Great Tew : St Michael and All Angels

The church was originally Norman but was rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries. It lies on the edge of a picturesque village of thatched cottages and is approached by a tree-lined path. The monuments include an elegant stone sculpture of Mary Anne Boulton by Sir Francis Chantrey, dated 1834.

About this church

Church. Late C12, C13, early C14 and C15; restored 1827 by Thomas Rickman. Coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; some marlstone ashlar; Welsh-slate and lead roofs. Aisled 4-bay nave,

chancel, west tower and south porch. 3-bay early C14 chancel has 2-light side windows which are blocked in the west bay, reduced to a single light in the middle bay, but remain intact in the east bay; large 5-light Perpendicular east window; blocked priest’s door to south.

Contemporary south aisle has 3 similar Decorated 2-light windows to south, a 4-light window to east, and a 3-light window to west with restored tracery;

C14 porch with entrance arch of 2 chamfered orders, the inner springing from moulded corbels, has a blocked re-set C13 opening of 2 pointed arches with a central shaft, and shelters the late Romanesque south doorway, with an outer order of chevrons and detached shafts, and the inner order replaced by a C14 . double-cusped arch.

North aisle retains 2 large late C13 lancets and has a 3-light early C14 traceried window plus, to extreme east, a C15 window of 2 traceried lights under a 4-centred arch; C14 north doorway has continuous mouldings.

All roofs have parapets. Fine 5-window C15 clerestory has square-headed richly-cusped 2-light traceried windows in deep casement mouldings.

Late C14 ashlar tower, with full-height diagonal buttresses has a 2-light west window, with early Perpendicular tracery, above a C15 doorway with continuous mouldings and Tudor flowers in the hood mould; the top stage has large transomed 2-light openings with 4-centred arches and tracery; C15 limestone crenellated parapet has a band of blind quatrefoils and corner gargoyles.

Interior: chancel has a large sedilia and piscina by Rickman and a series of C15 corbels. 4-bay C13 nave arcades have round piers and moulded capitals with arches of 2 chamfered orders; C14 chancel arch has continuous mouldings; tall tower arch has 4 chamfered orders. C15 corbels below clerestory. Cusped piscinas in both aisles. Ribbed plaster ceilings with square bosses by Rickman. Fittings include oak pews with its bench ends of elaborate blind tracery, early C19 box pews, early C19 three-decker pulpit incorporating some C15 traceried panels, C16 parclose screen with linenfoid panels (now the vestry) and a C15 panelled font. Fragmentary series of early C14 wall paintings in south aisle, noted as being of outstanding quality. C15 and early C16 brasses in chancel including large canopied figures of John and Alice Wilcotes (1410). 2 early-C14 stone effigies in arched recesses in north aisle believed to be Robert de Vere and Margery Dyve, Abbess of Godstow and probably his widow. Monuments include a full-length reclining figure by Chantrey of Mary Anne Boulton (dated 1834) on a tomb chest set against a Perpendicular-style panelled recess formed in the north wall of the chancel. 8 hatchnents to members of the Tracy and Keck families (C18), and of the Stratton and Boulton families (early C19). Stained glass in tower window by Hardman, 1853; C19 window in north aisle. (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.XI, p.244; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.625-6).

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