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The original medieval church in Barford St. Michael seems to have comprised only a chancel and short nave and the low embattled tower. The continuation of the tower's plinth moulding around the west side shows that there was no aisle. The church now comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, north and south porches, and the tower in the angle between the chancel and south aisle.

During the 13th century the church was enlarged in two stages. In the first the south arcade of two bays and a narrow aisle were added and the south doorway presumably repositioned; in the second the nave and aisle were extended westwards by one bay. The chancel arch was rebuilt and the chancel perhaps extended eastwards. In the earlier 14th century the south aisle was widened, the south doorway reset in the western bay, and the north wall refenestrated and perhaps rebuilt. It may be then that the north doorway was moved to its present position in the western bay. Also in the 14th century the north porch was added, the chancel remodelled, and the tower's upper stage added or rebuilt. In the 15th century a large east window was inserted, the roofs of nave and chancel rebuilt, and two more bellopenings inserted in the tower. The east window was replaced by a much smaller window in the 17th century.

Both chancel and church were in poor condition in the mid 18th century, but £40 was spent in 1796. A gallery of unknown date was repaired in 1805, two bells replaced in 1810, and a sanctus bell added. Shortage of funds meant that a restoration in 1854 was limited in scope; much of the floor was tiled, the western gallery removed, and the church substantially repewed, although a few medieval poppy-head bench ends survive. The 15th-century carved wooden screen, originally surmounted by a roodloft, was restored. The plain south porch was added probably at that time; an earlier, presumably medieval, porch had been removed before 1823.

Historical information about St. Michael's Church is provided by British History Online. A P Baggs, Christina Colvin, H M Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, Nesta Selwyn and A Tomkinson, 'Parishes: Barford St. Michael', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 11, Wootton Hundred (Northern Part), ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1983), pp. 45-58. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol11/pp45-58 [accessed 12 January 2023].

St. Michael's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more informationabout the listing see CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL, Barford St. John and St. Michael - 1284140 | Historic England.

For more information see Parishes: Barford St. Michael | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).