Please read Important information about Oxfordshire’s Historic Environment Record data on Heritage Gateway

Designations

• Listed Building (I) 1053559: CHURCH OF ST MARY

Monument Type(s):

• MINSTER (Early Medieval to Medieval - 901 AD to 1100 AD)
• CHURCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1101 AD to 1870 AD)

Summary

Originally Saxon minster; occupies one corner of large oval enclosure of Anglo Saxon date.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

Description

SP3003-3103 BAMPTON CHURCH CLOSE
13/56 (South-west side)
12/09/55 Church of St Mary
GV I
Church. C10/C11 origins visible in herringbone stonework in tower and stair turret; rebuilt C12 on cruciform plan, with C12 features surviving in tower and transepts; remodelled, with aisles, late C13-early C14; transepts raised and aisles re-roofed C15; Horde chapel remodelled 1702; extensively restored 1868-70 by Ewan Christian, as dated on rainwater heads. Limestone rubble, with stone slate roofs to nave and chancel, and lead roofs to remainder. Cruciform plan with central tower and transept chapels. C15 moulded parapets with carved gargoyles, except to nave and chancel. West end of nave has much restored 5-light window with intersecting tracery, originally early C14, and fine C14 moulded doorway with ballflower and fleuron ornament. Shallow gabled west porch of same date, with wide chamfered arch and gabled side niches. 4-bay aisles are late C13 and have windows with trefoil-headed lights arranged in 3's with taller central lights. External window surrounds are unmoulded but rere-arches are cusped. North and south doorways are also trefoil-headed. North aisle has later buttresses, and gabled stair turret rises from east end. South aisle has C15 battlemented porch with diagonal buttresses and Tudor hoodmould over 4-centred arch. Inside porch are stone side shelves, shallow cusped niche, late C17 memorial tablet, and moulded roof beams. South chapel, to west of transept, has cusped niche over late C13 south window, and C15 and C16 2-light west windows. Transepts have 2 bays of late C15 clerestory windows with 3 cusped lights and Tudor hoodmoulds. 4-light south window is also late C15 with Perpendicular tracery. Below is fine C12 doorway with chevron-moulded semi-circular arch of 2 orders, on shafts with carved caps. North transept has late C13 north doorway with trefoil head, contemporary 3-light west window, and C19 3-light traceried north window. Later C14 chapel to east of north transept has 3-light window inserted 1908. Central tower has tall bell-chamber with pairs of arched transomed lights and narrow arcaded frieze. Octagonal spire with large 2-light gabled lucarnes at base, and flying buttresses. Each buttress consists of a quatrefoil cluster of shafts with a statue on top, much restored. Chancel has C19 carved head corbel table, restored 5-light east window with intersecting tracery, and C19 3-light traceried south window. Lean-to vestry along north side. In angle with south transept is Horde chapel, dated 1702 on inscription frieze, with south window of six arched lights, blocked 2-light east window, and lean-to porch. Interior: is much restored and stripped of plaster. Double-chamfered nave arcades on cylindrical piers with moulded caps and bases and square plinths. Arcades terminate on piers with slender corbel shafts and restored carved heads. Nave roof is C19, as is that of chancel. Aisles, transepts and south chapel retain C15 roofs with moulded beams on restored carved stone corbels. South chapel has double-chamfered arch to transept, and 2 piscinae, that near pulpit with restored trefoil head and carved corbel. Stair turret at east end of north aisle has small internal windows, aisle piscina, and heavily reworked east doorway with semi-circular tympanum. Central tower is Transitional and has ashlar piers and pointed unmoulded arches of 2 orders, those to nave and chancel with nailhead or billet ornament. Within arch to chancel is retained Cll-C12 semi-circular arch with dogtooth voussoirs. Over north arch is C12 window of 2 arched lights with octagonal mullion shaft. West walls of transepts also retain C12 arched lights with deep splays, only the head surviving in north transept. South transept has C12 arch in east wall, now blocked, with old door in moulded 4-centred arch to Horde chapel. North transept has wide C14 moulded arch to east chapel. This has tall gabled niche, possibly Easter sepulchre, with elaborate cusping, crockets, and finials on carved stone heads. Aumbry and moulded piscina in south wall. Chancel has semi-circular headed doorway in north wall, and much restored C15 Easter sepulchre with 2 tiers of cusped arches and blind tracery. In south wall is fine late C13 triple sedilia with trefoil arches, shafts and carved spandrels. Moulded trefoil-headed piscina. Inset below east window is early C14 carved stone reredos with figures of Christ and 12 Apostles in crocketed niches. Recess with 2 arched openings below. Fittings are mostly C19 but do include a C14 font base with trefoil-headed arcade, a strapped medieval chest, and some reused C15/C16 panels in choir stalls. Monuments: in south transept: 1) very worn medieval effigy of lady, in carved stone; 2) wall monument to George Tompson 1603, with carved stone effigy lying in tabernacle with Corinthian columns, carved frieze and strapwork base and pediment; 3) stone coffin with cross on lid. In north chapel: carved stone effigy of a knight, said to be Sir Gilbert Talbot, d.1419. In Horde chapel: 4 wall tablets with oval or round inscription panels of grey stone in carved white stone surrounds with putti, mask-heads and sculls, to Thomas and Elizabeth Cooke 1669 and 1668, Stephen Philips, 1684, Barbara Trinder, 1671, and children of John and Anne Gower, 1679. In chancel: 3 brasses, to Thomas Plymmyswode, c.1429, Robert Holcot, 1500, and Frances Gardner, 1633.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: 1974: pp429-431)
