Joining instructions (time and place) and driving directions will be sent to participants after booking has closed. Identical tours will be run on Friday, May 19th and Saturday, May 20th: this booking page is for May 19th.
We shall start at All Saints, Middleton Stoney and drive south to see the churches at Kirtlington, Bletchingdon, and Hampton Gay. All Saints, Middleton Stoney, a Grade 2* building within the Jersey Estate, dates from the mid-12th century and, like so many, has undergone a number of restorations over time. Saint Mary the Virgin (Grade 2*) in Kirtlington is another C12 foundation much restored over the centuries and latterly by Benjamin Ferry (the tower rebuild) and by Sir George Gilbert Scott (the Chancel). Lunch (food covered by the tour price) will be provided in the Oxford Arms in Kirtlington. After lunch: Saint Giles, Bletchingdon (Grade 2*). As a young man, Christopher Wren lived at The Rectory with his family after his father was deprived of his living by the Puritans, his sister having married the then Rector, William Holder. Charles Buckeridge designed the north aisle, which was added in about 1869. The church was heavily restored to Buckeridge’s designs in 1878. And finally, to Saint Giles, Hampton Gay. (Grade 2*), a beautiful little church resulting from a comprehensive rebuild in the 18th century that attracted criticism from the Gothic revivalists in the 19th century for being too Georgian!
