Description

SPELSBURY CHURCH LANE
SP3421-3521 (West side)
16/157 Church of All Saints
27/08/57

GV II*

Church. C11/C12, C13, C14 and C15; tower partly rebuilt 1706, chancel rebuilt
1740, and nave and transepts probably largely rebuilt 1774 for the Earls of
Litchfield; restored and chancel re-modelled 1851. Coursed squared limestone
with ashlar dressings; part-roughcast limestone rubble; sheet-metal and
Stonesfield-slate roofs. Chancel, transepts, nave, north and south aisles, and
west tower. Chancel and flanking transepts have steep stone-slate roofs with
gable parapets. 3-light C19 Decorated-style east window is set into a wider C18
opening; gable walls of transepts have plain C18 round-headed recesses. Large
square-headed 3-light windows with ogee tracery, casement moulds and labels, set
into east walls of transepts, are (probably re-used) C15 work, and are matched
by the side windows of the 2-bay aisles. Aisles also have further C18 recesses
in their west walls. Plain parapets of aisles are repeated on the C15 clerestory
which has square-headed 2-light windows. Lead rainwater heads are dated 1774.
Roughcast lower part of broad 2-stage tower is probably C11/C12 and has shallow
clasping pilaster strips extending to ground level, and central strips,
terminating to north and south above vanished transepts or wings and on west
side above a round-headed blind arch, partly destroyed by a 3-light C14 window
with reticulated tracery. West doorway with complex continuous mouldings is also
C14. Rubble upper stage of tower, with projecting ashlar quoins, is probably all
of 1706 except the 2-light bell-chamber openings, with Cll/C12 round arches on
turned shafts with cushion capitals, which are set into C18 outer arches;
crenellated parapet has corner pinnacles. Interior: C19 chancel walls have
full-height blind arcades containing the Lee tombs, and further arches opening
to the transepts. Panelled stone reredos and piscina are probably also C19, as
is the chancel arch springing from double shafts on angel corbels. Above the
arch is a traceried vesica. 2-bay C13 nave arcades have arches of 2 chamfered
orders on circular columns with moulded bases and capitals. Plain pointed C19
arches open eastwards to the transepts. Wide tower arch has C12 responds with
square abaci and angle shafts with cushion capitals, but pointed arch of 2
chamfered orders is C13 or C14. Side walls of tower retain the hood moulds of
blocked pointed arches. Fittings are all C19. Late-C19 stained glass in east
window. A notable series of monuments includes numerous C17 and C18 brass coffin
plates to members of the Lee family and to John, Earl of Rochester (d.1680). The
chancel tombs include that of Sir Henry Lee (d.1631): a panelled alabaster chest
carrying 2 recumbent figures surrounded by kneeling children with an elaborate
canopy on black Doric columns carrying a heraldic achievement in a broken
pediment; the first Earl and Countess of Litchfield (d.1716 and 1717/8): a white
marble tablet flanked by scrolls, skulls and batswings below an achievement of
arms; the third Earl (d.1772): a perspective of urns in an oval recess
surmounted by an oak tree and cherub, designed by Henry Keene and sculpted by W.
Tyler; and the fourth Earl (d.1776): a yellow marble sarcophagus surmounted by
cherubs and a red marble urn, sculpted by W. Tyler. In the north transept is a
large monument to the 14th Viscount Dillon (d.1865) with an effigy under an
elaborate canopy with pierced cusping. The tower was probably formerly at the
centre of a cruciform church with narrower arms, or was possibly originally a
tower-nave; it may survive from a pre-Conquest building.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp774-5)

Listing NGR: SP3491921509

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532616

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.

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