The original east window of the north aisle is from the 14th century, while the other windows have been renewed, except for the east window, which has planed down tracery reduced in 1637. The porch features a hood moulding over the arch and the Cobham arms in the spandrels. A 14th-century door with ogee tracing and carved human heads adorns the entrance.

Inside, the church has a tiled floor and three bay nave arcades supported by compound piers with round shafts of quatrefoil section. The 14th-century chancel arch was raised during the 19th-century restoration and dies into imposts. Notable fittings include a 13th-century priest's door in the chancel, an arched piscina on the south chancel wall, and an octagonal stone font with quatrefoil panel decoration on an octagonal buttressed stem.

The stained glass includes 14th-century Evangelists in the tracery lights of the east window, and Burne Jones aisle windows to the north and south by Morris and Co. from 1908, featuring rich greens and reds.

Monuments within the church include a Baroque aedicular monument to William Finch, who died in 1728, made of white and grey marble with a raised inscription, flanking scrolls, double cherubs below, and a triangular pediment above, surmounted by a coat of arms. There is also a brass memorial to John Hoskins from 1613, depicting a standing figure 9 inches high, and another brass for Thomas Hoskins from 1611, featuring female standing figures. On the north chancel wall, there is a monument to John Aldersley, who died in 1616, made of plaster and stone, featuring a central arched niche with kneeling figures in profile, decorated with ribbon and fruit, and flanked by pilasters with a shield above in strapwork surround.