Description

GLYMPTON
SP4221
11/58 Church of Saint Mary
27/08/57

GV II

Church. c.1200 with C16 or C17 tower; heavily restored, chancel rebuilt and
porch and vestry added in 1872 by G.E. Street. Squared and coursed limestone
with ashlar dressings; stone slate roofs. Four-bay nave with south porch, 3-bay
chancel with north vestry, and west tower. C19 work in a Decorated-Gothic style.
Tower: 3 stages. Moulded plinth, moulded cornice and parapet with coping. Large
buttress/stairtower to south with chamfered offsets and partly C19 buttress to
north. Square-headed belfry opening to west with 2 cinquefoil-headed lights and
hollow-chamfered reveals; small hollow-chamfered rectangular belfry opening to
south. Small rectagnular window in second stage to south and chamfered
rectangular window in second stage to north. Three-light stone west window with
chamfered mullions, hollow-chamfered reveals and relieving arch. Some reset C12
chevrom ornamented masonry in north wall of tower. Nave: high chamfered plinth,
moulded cill string, buttresses with chamfered offsets, and parapeted gable end
to east with coping, gabled kneelers and cross at apex. Two south windows to
right, of 2 and 3 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery and returned hood
moulds. South doorway to left with continuously-chamfered inner arch, moulded
outer arch, one order of shafts with moulded bases and capitals, hood mould with
carved stops, and boarded door with decorative strap hinges. Porch with
chamfered plinth, chamfered,corners with bar stops, string course, carried over
archway as hood mould, and parapeted gable with coping and cross at apex.
Entrance with moulded bases and capitals, and continuously-chamfered outer arch;
interior of porch with turned-rafter roof, stone side benches and encaustic
tiled floor. Two north windows each of 3 trefoil-headed lights with cusped
tracery, reticulated in right-hand window. Chamfered rectangular opening below
right-hand window. Chancel: chamfered plinth, moulded cill string, diagonal
buttresses with chamfered offsets, and low buttress to east, and parapeted gable
end with coping, gabled kneelers and cross at apex. Weathering against east wall
of nave. Two south windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery,
hollow-chamfered reveals and returned hood moulds. Stone steps with low side
walls up to central priest's doorway with continuous hollow-chamfered arch,
string course carried over as hood mould and boarded door with strap hinges.
East window of 3 lights, the outer trefoil headed and the centre one
cinquefoil-headed, with cusped tracery, moulded reveals and hood mould with
uncarved stops. Lean-to vestry: chamfered plinth, moulded cill string and
parapeted end walls with copings and gabled kneelers. Pair of chamfered
trefoil-headed lancets with wrought-iron bars. Window in left-hand return front
of 2 trefoil-headed lights. Boarded door in right-hand return front with strap
hinges, chamfered arch and string course carried over as hood mould. Interior:
C19 four-bay nave roof with double hammer beams, cusped spandrels, king posts
from collars, pairs of purlins and moulded wooden wall plates. Reused c12
carved stone corbels supporting roof. Double chamfered tower arch of c.1200, the
inner chamfer springing from corbels and the outer chamfer continuous. Restored
and widened (1846) chancel arch of c.1200 with deep roll moulding, dogtooth
ornament and responds consisting of 2 orders of shafts with cushion capitals.
(one with volutes) and abaci with dogtooth ornament. Inscription on north
respond: "DEDICATIO HUIUS TEMPLI IDUS MARTII". C19 three-bay chancel roof with
moulded arched-braced, collars, king posts with pierced cusped spandrels, wooden
wall plates with billet ornament and ashlar pieces, and single purlins.
Double-chamfered arch to vestry, the inner dying into responds and the outer
continuous. Sedilia beneath south-east window; arch, moulded cill, scalloped
bowl and half shaft with moulded base and capital supporting half-octagonal
stone shelf in front. Chamfered rear arches in nave and chamfered rear arches
with bar stops in chancel. Mainly C19 fittings: low stone reredos consisting of
quatrefoil band above altar shelf and flanking pairs of blind trefoil arches on
shafts with moulded bases and capitals and with quatrefoil panels in spandrels.
C19 wooden altar with blind trefoil arches. Wrought-iron and brass altar rails.
Low stone screen with moulded base and top. Wooden lectern. Polygonal wooden
pulpit with blind traceried panels and stone steps. Wooden choir stalls and
pews; some front pews incorporate possible revised medieval traceried panels,.
possibly from former screen. C12 circular stone font with wide bands of
incised-triangular ornament to bowl, mouldings and chevron ornament to base, C19
step and C19 iron-bound wooden cover. C20 organ on timber super structure at
west end. Old iron-bound chest in vestry. C19 stained glass in east and south
windows of chancel and in nave windows. Monuments: brass to Thomas Tesdale.
Alabaster wall monument to Maud Tesdale (d. 19 June 1616) and her husband
(d.1610) consisting of 2 opposed kneeling figures under round arches, flanking
free-standing unfluted Corinthian columns supporting frieze and cornice, shield
with scrollwork above and gadrooned base on brackets with inscription between;
marble tablet to Frances Sackville Lloyd Wheate Esq. (d. 19 September 1812) with
free-standing unfluted columns supporting frieze and cornice and with shield
flanked by scrolls above; marble Gothic wall monument to the Reverend William
May (d. 12 August 1845). The church stands adjacent to Glympton Park (q.v.). The
village, of which the church once formed the centre, was Roved to the south-east
when the park was created, probably in the early to mid-C17.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp612-3; VCH: Oxfordshire: p130)

Listing NGR: SP4239621861

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26649364

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)