Listing NGR: SP3126403324
2) Base of tower late Saxon/Early Norman - rest is medieval
4) Reflooring in February 1985 in the vestry (C13th 'lean-to' on north side of C12th chancel) produced many human bones in loose earth and a range of finds from medieval to modern date, including two small pieces of coloured window-glass, two plain bronze belt-plates (perhaps late medieval), two C17th clay pipes bowls, and fragments of a small bronze bell
5) A C14th gabled recess in the north transept and the imprint of a C15th monumental brass on the floor slab below may indicate the site of the pre-Conquest St Beornwald's shrine
6) Structural implications
8) Burials dating from C8th-C11th found in churchyard, some lying at edge of BA barrow ditch
9) Major discovery was number of ditch cuts outside the present churchyard, intepreted as Medieval recuts on or near line of orignal Saxon Minster ditch. This appears to have been maintained into C13. Grave cuts into natural have been interpreted as Saxon in date; later burials below topsoil are probably Victorian in date. Earlier evidence of churchyard entrance revealed by 2 walls, which overlie Medieval ditch fills
11) Watching brief revealed a number of grave cuts in the natural gravel. On analogy with previous excavations in the churchyard, it is possible that these graves date to the Saxon period, although no dating evidence was recovered. The graves were overlain by a general churchyard soil, which was cut by later burials. Several graves cut from just below the present topsoil are probably of relatively recent date, though none was dated. Also noted was the presence of several inter-cutting ditches just outside the limit of the churchyard which appear to be medieval re-cuts on the line of the original Saxon Minster ditch
** see also J Blair's Anglo Saxon Oxfordshire; Bampton said to be highest Minster above sea level on Thames; first mentioned in 950s (Blair, 1994, p 63).
12) The earliest structure is the eastern part of the original nave. The complex sequence of phases revealed on the east face of the chancel-arch wall includes the re-entrant quoins of a chancel integral with the nave. The jambs of the chancel arch are contemporary but the arch was inserted in the 12th century. Traces of original rubble voussoirs suggest a double opening, similar to the early Kentish churches and almost exactly paralleled at Bradwell-on-Sea. If this reconstruction is valid, the first stone church must be mid-late Saxon. Whether or not there were north and south porticus is uncertain. The Gesta Stephani says that in 1142 Queen Matilda fortified the church tower, 'built in ancient times to a wonderful design'; which suggests a late-Saxon tower, perhaps with stripwork decoration, which may have been over the later crossing. At some date in the 12th C the church was partly ruined and the walls rebuilt and heightened with herringbone masonry; some potential for this to be connected with Stephen besieging the tower. Around approximately 1170-1200 the church was lavishly remodelled with a new crossing tower, chancel and transepts with eastern apses. A gallery overlooking the north transept reached by a wall-passage is best interpreted as a 'watching chamber' over the shrine of St. Beornwald.

<1> Dept of Environment/DCMS, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, West Oxon List 123: 13/56, p.29 (Index). SOX260.

<2> Kelly's Directory, (1891) p.572 (Index). SOX265.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 6" map, 1955 (Map). SOX7.

<4> OAU Newsletter, Vol XII, no 1 (March 1985). J Blair (Article in serial). SOX270.

<5> Oxford Architectural & Historical Society, Oxoniensia, Vol XLIX (1984) pp.47-55. J Blair (Serial). SOX284.

<6> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, CBA 9, NL 16 (1986) p.89. J Blair (Serial). SOX5.

<7> Local Informant as main provider of information, Second Report: The Bampton Project, by J Blair (1988) (Verbal communication). SOX277.

<8> Slide Cabinet, South west view of church. Old illustration (Photograph). SOX303.

<9> John Blair, 1999, Bampton Research Papers, Research paper 5 (1999) (Serial). SOX479.

<10> Oxford Archaeology, 2002, St Mary's church, Bampton, Oxfordshire: Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SOX480.

<11> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, Vol 33 (2003) p.74 (Serial). SOX5.

<12> John Blair, 1986, The Bampton Project, First Report (Unpublished document). SOX5131.

Sources

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.