St Mary-le-More, Wallingford
The Town Church of Wallingford, flint-built and with a broad stocky west tower. St Mary’s was comprehensively rebuilt on older foundations in the nineteenth century, and the tower is in fact now the oldest part of it: it was originally built in 1653 after the former church was struck by lightning. Inside, the church has a spacious feel, with some rich furnishings. There is a marble pulpit (Onslow Ford, 1888) with bronze panels of saints inset, and a rood-screen was given by ‘Miss Hedges, of Wallingford Castle’ in memory of her two sisters. Dedicated by the Bishop of Buckingham in 1925, it includes figures of saints associated in some way with the parish: Alban, Birinus, Nicholas, Osmond, and Frideswide.
St Peter’s, Wallingford
St Peter’s, now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, is an eighteenth-century building, as is Wallingford Baptist Chapel just opposite. St Peter’s was built 1760-9, and its distinctive pierced spire added a few years later, apparently at the behest of the great jurist, Sir William Blackstone (1723-80) as an eyecatcher from Blackstone’s home of the Castle Priory. (The Blackstone family vault was in St Peter’s, and Blackstone himself is buried there.) The spire certainly catches the eye, perhaps especially from the bridge as you cross the Thames into Wallingford.
Baptist Chapel, Wallingford
The chapel was founded in 1794, and then either rebuilt or enlarged in 1821. It looks almost directly across Thames Street to St Peter’s Church on the other side of the road.
St Mary Magdalene, Crowmarsh Gifford
A Norman church restored in the nineteenth century, with a west door that proclaims its early history. A second blocked-up Norman doorway can be seen on the south wall of the nave, and there are two early oculi set high in the west wall.
The chancel has two memorials that interested me. The first is a stone tablet of the seventeenth century commemorating Bridget Parsons, who ‘changed earth for Heaven’ in 1645: ‘Who reads the legends of the former ages/’St Bridgets Praise’, may find in sundrie pages/Popes, poets, painters have both power and skill/To canonize, praise, paint what saints they will./Such vaine helps doth not Bridgit Parsons need/Whose life, and death, proved her a saint indeed./Then cease, vaine teares, make noe fruitles complaint./The earth hath lost, now Heaven injoyes this saint.’ 1645 was the first year of the Civil War; I’m inclined to feel from the dismissal of the ‘vaine helps’ specified that Bridget and her family may well have inclined to a Puritan custom and practice.
I was rather taken, too, by a later memorial: a 1961 stained glass window put up by Frank Wilder in memory of his wife Emily (1881-1955). It is apparently by Charles de Vic Carey, and in the lower light has an inset medallion depicting her with (presumably) her two children.
St Mary’s, Newnham Murren
A small flint-built, red-roofed church dating from the twelfth century, but restored (Pevsner says
that the lancet windows at the east end were ‘drastically renewed’) in 1849. The bellcote at the west end of the church was put up at the same time. Once a dependent chapel of North Stoke, Newnham Murren today is another church in the care of the CCT.
St Leonard’s, Wallingford
Another church with early origins, although some features (notably the west tower and the south arcade) are from an 1849 restoration. But there is real herringbone masonry on the north side, and inside there are wonderfully impressive tall arches between the nave and the apse.
The decoration (with the exception of heads on each side of the inner arch) is geometric, with patterns of stars and saltires, and a basket-weave design on the abaci. I thought the whole effect of the east end was astonishing.
By Elizabeth Knowles
About the Author
Elizabeth Knowles is a renowned library researcher and historical lexicographer who devoted three decades of her career to Oxford University Press. Her time at OUP began with contributions to the OED Supplement and the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Subsequently, she spearheaded the Quotations publishing program, solidifying her reputation as a leading expert in quotations and lexicography.
In 1999, Knowles assumed the prestigious role of Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, a position she held continuously until her retirement from OUP in 2007. Under her editorial guidance, the eighth edition was published in 2014, marking a significant milestone in the dictionary’s history.
Knowles is a prolific writer and lecturer on the history of quotations and dictionaries. She has shared her extensive knowledge with both academic and general audiences, significantly enhancing our understanding of the role of quotations in language.
Beyond her work on the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Knowles is also the editor of “What They Didn’t Say: A Book of Misquotations” (2006) and “How To Read a Word” (2010). Her work continues to inspire and inform scholars, writers, and readers fascinated by the English language.
Churches visited on this route
