St Mary

The priests were royal clerks, appointed by the king, whose patronage would explain the unusually fine architecture of St Mary’s and the high quality of its lavish wall paintings.

The earliest part of this building is the nave which dates around 1150. Over the years additions have been made, resulting in the church we see today.

The architecture of the chancel is of Florentine influence, and its fine set of medieval wall paintings may be explained by the appointment of Bonacursum de Frystobaldis as rector around 1310. Frystobaldis was from a Florentine family of bankers, builders, and decorators, travelling throughout Europe, often commissioned by the king to create works of art.

The piscina and the triple sedilia are of special note. The moulding of the sedilia is comparable only with that at Westminster Abbey, which is of wood, and that at Southwell Minster.

A rare double squint, built into the north side allowed lepers and others, to see the Elevation of the Host at the mass through one hole and also the wall painting of the Last Judgement through the second hole.

The font is made from two different types of stone with the top believed to be of Norman origin.

The one handed parish clock, one of the oldest working turret clocks in Oxfordshire, was installed as a thirty hour clock in 1699. It is one of the few clocks in the country, in their original locations, that retain their original hand wound form.

Many memorials can be found in the church including brasses to the Barentin family, lords of the shared manor for seven generations in Chalgrove. On the west wall of the nave a unique painted memorial commemorates the Quatermain family. Another unusual monument, on the north wall, honours members of the Winchcombe family. Hanging in the nave the Friendly Society banner, one of only a few that have survived, is the emblem of the local Society that provided a form of insurance before the National Health Service was introduced.