Chalgrove - Parish Church

Parish Church

The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin date from the 13th century. It was begun by monks from the Abbey of Bec, an important Benedictine abbey in Normandy. The interior comprises a wide nave with two aisles separated by transitional Norman arcades with carved capitals and a chancel. The church is thought to remain substantially as it was in 1500, although some records state that there was a spire on top of the tower until violent storm in 1727 blew it down. The tower has a single-handed turret clock, part of which was made about 1699.

In the 13th century the chancel was decorated with a series of wall paintings showing a Tree of Jesse, the Last Judgement and the medieval legend of the Assumption of Mary. Historians believe these wall-paintings were completed around 1320 possibly at the request of the de Barantyn family, who lived in one of the two manors in Chalgrove at the time. The paintings were limewashed over at the time of the English Reformation and rediscovered in 1858 during renovation work commissioned by the then Vicar, Rev. Robert French Laurence. Some of the paintings on the north wall are a little indistinct now due to their age and two of the paintings on the south wall were covered or damaged by marble monuments while the paintings lay hidden under the lime wash.

As well as medieval wall paintings and later stone monuments, St Mary's has a highly unusual painted monument dating from the end of the 17th century. It was painted in or shortly after 1697 on the east wall of St. James' chapel, which is in the north aisle of St. Mary's. In 1984 it was expertly removed for restoration and repositioned at the east end of the nave. Its removal revealed a hitherto unknown medieval wall painting in St. James' chapel, which is earlier than those in the chancel.

St. Mary's is a Grade I listed building.