St Mary the Virgin Chipping Norton

 

 One church I have been looking to visit for a while not only because it is one of the churches in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches but also because of how best to get there. The roads near Oxford are not unknown for  traffic congestion so I ended up going a roundabout way to get there but I will say it was worth it. Before you read on there are lot of photos so get a coffee & cake

 The nave of St Mary’s Church in Chipping Norton, built circa 1485, is described by Pevsner as being one of the finest interiors in the county. The chancel and aisles are earlier, and contain 13th- and 14th-century work. The west tower was rebuilt in 1825. At the east end of the south aisle is a large Decorated window which is thought to have been brought from the demolished Bruern Abbey in Oxfordshire. There is a fourteenth-century octagonal font and a two-storeyed fifteenth-century vestry. There are some damaged alabaster tomb effigies, and some monumental brasses are now displayed on wooden panels. 

  When you look at the church first it does not look that large until you move and then you see it is huge

The wide view does nothing to help show the scale of the church

The tower. The blocked window makes me think there should be a clock there

West view looking up the tower

West end with a family vault tagged on

North side of the vault and an north door

North east view across the churchyard

The church does not look big from the east end

Move to the south view and the look changes

South west view

The porch is big and has a room over the top of it

The chancel has gargoyles looking down

at least they do not spew rainwater on you now

There are more around the tower though I did not zoom in on them

Looking back up the path to the road

Graves and tombs around the north side of the church

Old broken headstone 

This is the churchyard looking west

Old tombs and headstones looking east

Collage of parts of the churchyard

Fenced family plot with tombs

More old headstones

Three bale tombs, the family long forgotten from the look of things

Couple of tomb chests the near one is belongs to John & Emma Gibbs. John died in 1860 and Emma died in 1850

The porch beckons

Wide view in the porch

Ball flowers around the doorway

But you need to look up because you could miss the best bit

The church is deceptive on the outside but when you go in it is vast

Very cathedral like in the nave

Looking down the nave to the chancel arch

The chancel arch with window above letting in lots of light. Upper left is a doorway which leads me to thing there was a rood loft in the church at one time

Looking through to the chancel

The choir stalls

Altar and east window

Altar with just a cross as a reminder where you are

The east window

Looking back through the chancel arch to the west end

Through the north arch to a chapel and north aisle beyond that

The pulpit which seems short and if there used to be a taller one

Looking out of the pulpit to the nave and south aisle

Looking over the bay to the north aisle

The west end wall with cross, the door leads to the bell tower

The bay looking to the chapel with organ at the end

 

In the chapel, the door at the end was locked so I did not get a chance to see what was in  there but there are two windows in the east wall so it might have been a chapel now used as a vestry

 

Thomas and Elizabeth Rickardes  

The inscription you see on the end, Richard died in 1579

Thomas and Elizabeth Rickardes  dressed in their Tudor gowns

Their faces in repose

Elizabeth's face has been slightly damaged

At her feet a muzzled hound

Richard and Anne Croft

I'm not sure if the figures represent their children or a monk and a nun

The angels hold their coat of arms

Richard and Anne Croft looking regal

Dressed as a knight he looks miserable to me

Side by side she looks like she has one eye open

The stained glass widow above the effigies

The other window in the chapel

There is another tomb chest in the chapel though I did not look to see who it was

Sidilia seats

The Sidilia seats partly hide the stained glass window behind

Couple of the stained glass windows you can see in the church

Looking west in the bay with the remote organ keys in the foreground

The north aisle

Looking towards the east window

The altar and east window with a church brass I missed over to the right

The east window

Couple of the memorials in the north aisle

There are also a lot of brasses mounted on the walls

All of them lifted off the tombs they were on

This one and the inscription under it

Another couple of memorials

 

In fact there are  lot more than what I have shown

 

This huge one is near the back of the north aisle, the last person recorded back in the late 1800s

 

This might give you an idea as to the size of the memorial, the door leads to the vault you saw in and earlier photo

Recessed memorial

At the end of the north aisle more memorials than you can shake stick at, there must have been a lot of rich merchants wanting to be remembered

Over to the south aisle

Which has a really stunning window

It's called the creation window, a local lady saw me looking at it and told me what it was called, I think they are quiet proud of it

 

Nearby the Roll of Honor, there are a lot of names on it for this town. 92 from WWI and 20 for WWII

Stained glass window with colored glass

Back of the south aisle 

 

That has a Madonna and Child insert
 

 

Nearby is where you find the font

 

 

Which I am sure is Victorian

 

 

Over on the south wall is this window

 

where below you can see the steps leading to the door that will take you to the room over the porch, It was locked so I could not see what it was like

 

 Quick look up at the high ceiling

A last look at this stunning church

Till Next time may I wish you all a peaceful week