Description

ODDINGLEY CP CHURCH LANE (south side)
SO 95 NW
6/195 (18/1C) Church of St James
14.3.69
GV II*

Parish church. C15, altered C17, restored 1851 by R C Hussey for John H Galton
with further alterations in 1860. Lias limestone rubble with sandstone ashlar
dressings and plain tiled roofs. West tower, two-bay nave with transepts and
south porch, two-bay chancel. Mainly Perpendicular style. West tower: C17;
three stages with strings, diagonal buttresses with off-sets at west end;
3-light west window probably original west window of nave reset when the tower
was added; second stage has small rectangular lights in its north and south
elevations; belfry stage has paired louvred round-headed lights in each eleva-
tion; above is a pyramidal roof. Nave: C15; adjacent to the tower are opposed
doorways set immediately west of low buttresses not bonded to the nave walls;
this suggests that the original nave was longer; windows of nave and transepts
are C15, square-headed and restored; north elevation has a 2-light window and
the doorway opposing the south entrance is of a single chamfered order with a
4-centred head and is now blocked; the south elevation has a 3-light window
with a similar entrance doorway. To the right of the door is a small niche
once occupied by a stoup. Transepts both have a gable end 3-light pointed-
arched window and a 2-light window in both side elevations; the west window
of the north transept is probably a later insertion. South porch: rebuilt 1860;
gabled timber-framed on sandstone base; moulded pierced and scalloped barge-
boards, arch-braced roof trusses and 5-light splayed wood-mullioned openings
each side. Chancel: rebuilt 1861; 3-light C19 east window with 4-centred head;
north elevation has a 2-light window and south elevation has a 2-light western-
most window, a rectangular light and between them a door with a 4-centred head;
all is reset C15 work. Interior: pointed tower arch and north transept arch;
no chancel arch but walls return on both sides to walls of wider nave; south
transept has a C15 moulded timber archway, the east post stands short of the
east jamb providing access to the pulpit and probably originally to provide
space for the roof-loft stair. Roofs are C19 and plastered with ornamental
arch-braced collar trusses. In the chancel two moulded corbels flank the east
window; pointed-arched piscina with corbelled basin; C17 altar rails. The
font is recut C15 work, octagonal with alternating roses and fetterlocks
carved on the lower edge of the basin. Oak pews are made up of re-used C17
woodwork. C15 dug-out parish chest in south porch and also C17 dug-out
parish chest in tower. Memorials: mid-C19 wall memorial in chancel to the
Tookey family by P Hollins; mid-C19 brass in nave to Robert Cameron Galton
formerly in Hadzor church; three ledger slabs in chancel, one to John Crump,
died 1657, one very worn slab to Bridget Patrick, died 1967, and one to
George Parker, a rector murdered in 1806. Glass: fragments of C15 glass in
chancel east window, north window and south-east window. Although much restored
this small church retains a number of C15 features of particular interest.
(VCH 3 (ii) p 459-60; BoE, p 227-8).

Listing NGR: SO9144859050

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St James official website
• Wikidata Q17548301

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)