This week the Church Explorer visits St Mary Hampton Poyle which I only realised it was there after visiting S Mary the Virgin Kidlington where I was told it was a really nice church to visit. I thought about going along when I had more time. I found some history on Wikipedia :-
"The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built in the 13th century. The earliest known written record of it is a charter from about 1225. Features surviving from this period include the priest's doorway on the south side of the chancel and probably the three-light east window of the chancel. In the 14th century north and south aisles of two bays were added to the nave and the present chancel arch was inserted. The arcades of the two aisles are dissimilar, and the south may be slightly earlier than the north. The two arches of the south arcade are separated by a surviving narrow section of nave wall. A third arch at right-angles to this section of wall divides the two bays of the south aisle. Between the two arches of the north arcade is an octagonal column. Its capital is a relief of the upper halves of four hooded figures with their arms linked.
This style of lively 14th-century sculpture is more common further north in Oxfordshire, including Adderbury, Alkerton, Bloxham and Hanwell. At the east end of the north aisle is another relief of a human face, forming a corbel that supports a piscina. In the north aisle are 14th-century recumbent effigies of a knight in armour with a lion at his feet and a lady with a dog at her feet. The lady is in an arched, pinnacled and traceried recess bearing the arms of Poyle and another family impaling Poyle. But the recess is Perpendicular Gothic and thus later than the effigy. And it is too short for the effigy, suggesting it was made for another Poyle family monument, now lost. The north window of the chancel was inserted in the 15th century. Medieval stained glass, made about 1400–30, survives in four small lights at the top of the window. They represent the symbols of the four Evangelists, each with a Latin inscription.
At the west end of the nave is a bell-gable with two bells, one of which is 17th-century. In the south aisle is an 18th-century monument by Peter Scheemakers for Christopher Tilson (1669–1742), who throughout his adult life was a clerk to HM Treasury. The church building was restored in 1844 and again in 1870, on the latter occasion under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect GE Street. In one of these restorations was inserted in the north windows of the north aisle and in the east window of the chancel. St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building. St Mary's is now part of the Church of England parish of Kidlington with Hampton Poyle."
Photos are a mixture of iphone and Canon EOS R6. Get a coffee I cake while you brows through
The south side of St Mary looking from the private gate to the churchyard
View you get of St Mary from just outside the main gate to the churchyard
Walking a little over to the left in the churchyard to get a view along the south side
The east end wall with the chancel window
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| Another view of the south side showing the south aisle |
Going along to view the church from the south west
Walking around to see the north side
Then along to the east end
The door leading to the chancel
On either side a headstop can be seen
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The churchyard has a mixture of modern and old headstones the two on the let being more recent
Looking over towards the north side of the churchyard
The north side looking west
The south west end of the churchyard
Where some headstones stand forgotten
This one was more unusual, their name along the side their name blending it
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Over to the nave and look towards the chancel
Altar with east window
