Shortlist tool

Use this tool to build your own journey or choose from an exciting range of specially selected tours.

List All My Saved Itineraries

Search Attractions

Type:
Location:
Name:
Churches

Churches

The font in Shilton Church

You are here: Things to Do > Attractions > Churches

Churches

The great wealth of local, medieval wool merchants paid for many of the churches in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds and many of their spires dominate the skyline for miles around. Burford’s church is particularly fine with a number of fascinating monuments, including some 1649 graffiti on its lead font.

There are a number of famous burials in Oxfordshire Cotswolds churches, including Sir Winston Churchill’s grave at Bladon, William Morris' at Kelmscott and four of the Mitford sisters at Swinbrook. Bampton’s St Mary’s Church has become famous as the church in Downton Abbey where the wedding of Mary Crawley took place. Other churches have ornate tombs, medieval brasses, wall paintings or, like the church at Widford, a stunning location as well.

Useful links

In This Section

Recommended

Products

Oxford Bus Museum and Morris Motors Museum

Oxford Bus Museum

As well as over 30 buses on display, there are other numerous exhibits adding a period feel: exhibits include a historic preserved horse-drawn tram,...

Number of items:

Number of items: 51

, currently showing 1 to 20.

  1. St Michael & All Angels Church, Great Tew

    Add Great Tew - St Michael & All Angels Church to your Itinerary

    Great Tew - St Michael & All Angels Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Great Tew

    Approached through an unusual gateway, along a path flanked by ha-has, Great Tew's church is barely visible from the road. Despite some unsympathetic 19th century restoration, the church still has many interesting features: finely carved bench ends, a series of slightly faded 14th century wall...

  2. Widford Church on a misty morning ©Helena Sylvester

    Add Widford - St Oswald's Church to your Itinerary

    Widford - St Oswald's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Widford

    A tiny church on its own in the Windrush Valley. In 1904 it was found to have been built on the base of a Roman house or temple. Mainly 13th century it has remnants of an 11th century Saxon or Norman building, e.g. the dividing wall, a chevroned corbel and the plain rough font. 

    There are two...

  3. St George's Church in Kelmscott

    Add Kelmscott - St George's Church to your Itinerary

    Kelmscott - St George's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Kelmscott

    Originally a chapel of ease, St George's Church in Kelmscott is practically unaltered since the close of the 15th century, thanks to William Morris, who lived at nearby Kelmscott Manor. He was so appalled by some of the Victorian 'restoration' work being carried out on medieval churches that he...

  4. St Laurence Church Combe

    Add Combe - St Laurence's Church to your Itinerary

    Combe - St Laurence's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Combe

    St Laurence has been a place of worship for more than 600 years - the nave was completed in 1395. The wall paintings are mainly from the 15th century, and were uncovered in the 1890s by a former vicar, The Rev. S. Pearce, and were probably the work of the monks of Eynsham Abbey. The stone pulpit is...

  5. St Martin's Church in Bladon

    Add Bladon - St Martin's Church to your Itinerary

    Bladon - St Martin's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Bladon

    The parish of Bladon includes Blenheim Palace and is therefore the burial place of many of the Spencer Churchills - only the Dukes and Duchesses are buried in the chapel at Blenheim Palace. The most famous grave is that of Sir Winston Churchill, who chose to be buried here. His wife Clementine was,...

  6. St John The Baptist Church Burford

    Add Burford - St John the Baptist Church to your Itinerary

    Burford - St John the Baptist Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Burford

    One of the large Cotswold 'wool churches' built between 1160 and 1475. Items of interest include: a memorial tablet to Henry VIII’s barber-surgeon, Edmund Harman, showing one of the earliest representations of South American Indians; the ornate, canopied tomb of Sir Lawrence and Lady Tanfield; a...

  7. St Mary the Virgin in Black Bourton (photo courtesy of www.oxfordshirechurches.info)

    Add Black Bourton - St Mary the Virgin Church to your Itinerary

    Black Bourton - St Mary the Virgin Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Black Bourton


    Considered a significant medieval church, St Mary the Virgin's earliest features are Norman including the chancel, font and carved stone pulpit - the priest’s door may be even earlier, possibly Saxon.

    However the real highlight of the church is its 13th century wall paintings. Covered at the...

  8. St Marys Church Cogges

    Add Cogges - St Mary's Church to your Itinerary

    Cogges - St Mary's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Witney

    The church has an unusual tower; positioned in the north west corner of the church it is square at ground stage, octagonal at upper stages with a pyramid roof, and is characteristic of Normandy churches. The nave was originally aisleless and may be pre-Conquest. The south aisle was added in the...

  9. St Mary's Church, Bampton

    Add Bampton - St Mary's Church to your Itinerary

    Bampton - St Mary's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Bampton


    The parish of Bampton was the largest in Oxfordshire and incorporated some 11,238 acres as late as 1877. It seems there was a church here long before the Norman Conquest, although the only surviving element before that time is the Anglo-Saxon tower with its fine herringbone stonework. It is...

