Description

HEYTHROP
SP32NE
5/80 Old Church of St. Nicholas
27/08/57

GV II*

Chancel of church, now cemetery chapel. C12 and C15, altered C19. Limestone
rubble with ashlar dressings; Stonesfield-slate roof. 2-bay chancel.
4-centre-arched C15 east window has Perpendicular drop tracery. Square-headed
windows of 2 and 3 lights facing south are also C15 and have cusped lights, deep
casement mouldings and square-stopped labels; between them is a blocked
round-headed lancet above which is a relief of the Agnus Dei, and the south-west
buttress also has a re-set early relief of 2 figures holding crooks. North wall
has a small blocked round-headed window below a small square blocking. West wall
incorporates the C12 chancel arch, with a band of alternating cable mould,
flanked by pairs of round-headed niches, each with roll-moulded arch and jamb
shafts; set into the chancel arch is the C12 former south doorway, with an
elaborate arch of 5 ornamented orders, the jambs including 2 pairs of detached
shafts with waterleaf capitals. Interior: fine trefoil-headed C13 piscina has a
moulded surround, a stone credence shelf and a carving of a bunch of grapes at
the rear. Cinquefoil-headed recess and a blocked round-headed doorway to north.
Butt-purlin roof is probably C17/C18 but has re-used rafters. Elaborate panelled
chest tomb to south of sanctuary has a Purbeck-marble cover with brasses
commemorating John Ashfield (d.1521) and his wife Elenor, and forms part of a
larger monument with the window above, in which they are also shown with their
children in stained glass. Monuments also include a large coloured-marble wall
memorial to George Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury (d.1787) by J.F. Moore, with
an oval relief below an achievment of arms; and a white marble monument
commemorating Mary, the mother of the 15th Earl. The east window also includes
medieval stained glass. Small stone font on a panelled stem may be C17.
(Buildings of England: Oxforeshire: pp696-7; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol XI, pp141-2)

Listing NGR: SP3522327713

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531177

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)