I have driven through Middleton Stoney many times on my way to Silverstone back in the 1970'sI knew the crossroads and the gates that opened for the manor there, I never thought about the church that would be there let alone stopping off. This was the church I did not get to see on my first trip to the area, getting to it behind the gates turned out easier than I thought after getting in touch with the churchwardens. the day was a little overcast so the photos outside are a bit darker
"The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are Norman, built in the middle of the 12th century. In about 1190 the chancel arch was inserted and the north aisle and three-bay arcade were added in a transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic. In the 14th century the south aisle and its two-bay arcade were built. The nave has a clerestory that was added in the 15th century.
In 1805 a transeptal mausoleum was added to the north side of the chancel for the Child-Villiers family. In 1858 the church was restored under the direction of the architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, under whom the west tower was rebuilt and the Jersey mausoleum was Normanised.
In 1860 a 14th-century Gothic baptismal font was presented to the church. On its base a 17th-century inscription says This fonte came/from the Kings/chapel in Islipp... and claims that Edward the Confessor was baptised in it. If true, it would be a Saxon font that was re-cut and Gothicised in the 14th century. It may have been salvaged from the Saxon chapel of the Royal House of Wessex at Islip, which was damaged in the English Civil War in 1645 and demolished in the 1780s.
In 1868 the church was refitted to designs by the Oxford Diocesan architect GE Street, who added a vestry, reredos, choir stalls and new pulpit. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
The west tower has a ring of six bells, all cast in 1717 by Henry III Bagley of Chacombe. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the tenor and treble bells in 1883 and the fifth bell in 1885.
The parish churchyard has a Commonwealth War Graves Commission section with 27 Second World War burials. All but one are airmen from RAF Upper Heyford in the next parish, including 10 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and two from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The exception is a Royal Navy officer, Lieut Conroy Ancil, who served on the escort carrier HMS Stalker and died in 1943.
All Saints' is now part of the Akeman Church of England Benefice, which includes the parishes of Bletchingdon, Chesterton, Hampton Gay, Kirtlington, Wendlebury and Weston-on-the-Green."
Lychgate leads to the church
West end showing the tower
South view from over the churchyard
Priest door in the chancel
Old entrance to the north aisle
North east view
The churchyard looking to the lychgate
Graves over near east boundary wall
Looking west as you come in the churchyard
headstones and a tomb chest east of the church
Looking over towards the south boundary wall
Towards the west boundary
Leaf strew graves
headstone in the cemetery
The commonwealth war graves in the cemetery all contain airmen who died in WWII from RAF Upper Hayford
The one grave not among them is John Douglas Young MC of the Royal Hussars who died in 1928
Headstone and crosses
Inside the porch you are faced with a Norman doorway
Above with is a tipanium
Either side of the doorway the carvings are quite outstanding
Inside looking at the chancel arch
Stepping back behind the font
In the chancel
Altar and east window
Closer view of the altar and east window
Cross and flowers
The east window
Back through the chancel and nave
Nave from the arch
Pulpit
From the pulpit
Lancet window
Plain glass window
1707 is the date on one of the memorials and looking at the second I would think the same era
One of the choir stall banks
This is the entrance to the chapel you see in the photo above
Tomb with bibles on the top
Memorial panel above the tomb
Reading on the floor
Memorials on the east wall
The south wall with the gate
Looking up at the roof
The other memorials in the chapel
Memorial to Henry Elliott
First time I have seen a portrait of King Charles III in a church
South aisle
With a well preserved bier
Cross in the window with the roll of honor
Hand written Roll of Honor
Second roll
Memorial to William Davis Little and family
Clawed base on the pillar
Chancel arch
Carvings on the arch
More carving to see on the pillars
The font which I found out that Edward the Confessor was allegedly baptised in the font
