Archaeological Journal ISSN: 0066-5983 (Print) 2373-2288 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raij20 An Architectural Account Of Swalcliffe Church, Oxfordshire Charles E. Keyser M.A., F.S.A. To cite this article: Charles E. Keyser M.A., F.S.A. (1904) An Architectural Account Of Swalcliffe Church, Oxfordshire, Archaeological Journal, 61:1, 85-101, DOI: 10.1080/00665983.1904.10852963 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00665983.1904.10852963 Published online: 17 Jul 2014. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 2 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=raij20 Download by: [University of California Santa Barbara] Date: 20 June 2016, At: 16:34 AN ARCHITECTURAL ACCOUNT OF SWALCLIFFE CHURCH, OXFORDSHIRE.1 By CHARLES E. KEY8ER, M.A., P.S.A. Swalcliffe is a large village and important parish in the northern part of Oxfordshire, adjoining the county of Warwick, about six miles from Banbury, on the old turnpike road to Shipston-on-Stour. The parish is very extensive and is situate in three different hundreds, namely, Banbury, Bloxham and Dorchester, and contains in addition to the main village, the Chapelries of East Shutford and Epwell, each with a very interesting church, and the townships of West Shutford, Sibford Ferris and Sibford Gower. There are many objects of antiquarian interest in the parish, for instance, a strongly entrenched camp on Madmarston Hill, and what is reputed to have been an important British village at the foot of the hill, on a site known in former times as the city of the Lees, where coins and other remains of an early age are being constantly ploughed up. There are numerous ancient houses, one close to the church, which will shortly be referred to, and another at East Shutford which dates back to about the year 1300. In later times the inhabitants must have witnessed and participated in many of the stirring events during the period of the great Civil War, the village being nearly midway between Banbury and Edgehill, and close to Broughton Castle and Compton Winyates, which were so closely identified with the Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 16:34 20 June 2016 history of those exciting times, and as evidence of this were preserved in the church, until the recent· restora- tion, two stone cannon balls, which had been dug up in the parish, and had been utilised as weights for the tower clock. On the west side, close to the church, is an ancient 1 Read at the Meeting of tlie Institute, 1st April, 1903. Η 86 AN ARCHITECTURAL ACCOUNT OF house, which now has no distinctive name. It was evidently an important residence, and seems to have been closely associated with the church. Could it originally have been a priests' house and afterwards the grange or country residence of the Warden of New College, Oxford, to which it now belongs ? There is a large vaulted chamber with groined stone roof resting on a central circular column of date about 1200, and parts of the hall, with two stone doorways having fluted mouldings to the arches, incorporated in the modern house, and two very nice. arches leading to the former buttery, all of early fifteenth century date. To the west of the farm buildings is a very fine stone barn, 127 feet 11 inches in length by 22 feet 10 inches in breadth, with two porches or annexes on the east side, and numerous buttresses, also of this later period. Plans and elevations of the barn, and of some portions of the church, by the late Sir Henry C. L. Dryden, Bart., will be found in the Report of the Oxfordshire Archaeological Society for 1887. It will be impossible to conclude these superficial remarks about the parish, without a reference to William of Wykeham, the great architect, and Bishop of Winchester. The family of Wykeham of Swalcliffe have been settled in the village for many centuries, and Swalcliffe Park still belongs to the representative of that family. Considerable controversy has arisen as to the connection of the Bishop with the Wykehams of Swalcliffe, but in an elaborate paper by Mr. Charles Wykeham Martin, M.P., F.S.A., published in Vol. III. of the Topographer and Genealogist, it is fairly established that he was related to this family, and that his armorial bearings corresponded with those which had been previously borne by the Wykehams of Swalcliffe. When Archdeacon of Lincoln, he was presented by de Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 16:34 20 June 2016 Buckingham, Bishop of Lincoln, to the living of Swalcliffe, but he never acted as Rector or Vicar. He, however, purchased the advowson and with land, which he had acquired in the parish, gave it as part of the endowment of his new foundation, New College, Oxford, and it is probable that the ancient house close to the church was enlarged under his superintendence soon Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 16:34 20 June 2016 SWALCLIFFE CHURCH, OXFORDSHIRE. 87 after this date, to serve as a country residence for the Warden of the College, who is still the patron of the living, and the owner of considerable property in the parish. It is alleged that the barn was also built by him. In 1377 the Bishop purchased Broughton Castle, about three miles from SwalclifFe, his object being, it has been suggested, to buy back an estate formerly belonging to his family. He placed his great nephew, Sir Thomas Wykeham, there long before his death, which occurred in 1404, and this most interesting domain is now the property of Lord Saye and Sele, the lineal descendant of the said Sir Thomas. In describing the parish church, we shall be able to point out some portions which probably owe their origin to some restoration undertaken under the supervision of the great architect during the period when he was Archdeacon of Lincoln. It is now, however, time to come to the main subject of this paper, namely, the architectural description of the parish church. The church of St. Peter and Paul, Swalcliffe, stands on high ground. It is built entirely of stone, and is in every respect an edifice of the highest interest, and its architectural details are worthy of the most attentive study. Even in a district renowned for the beauty of its ecclesiastical buildings, as for example Bloxham, Adderbury, Wigginton, Hook Norton, Broughton and many more, this church may command especial notice both on account of its size and elegant proportions, and from the fact that all styles of English architecture are here represented. Owing to the very meagre amount of published information as to the history of this and the various parishes in the county of Oxford, it will be impossible without resorting to the most laborious research to obtain an account of the personages by whom or at whose charges the several additions to the church were Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 16:34 20 June 2016 carried out, and we must therefore be satisfied to attempt to point out from the evidence of the architectural details themselves the different periods at which the church has been rebuilt or enlarged, up to the time when it was completed as we now behold it. It will be the most convenient plan first to endeavour briefly to point out the various changes which the fabric has undergone, and Η 2 88 AN ARCHITECTURAL ACCOUNT OF then to describe in detail the excellences of its several portions. It may, however, be at once stated that from a somewhat superficial view of the church, it is only possible to assume that the dates of its various parts a'gree with the styles of the ornamental decorations, such as the windows, etc. In this particular church, the rebuilding in each instance seems to have been com- pletely carried out, and it does not appear that, with the exception of the nave arcades, later work has been inserted within or incorporated with the earlier structure, as we so often find in numberless instances which might be cited. The church, as we at present see it, consists of a west tower, nave, aisles, south porch, chancel, and vestry on north side. The dimensions are as follows : full internal length, 123 feet 8 inches. The chancel is 45 feet 3 inches in length by 19 feet 2 inches in width. The nave to the east tower pier 63 feet in length, the width of the nave and aisles being 54 feet, divided as follows : of the north aisle, 14 feet 9 inches; of the nave, 22 feet; of the south aisle, 17 feet 3 inches. The tower internally is 15 feet 5 inches from east to west by 13 feet 10 inches from north to south. What the original church was like we cannot tell, but at the time of the Doomsday survey there was evidently a stone church existing here, as is conclusively proved by the small partially blocked window opening on either side of the nave, and the upper part of the nave walls are doubtless of this early date, and are the remains of a simple structure probably consisting only of nave and chancel, and covering no more ground than that occupied by the present nave. The foundations of the eastern wall and possibly of other portions of the early buildings were very probably brought to light at the time of the restoration of the Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 16:34 20 June 2016 church forty years ago, and if any record of these discoveries had been preserved, the various changes to the fabric could with more certainty be demonstrated.