Leading historians produce local church guide, reviewed by OHCT Trustee Malcolm Airs.
We do not normally review church guides, but this recent publication is a notable exception. It sets a high standard that should be followed by other rural communities throughout the county. At one level, as one would expect, it provides a history of the church and how it has responded to liturgical changes throughout the centuries from its foundation by the nearby abbey of Abingdon c.1100. But it is so much more than that. As the subtitle indicates, it uses the dominant presence of the building and its spacious churchyard to provide the context for a succinct and informative history of the attractive village that surrounds it. The joint authors are both eminent historians and their meticulous research is presented in an enjoyable narrative which is supported by a generous selection of illustrations in full colour. They include many historic images as well as some beautiful modern photographs by Chris Scruby.
The social and economic history of the village is skilfully interwoven with the impact of the church in the first section of the guide which takes us from Domesday Book down to the present day. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the major periods of construction of the church during the medieval period. They can be clearly followed in a sequence of development plans which are complemented by Impey’s three-dimensional reconstruction drawings and a composite plan in colour. Impey also provides an attractive bird’s-eye drawing of the pre-Dissolution relationship of the church to the other monastic buildings that once surrounded it including the abbot’s manor house, subsequently known as Cumnor Place, the vicarage, a church house and one of the largest monastic barns in the country. Unusually for the county, apart from the north porch added in 1859 and extended in 2017, the church avoided any major interventions in the post-medieval period. Having described its architectural development, the guide then takes an external and internal tour which highlights the important elements of its fabric and the fittings that adorn it. It concludes with a comprehensive bibliography of printed and documentary sources.
St Michael’s is a beautiful church and our enjoyment of all that it has to offer is greatly enhanced by this informative guide which fully justifies its price. We are indebted to both the authors and the designer for such a handsome publication. It is available both in the church and from the parish website (https://cumnor.sumupstore.com/) and all the proceeds go to the church fabric fund.
St Michael’s Church at Cumnor and its Parish: A History and Guide Edward Impey and Robert Evans, (2025), 60 pages, 43 illustrations, ISBN 978-1-0369-1849-1, £10.
