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The church of St. Leonard and St. James at Rousham comprises a chancel with south chapel, nave with south aisle and south porch, and west tower. The earliest church presumably comprised a nave and chancel. In the late 12th century the first bay of a south arcade was begun at the eastern end of the nave, and in the early 13th century the west tower was built. The chancel was repaired or rebuilt in 1304. Between 1296 and 1316 Walter Aylesbury (d. by 1316), built a chantry chapel on the north side of the chancel, which seems to have overlapped the nave. Slightly later in the century the south chapel was added and the south arcade and aisle extended to the full length of the nave; a south porch was also built. Further work was carried out in the 15th century, perhaps by Thomas Chaworth (d. 1459) whose arms survived in a window of the north nave chapel until the early 18th century. A clerestorey was added; a doorway, later the private entrance to the Cottrell-Dormer pew, was made in the north wall of the nave, just west of the arch into the chantry. A rood screen and loft, the southern part of which survived in 1981, were built across the nave and aisle. The chantry chapel was dilapidated c. 1520 and in 1530, and seems to have been demolished soon afterwards. Later in the 16th century a large window was inserted at the western end of the north wall of the nave.

The south aisle was claimed in the 17th century and the early 18th to belong to the Marten family, a claim which caused difficulties over its repair. It was, however, repaired by the parish in 1733. The reading desk and pulpit were replaced in 1744, and the font in 1753. In 1759 Charles Cottrell-Dormer obtained permission to make a burial vault under the east end of the south aisle, then used as a baptistry. The church was restored in 1867 and 1868. The chancel was entirely rebuilt and refitted and heightened, the south aisle was extensively repaired and the south porch rebuilt, and the nave and aisles were reroofed. In the course of the work the chancel arch was rebuilt using some late 12th-century material. 

The pulpit was lowered in 1867 or 1868 but is otherwise substantially the one built in 1744; the pews were reconstructed in the 19th century but incorporate some Jacobean and 18th-century panelling. The organ case incorporates late 17thcentury balusters, perhaps from an altar rail. There are several memorial plaques to members of the Cottrell-Dormer family, and, in the south chapel, the kneeling figures of John Dormer (d. 1584) and his wife Elizabeth Goddard, removed from Steeple Barton church in 1851. On the floor of the south aisle are memorials to members of the Marten family, and in the chancel are floor slabs to the rectors Charles Leader (d. 1752), Robert Cowcher (d. 1717), and John Burton (d. 1730). On the upper walls of the nave are six funeral hatchments of members of the CottrellDormer family.

The plate includes a silver gilt chalice and cover and paten of 1691, a silver gilt almsdish of 1672, and a silver gilt tankard flagon of 1661, all given by John Dormer in 1692. There are six bells, five of 1675 by Richard Keene given by Robert Dormer, the sixth cast in 1825.

Historical information about the church of St. Leonard and St. James 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: Rousham', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 11, Wootton Hundred (Northern Part), ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1983), pp. 159-168. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol11/pp159-168 [accessed 23 April 2023].

The church of St. Leonard and St. James is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST JAMES, Rousham - 1199466 | Historic England.

For more information about The church of St. Leonard and St. James see Parishes: Rousham | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk)