OXFORD DIOCESE PILGRIM PROJECT OXFORD DIOCESE PILGRIM PROJECT

You might also like to visit other nearby Oxford Diocese Pilgrim Project: churches in the Pilgrim Project: St Michael, Stanton Harcourt Dorchester Abbey OX29 5RJ Ancient Abbey Church Website: www.achurchnearyou.com/ St Peter Ad Vincula, South Newington stanton-harcourt-st-michael Exceptional medieval wall paintings

St Margaret of Antioch, Binsey Alice in Wonderland’s treacle well

PILGRIMAGE PRAYER

Pilgrim God, You are our origin and our destination. Travel with us, we pray, in every pilgrimage of faith, and every journey of the heart. Give us the courage to set off, the nourishment we need to travel well, and the welcome we long for at our journey’s end. So may we grow in grace and love for you and in the service of others. through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

 John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford St MICHAEL,

Illustrations by Brian Hall © Diocese of Oxford STANTON HARCOURT St Michael, Stanton Harcourt, mentioned in the Domesday Book, lies in a bend of the River Thames. St Michael’s church is thought to have been built in 1130 by Queen Adeliza, the second wife of Henry I, who owned the Manor. The church is famous for the shrine of the Anglo- Saxon female saint St Edburg, rescued in 1537 from Bicester Priory during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

In the late 12th century Queen Adeliza granted On the extreme right of the screen are two Alexander Pope who was sitting in the tower of the manor of Stantone to her kinswoman panels which escaped the attentions of the the Harcourt Manor Chapel and witnessed two Millicent, wife of Richard de Camville. Their Puritans and retain their original paintings. lovers struck dead by lightening. daughter Isabel married Robert de Harcourt bringing the manor as her dowry. The Harcourt You may like to reflect on all those hundreds Give thanks for the craftsmanship that has gone family have been associated with the village of people who have prayed in this place over into this building and its furnishings. Thank ever since. The Manor House has its own chapel the years. Pray for the continued witness of the God for the gift of creativity which enriches our and the only conical roofed kitchen in England. church within the community today. churches. These are no longer open to the public. is in the south transept). On top of it will have The Harcourt Chapel (which is kept locked) The Shrine of St Edburg originally stood a chest containing the relics of St Michael’s church is cruciform in shape, was added to the church c. 1470, probably St Edburg was an Anglo-Saxon saint from the the saint. The canopy has been identified from Norman, Early English and Perpendicular in commissioned from William Orchard, master- 7th century. A daughter of King Penda of Mercia, the heraldry displayed, dated to 1294-1317. The architecture. The church was extensively altered mason by Sir Robert Harcourt, High Steward Edburg was a nun for most of her life. The upper lower section visible is not the original base but in the 13th century. The chancel is divided from of the University from 1446. It houses many part of the monument is the exceptionally part of a later medieval tomb. the nave by an Early English Rood Screen which impressive Harcourt monuments including fine Purbeck marble canopy of the shrine of St is unique, for it is the oldest surviving wooden Margaret who, unusually for a woman, wears Edburg, which was rescued in 1537 from Bicester Give thanks for those who have inspired your screen in England and dates from the 13th the Garter, above her left elbow. On the outside Priory during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, own faith. Pray that you may be a ‘light in the century. The hinges, bolt and lock are original. south wall of the church is an epitaph written by probably by Sir Simon Harcourt (whose tomb world’ by the way you live your life.