Description

HEYTHROP
SP32NE
5/79 Church of St. Nicholas

GV II

Church. 1880 by A.W. Blomfield for Albert Brassey, probably incorporating some
early-C19 work. Coursed squared rock-faced limestone with ashlar dressings;
plain-tile roofs. Chancel, north vestry, south organ chamber, nave, south aisle
and south-west tower/porch. Decorated-Gothic style. Chancel, with high moulded
plinth and stepped angle buttresses, has a 3-light traceried east window carried
down to 3 ornamented panels, and has 2-light side windows. Southern projection
has 2 traceried lancets to east and, to south, a pair of lancets under a
traceried spherical triangle; northern projection has a 3-light square-headed
window below a rose window, and has an angle turret. Low lean-to south aisle has
3 groups of cusped lancets set in triple arcades; north side of nave has tall
traceried windows of one and 2 lights, and to west is 4-light traceried
window. 4-stage tower, with plinth, diagonal buttresses, and a tall pierced
parapet with panelled and crocketed angle pinnacles, has a richly-moulded
C13-style south doorway below a shallow gable, 2-light traceried windows at the
second stage, pairs of small lancets at the third stage, and large 3-light
traceried openings to the bell chamber. Interior: chancel has traceried blind
arcading flanking the east window, and the windows all have moulded rere-arches,
hoods and jamb shafts; a mosaic reredos depicts the Last Supper. Richly-moulded
arches open north and south, the latter springing from head corbels. Similar
chancel arch springs from tapering corbels supporting clustered shafts. 3-bay
arcade of 2 chamfered orders has quatrefoil columns with moulded capitals, and
has double-shafted responds on foliage corbels. Similar corbels support detached
shafts from which rise the wall posts of the elaborate arch-braced collar-truss
nave roof, and also bear angels holding shields. Chancel roof has heavy cusping
to the trusses. Octagonal porch has a fine ribbed stone vault, springing from
full-height shafts, with foliage bosses and capitals. Some of the lower
stonework is said to have come from the former Roman Catholic church near
Heythrop Park erected 1826 for the Earls of Shrewsbury.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p646; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol XI, p142)

Listing NGR: SP3513827730

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26304538

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

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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
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  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Care and Repair
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  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)