St. Mary's Church, Souldern
St. Mary's Church in Souldern is a stone building consisting of a chancel, clerestoried nave, south aisle and porch, and a western tower. The earliest parts of the church are the tower and the north wall of the nave, which, together with the north doorway, date from the second half of the 12th century. The foundations of an eastern apse are said to have been discovered when the chancel was rebuilt in 1896, and the original Romanesque church probably consisted of an aisleless nave with apsidal chancel and western tower. The presence of a 12thcentury capital reused as the base of one of the columns of the arcade on the south side of the nave may, however, indicate that a south aisle was added before the end of the 12th century. Early in the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt on a rectangular plan and given a new chancel arch with sculptured capitals. During the first half of the 14th century the south aisle was rebuilt on a larger scale, and the spacious south porch with stone benches was added. The existing arcade was reconstructed with new arches, but the old circular pillars were reused. Late in the 15th or early in the 16th century the highpitched roof of the nave was replaced by a flat roof and clerestory of small rectangular windows. In 1698 nearly £100 was spent on repairs, and about twenty years later Rawlinson found the church neat and well kept. Repairs were ordered in 1757 and in 1758 the church was painted. In 1775 the condition of the chancel was serious: the roof had fallen in and the walls were crumbling. The medieval chancel was pulled down by the rector and a much smaller one erected in its place. This filled only about half of the chancel arch, the top part of which was blocked up and three lancet windows inserted. Blomfield described this building as a 'low-roofed, room-like, mean erection'. In 1815 a western gallery was erected and in 1855 the original carved seats were removed from the nave and replaced by pews. In 1877 the church was again in urgent need of repair: the architect A. Hodgson of Bloxham proposed that the chancel should be rebuilt by the lay rectors and in 1878 restoration work was started by J. Cox of Souldern, who removed the gallery and the plaster in the nave. A new chancel and organ-chamber were built in 1896–7 to the designs of Bucknall and J. N. Comper, and in 1906 the tower was taken down and rebuilt by G. F. Bodley. The 12th-century stone font is plain and circular. The wooden pulpit is 19th century and the organ was built by Jackson of Oxford. Nothing remains of the coats of arms seen by Rawlinson in the chancel windows. There are the remains of a wall-painting —probably St. Christopher—on the north wall. Among the memorials in the church is a restored heart brass of c. 1460. The commemorative inscription has been lost, and its place is now occupied by a modern restoration of a 16th-century inscription in memory of John Throckmorton. There are also brasses to Thomas Warner, parson (d. 1514), and to an unknown female of the 16th century. There is a tablet in the nave to f. and a. g. dated 1664 and many other 18th-and 19th-century inscriptions to the Gough family. Inscriptions to other prominent Souldern families, Kilby, Dodwell, and Weedon, which were recorded in 1882, are now nearly illegible. In 1552 the church was furnished with a silvergilt chalice, two brass candlesticks, some vestments, and two copes. The chalice was sold in about 1578 for 40s. and replaced by a communion cup. In the 17th century the church owned a communion cup, a pewter flagon, a silver bowl and salver. In 1955 the plate included a Cromwellian chalice, a silver paten (1633), and a flagon (1790) given by John Gough in 1899. In 1552 the church had three bells and a sanctus bell; in 1955 there was a ring of six bells, three of which dated from the 17th century and were made by Henry Bagley. The fourth, dating from about 1550, was recast in 1910. The sanctus bell is 17th-century. The registers date from 1667, and there are churchwardens' accounts 1774–1838. Historical information about St. Mary's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Souldern', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6, ed. Mary D Lobel (London, 1959), pp. 301-312. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol6/pp301-312 [accessed 21 February 2023]. St. Mary's Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY, Souldern - 1046428 | Historic England. For more information about St. Mary's Church see Parishes: Souldern | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
