St Mary, Swinbrook

St Mary’s is a Grade II* parish church above the village green at Swinbrook, Oxfordshire, in the Diocese of Oxford and the parish of Asthall with Swinbrook and Widford.

Overview

Historic England records a church of eleventh-century origins, with a twelfth-century north aisle, a probably thirteenth-century south aisle, a west tower of about 1822, and twentieth-century vestry and restoration. The fabric is uncoursed stone rubble with stone slate roofs. The plan is a two-bay chancel, three-bay aisled nave and west tower. The Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust notes Decorated and Perpendicular work and a late Georgian tower said to have been built in six weeks in 1822.

The listing highlights the Fettiplace monuments in the chancel: stacked reclining figures of about 1613 and 1686, and a 1743 marble bust by James Annis. There are fifteenth-century choir stalls with misericords, a two-centred chancel arch on Romanesque columns, nave arcades of three arches on Romanesque piers, a seventeenth-century wood pulpit, fragments of medieval glass in the south aisle, and a fifteenth-century stone font. Headstones near the porch commemorate Nancy, Unity and Diana Mitford.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1053441
• Burford Benefice
• Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust: Swinbrook St Mary