St. Michael's Church, Begbroke

St. Michael's Church in Begbroke is built of limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a chancel, nave, and west tower all substantially of the 12th century. The elaborately decorated chancel arch and south doorway are 12th-century, and a small gable window in the chancel and windows in the tower, as well as its saddleback roof, may also be original. Until 1828 the church retained narrow, single-light, 12th-century windows at the east end of the chancel and in the south wall of the nave at the east end. In 1982 a blocked north doorway was discovered directly opposite that on the south. An image of St. Michael above the north doorway remained in the early 18th century. 

In the 13th century a large, plain, single-light window was inserted in the south wall of the chancel. Of later medieval work there remain the font, with octagonal bowl and quatrefoil-decorated stem, an aumbry with its original carved door, in the north wall of the chancel, and the rebates of a rood screen. In the 16th century or the 17th square-headed two-light windows were inserted on either side of the south doorway and in the upper storey of the tower, and the nave was re-roofed. 

In the 18th century the tower was repaired and a major restoration was carried out in 1828-9. The chancel windows were replaced in Romanesque style, except for the small south-west window, which kept its deeply recessed internal splays while being given external mouldings in 15th-century style. The Perpendicular style was also used for elaborate new windows on either side of the south doorway. The narrow 12th-century window in the nave was replaced by a window in 14th-century style. A south porch, which had replaced an earlier, taller, porch, was removed. Buttresses were placed at the corners of the chancel and of the nave. A small gallery was erected at the west end of the church, and new pews were provided, probably re-using some old materials.

Between 1830 and 1835 the bell-opening in the south face of the upper storey of the tower was renewed in 14th-century style to match that on the north. In the 19th century the chancel arch was rebuilt and at that time the 12th-century gable window in the chancel was discovered and opened up. In the 19th century the flat plaster ceiling in the chancel was removed and a major restoration of the church was carried out. The ground level around the church was lowered, and the roof reslated. A flat plaster ceiling, possibly 18th-century, was removed from the nave. The west gallery was taken down, the nave replastered, and stonework, which had once been coloured, was cleaned and whitewashed. New pews were installed. The font was replaced by the old one, which had been brought back into the church in the 1840s to stand in the tower. The tower was fitted out as a vestry. 

In 1956 the altar rails were replaced, and arcading behind the altar table removed. Two tables of the Commandments, set up in 1816, were also removed. The church was completely reroofed in 1983. In 1985 the external rendering was stripped off and extensive repairs made to the walls.

The church contains some notable glass of the 15th century and later. Some, in the south-east window of the chancel, was removed when a memorial window replaced it. Of the remainder, the 15th-century painted glass in the south-east window of the nave has been described as 'the most important piece of Flemish glass painting ... in the county'. By contrast, Victorian glass in the east window was described by the diocesan surveyor in 1956 as the worst he had ever seen, and it was replaced by a window depicting St. Michael. 

Historical information about St. Michael's Church is provided by British History Online. A P Baggs, W J Blair, Eleanor Chance, Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, Nesta Selwyn and S C Townley, 'Begbroke: Church', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12, Wootton Hundred (South) Including Woodstock, ed. Alan Crossley and C R Elrington (London, 1990), pp. 10-13. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol12/pp10-13 [accessed 12 January 2023].

St. Michael's Church is Grade II* listed. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL, Begbroke - 1291232 | Historic England.

For more information about St. Michael's Church see Begbroke: Church | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).