  10. St Mary's Church in Shipton under Wychwood

    Add Shipton-under-Wychwood - St Mary's Church to your Itinerary

    Shipton-under-Wychwood - St Mary's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Shipton-under-Wychwood

    This handsome medieval church, mainly dating between the 13th and 15th centuries, has a wonderful setting: surrounded by trees (making it near impossible to photograph the exterior!) beyond the village green. It has a short tower with an attractive spire and a light, spacious interior with good...

  11. St Michael's Church Stanton Harcourt

    Add Stanton Harcourt - St Michael's Church to your Itinerary

    Stanton Harcourt - St Michael's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Stanton Harcourt

    St Michael’s church is cruciform in shape, Norman, Early English and Perpendicular in architecture. The church was extensively altered in the 13th century, when the transepts were added and the chancel rebuilt. The Harcourt Chapel (which is kept locked) was added to the church c. 1470, by Sir...

  12. St Mary's Church in Westwell (photo courtesy of Oxfordshire Churches)

    Add Westwell - St Mary's Church to your Itinerary

    Westwell - St Mary's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Westwell

    Westwell's church offers pleasures out of all proportion to its size - a picturesque setting overlooking the spring which gave the village its name, some delightful touchs and a refreshing simplicity overall.

    The church is small and simple, with Early English and Victorian additions to the...

  13. The Church of the Holy Rood in Shilton (photo courtesy of Derek Cotterill)

    Add Shilton - Holy Rood Church to your Itinerary

    Shilton - Holy Rood Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Shilton

    Humble and unadorned, Shilton's Church of the Holy Rood stands on a slope above the village. The church has a restored Norman nave with an arcade of three pillars supported on stout Norman columns, some with (probably 12th century) painted, red chevrons on them.

    There is a beautiful, square...

  14. St Peter's Church in Cassington

    Add Cassington - St Peter's Church to your Itinerary

    Cassington - St Peter's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Cassington

    St Peter's is a fine Norman church with lovely woodwork and glass. It was built in the early years of the 12th century by Geoffrey de Clinton, treasurer to Henry I. The church was altered and added to in the 14th century - these changes included the spire and porches and the insertion of new...

  15. St Leonards Church Eynsham

    Add Eynsham - St Leonard's Church to your Itinerary

    Eynsham - St Leonard's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Eynsham

    St Leonards dates from the 13th century but was heavily restored in Victorian times by William Wilkinson in 1856 and H.G.W. Drinkwater in 1892.

  16. St Peter's Broughton Poggs cDerek Cotterill

    Add Broughton Poggs - St Peter's Church to your Itinerary

    Broughton Poggs - St Peter's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Broughton Poggs

    St Peter’s, Broughton Poggs, is situated in a farmyard, although many of the former barns on the north side have been converted into modern dwellings. The building is basically Norman but there is a suggestion that the tower might be Saxon.

    The nave is 12th century so this section was probably...

  17. St Kenelm's church in Minster Lovell near Witney

    Add Minster Lovell - St Kenelm's Church to your Itinerary

    Minster Lovell - St Kenelm's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Minster Lovell

    St Kenelm's Church in Minster Lovell is mainly 15th century, built on the foundations of an earlier priory minster. This explains the unusual cruciform shape with a central tower. The whole church is “almost entirely unaltered and has handsome details” (Pevsner). It is situated next to the ruins of...

  18. St Peter's Church in Wilcote (photo courtesy of Oxfordshire Churches)

    Add Wilcote - St Peter's Church to your Itinerary

    Wilcote - St Peter's Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Wilcote

    St Peter's Church in Wilcote is probably of 12th century origin but with a significant Victorian restoration. The church comprises a small, low chancel, a nave with west bellcote, and a north porch, and is built of coursed limestone rubble with a stone slate roof. The nave and chancel are of the...

  19. St John The Evangelist Church in Hailey (photo courtesy www.oxfordshirechurches.info)

    Add Hailey - St John the Evangelist Church to your Itinerary

    Hailey - St John the Evangelist Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Hailey

    St John the Evangelist is Victorian, built in 1868/9 to replace an 18th century church close by. The church was designed by the incumbent vicar's 21 year old son, CC Rolfe, but altered slightly on the diocesan architect's orders as he felt the design 'unnecessarily eccentric'. It is built in the...

  20. St Nicholas Church, Idbury

    Add Idbury - St Nicholas Church to your Itinerary

    Idbury - St Nicholas Church

    Type

    Church / Chapel

    Idbury

    Mainly 15th century in character, but with a fine reset 12th century Norman north doorway with chevrons and saltire crosses in the arch, the church has a peaceful, uncluttered interior with a fine 15th century font. In the graveyard look out for the grave of Sir Benjamin Baker, the designer of the...