Church

St Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden

St Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden

St Michael and All Angels stands above the Thames at Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, a Grade II* parish church rebuilt for the Gibbs family by George Gilbert Scott.

Location
Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire
Country
England
County
Oxfordshire
City / town
Clifton Hampden
Address
St Michael & All Angels, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, OX14 3EE
Postcode
OX14 3EE
Built
c.1180; rebuilt 1843–44
Architect
George Gilbert Scott
Denomination
Church of England
Dedication
Michael
Diocese
Oxford
Parish
Clifton Hampden
Grade
II*
Style
Gothic Revival
Materials
Rubble stone with ashlar dressings
Opening hours
Daily from 9.30am to 5pm. If for any reason it is locked a key may be obtained from the village shop at the bottom of the church steps.
Access
Ramp or level access available on request

Overview

The south aisle arcade of about 1180 is the oldest fabric. A Decorated chapel was added in the fourteenth century and the church served as a chapel of Dorchester parish until the nineteenth century. After George Gibbs inherited the manor and died in 1842, his son Henry Hucks Gibbs commissioned Scott to restore the ruinous building with a legacy. Work of 1843–44, which Scott called a refoundation rather than a strict restoration, recast the church in early fourteenth-century detail, with an octagonal western bellcote and a founder’s tomb to George Henry Gibbs. Mosaic reredos and the east window are by Clayton and Bell.

Scott returned in 1864–66 to enlarge the north aisle and add a vestry, organ chamber, pulpit and brass chancel screen. The church remains in the Diocese of Oxford, with a key available from the village shop when the building is locked.

Further Information