• Home
• Cherwell
  • List of villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in Cherwell
  • Photography dates
• South Oxfordshire
  • List of villages
  • Thames-side villages
  • The Oxfordshire Chilterns
  • Recommended villages to visit in South Oxfordshire
  • Photography dates
• Vale of White Horse
  • List of villages
  • Thames-side villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in Vale of White Horse
  • Photography dates
• West Oxfordshire
  • List of villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in West Oxfordshire
  • Photography dates
• Information
  • Useful links
  • "Midsomer Murders" film locations
  • Link your website to Oxfordshire Villages
  • Weather forecast and traffic
  • Licenses and acknowledgements
  • Contact me

The church of St. Mary and St. Paul at Swalcliffe is a large stone building. It comprises a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles which extend to the western end of the tower. The church was built mainly between the 12th and the mid 14th century, but part of the upper walls of the present nave belong to an earlier church, probably consisting only of nave and chancel and covering no more ground than that occupied by the present nave: the two small, partially blocked, round-headed windows on either side of the nave date probably from the late 11th century. The three western arches of the northern arcade, which rest on circular piers with square capitals, are mid 12th century. The three western arches of the southern arcade were probably built early in the 13th century and are supported by octagonal piers; two of the capitals are decorated with stiff leaf foliage. The eastern arch, which is wider, was built later in the 13th century. The south aisle dates from the 13th century and is lighted by four triple-lancet windows and a double-lancet window at the west end. The south porch was also built in the 13th century. The tower was originally built in the 13th century and was remodelled in the 15th century when it was heightened. An important enlargement took place at the end of the 13th century when the chancel was added. It is separated from the nave by a wide arch. The east window of the south aisle is contemporary with the chancel. On the outside of the church, on the eastern gable of the nave, there is a 14th-century pinnacled niche, built to house the sanctus bell. A stair in the angle between the chancel and the north aisle led originally to the rood-loft.

Further alterations were made in the mid 14th century, when the nave clerestory and a new roof were added. The northern aisle was rebuilt together with the eastern arch of the northern arcade of the nave. Throughout the 15th century there are constant references to the repair by New College of the lead roof of the chancel, and the stonework and glass of the windows. In 1446–7 a carpenter was paid for making desks and seats in the chancel, and in 1451–2 timber was brought from Tingewick (Bucks.), and further payments made for the choir furniture. In 1483 the chancel roof was renewed; a carpenter was sent from Oxford to supervise the work and Master Willeys received nearly £27 for work on the roof and the chancel. 

In the 17th century much of the woodwork of the church was renewed. The two front pews bear the dates 1637 and 1638; the pulpit casing, which incloses an earlier pulpit, is dated 1639; and the oak door of the nave is inscribed 'Thomas Chamberlayne, 1679' and bears his coat of arms. In 1664 the church was 'ruinous and much in decay'; damage, which seems to have extended to the whole fabric, but particularly to the walls and roof of the nave, was restored and repaired the same year. The church appears to have been kept in fairly good repair in the earlier 18th century. In 1755 the archdeacon ordered several improvements, including the white-washing of the walls and repair of the seats, but little else was done during the next hundred years. 

A thorough restoration was carried out in the 1850s. The chancel, which was in a dangerous state, was restored by New College. The west gallery, which had been erected for the church musicians probably in the 18th century, and had had a small organ placed in it in 1842, was cleared away. The ground floor of the tower was thrown open and the belfry raised to the first landing; the western ends of the north and south aisles were thrown open and their paving relaid; the stonework of the arcades was cleaned; and the square, deal pews were removed and several Jacobean pews repaired and reconstructed. In 1862 extensive repairs to the roof were carried out, and in 1876 the south porch was entirely rebuilt. Among 20th-century improvements may be mentioned the installation of electric light in 1933 by members of the Dix family, the restoration of the south aisle in 1937, and the extensive repairs carried out between 1952 and 1958, especially the replacement of the wooden chancel floor with tiles on a concrete base. A new heating system was also installed.

The font dates probably from the 14th century, but the crude decoration carved on the sides is later, probably early-17th-century work. The chancel screen may have been set up in 1483 when the chancel was repaired; an elaborate coloured strapwork cresting was added to it in the 16th century but has since been removed to the west end of the south aisle. A copy in tapestry of the Descent from the Cross by Roger van der Weyden was given in 1949 by Lucy, Lady Wingfield. The reredos of 3 mosaics was bought in 1887 with money left for the purpose by Edward Payne (vicar 1837–86). The altar rails at the west end of the north aisle are 17th-century.

Traces of medieval wall-paintings remain in the north and south aisles.

There are brasses to Joyce Newman of Epwell (d. 1584), a daughter of John Hawten of Swalcliffe, to Joan Harris and her infant (d. 1635), and to Humphrey and Martha Wykeham (d. 1650 and 1661). Only one medieval monument remains, a tombstone under a 14th-century canopy in the south aisle. Among later monuments are the following: in the south aisle a stone memorial to John Hawten of the Lea (d. 1598), framed by Corinthian columns and surmounted by a shield of arms, a marble monument with coloured demi-figures and arms to John Duncombe (d. 1645/6) and his wife Elizabeth, and a memorial to William Richard Wykeham (d. 1800); in the north (or Wykeham) aisle a marble monument with armorial shields to Richard Wykeham (d. 1635), his wife Anne (d. 1649), and to Humphrey Wykeham (d. 1650) and his wife Martha (d. 1661), a ledger stone to Ferdinando Wykeham (d. 1637), and memorials to Richard Wykeham (d. 1751) and Richard Tredwell (d. 1759); in the chancel memorials to the Caswell and Loggin families. The following vicars are commemorated: Thomas Merriott (d. 1662), William Mayo (d. 1717), John Caswell (d. 1808), J. T. Wilkinson (d. 1894), and E. G. Norris (d. 1935). There is a painted glass memorial window to John Langley (d. 1865).

In 1806 the church possessed one silver cup. In 1852 Henry Norris gave two Elizabethan chalices and Eleanor Norris a silver flagon. There is also a silver-gilt paten of 1784. 

The tower has a ring of six bells. All were originally cast by Henry and Matthew Bagley of Chacombe in 1685, though the third was recast in 1720. The first was given by Richard Wykeham for the benefit of the poor, the second by Humphrey Wykeham, and the tenor by five churchwardens. All the bells were rehung in 1938 when the moulded sections of the old Jacobean bell-cage were preserved. 

The registers begin in 1558 and, except for minor gaps, are complete.

Historical information about The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is provided by Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, N H Cooper, P D A Harvey, Marjory Hollings, Judith Hook, Mary Jessup, Mary D Lobel, J F A Mason, B S Trinder and Hilary Turner, 'Parishes: Swalcliffe', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10, Banbury Hundred, ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1972), pp. 225-260. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp225-260 [accessed 21 February 2023].

The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL, Swalcliffe - 1199016 | Historic England.

For more information about The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul see Parishes: Swalcliffe | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).