The group’s April visit was to St Mary’s Church in Adderbury.

This is a really beautiful church full of history. We had an excellent guide, who explained the fascinating history of St Mary’s.

The land that the church stands on was gifted in about 1015 by Aethelstan son of Ethelred the Unready who wrote to the Bishop of Winchester saying I grant you this land, which is part of the Saxon Royal Estate.

There was probably a Saxon church where St Mary’s now stands. It is thought that the church was destroyed by the Normans on their arrival in 1066.

The mensa – a stone altar is the oldest object in the church and would have been placed there by under the order of Lanfranc the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. This was removed during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was later found hidden under a pew.

In 1230 the church was rebuilt in the style of the early English Gothic, if you look inside, you can see the random rubble that was used to build the transept. The church was enlarged in 1315, with the addition of the tower and it is believed the steeple.

In 1381 William of Wykeham who was Bishop of Winchester and founder of New College, Oxford, gave New College the rectoral responsibilities to St Mary’s.

In 1404 a decision was made to take down the chancel. This was rebuilt in the style of the Divinity School in Oxford by Richard of Winchcombe, who was Wykeham’s master mason.

During the Reformation the statues in the reredos were destroyed.

During the English Civil War the Vicar, William Oldys was shot and killed on his doorstep by a Roundhead soldier.

Outside on the north wall are some corbels of musicians.

John Betjeman describes St Mary’s as “The imaginative Corbels on the north wall, the lovely late perpendicular chancel in the style of the Divinity Schools at Oxford, the tower and spire and windows make its exterior about the finest in the county”.

Here are some photos, courtesy of Alan Campion and Penny Pedley.

Thanks to Sian Walworth for the blog.