All Saints Church, Wytham
All Saints Church in Wytham was entirely rebuilt in 1811, but incorporates some old material. Part of it came from Cumnor Place, which was pulled down at the same time. It consists of a chancel, nave, north porch and west tower, and there is a gallery at the west end. The chancel has a two-light 14th-century east window. In the south wall are two single-light cinquefoil-headed windows, both of the 15th century. The nave has three two-light windows with flowing tracery in the south wall and an early 15th-century window, also of two lights, in the north wall, with two smaller windows of the same date. The west tower is three stages high and has an embattled parapet. The belfry is lighted by two square-headed windows on the north side, both of the 15th century. There is one window on the south and west and a small window on the east. The north porch has a depressed outer archway of early 16th-century date. The materials of the church are apparently old rubble re-used. The churchyard is entered by a reconstructed gateway with pointed arch under a square head and an embattled cornice, upon which is the inscription 'Janua vitae verbum domini.' In the north wall of the chancel are three stones inscribed respectively 'John Paynton, 1617,' 'A.P. 1634,' and 'T.P., 1624.' In a slab with a modern inscription to the husband of Juliana (Golafre), 1409, is a fragment of a figure in armour, the lower part only, and a figure of a lady with the feet missing, both of circa 1430. There are also two shields, one of Wytham and the other of the same coat impaling Golafre. There is also in the chancel a square slab to Venables Campeyson, 1690. The corbels of the nave and chancel roofs are all old, and one in the chancel has a bishop's head. In the east window is some 18th-century painted glass, with the Adoration of the Shepherds, and above it a quartered shield of Bertie of the same date. In the south chancel windows are several medallions of more ancient date, five bearing Scriptural scenes and others coats of arms. One of these is perhaps of the 16th century, and bears the arms of Dormer impaling Ermine a lion sable. In the window on the north of the nave are male and female crowned heads and another figure in yellow glass of the 15th century, and in the first window on the south of the nave is a medallion of the Annunciation and the eagle of St. John. The communion table is richly carved Jacobean work, with turned and carved legs, but the communion rails are apparently of the date of the rebuilding. There are two bells and a ting-tang. The plate includes a cup, London, 1594, with a wide bowl and baluster stem, and a stand paten (London, 1693) inscribed 'Deo et Ecclesiae de Wytham Honoratissima Domina Norreys Baronissa de Kinderton dicavit 1694,' with a shield of Bertie impaling Drummond. Another standing paten is probably of 1722, but the marks are almost obliterated. The flagon (London, 1709) is inscribed 'Deo et Ecclesiae de Wytham Wilhelmus Moore A.M. Rector, dicavit, A.D. 1710.' The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and marriages 1559 to 1784, burials 1558 to 1784; (ii) mixed entries 1782 to 1812; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1812. Historical information about All Saints Church is provided by 'Parishes: Wytham', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 427-430. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp427-430 [accessed 10 March 2023]. All Saints Church is a Grade II listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, Wytham - 1048274 | Historic England. For more information about All Saints Church see Parishes: Wytham | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
