Nominal: 979 Hz Weight: 643 lbs Diameter: 31.13" Bell 1 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1907
Dove Bell ID: 5172 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
North Hinksey: St Lawrence
Diocese of Oxford
Church, 627207
http://www.osneybenefice.org.ukOverview
Grid reference: SP 494 54
Rural stone church, early 12th-century nave and perhaps tower, 12th-13th-century chancel, 13th-16th-century fenestration: chancel arch rebuilt by John Macduff Derick in 1800's. 15th-century font, 17th-century holy table, small collection of mural monuments from the 17th and 18th centuries. Medieval cross base in churchyard, large number of good quality monuments.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
3-bay nave, west tower and 2-bay chancel. South porch.
Dimensions:
[Approximate] Nave 13m (45 ft) by 5.5m (18ft), chancel 8m (24 ft 6 in) by 5m (15 ft. 9 in)
Footprint of Church buildings: 215 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The village profited from the proximity of Oxford to which there was an important ferry crossing here, however historically it has looked to the Vale of the White Horse and Abingdon, and the village was ranked under the possessions of the abbey in Domesday as early as the 10th century, and was in Berkshire until 1974. On the other side of the A34 is North Hinksey Conduit House which was a roofed conduit for Oxford's first water mains, constructed during the early 17th century, now a Scheduled Monument. The village was the subject of an attempt by John Ruskin to drum some rural realism into his students by trying to build a causeway to replace the ferry. They soon got wet and fed up.
The church of St Lawrence (earlier, St Laurence) appears to have been founded in the early 12th century, the church as usual the oldest surviving building in the village; a Saxon predecessor is mooted but not proved, Domesday sheds no light as the area is included in the lists for Cumnor, in which manor Hinksey belonged. The nave and the tower may be of the early 12th, chancel added or extended in the early 13th century. Fenestration from the 13th-16th century. There were minor repairs during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the timber porch was added. The chancel arch was rebuilt by John Macduff Derick in the 1840's, along with a more general reordering and “tidying up”. In 1913 there was a restoration by William Weir, which included the insertion of an organ loft at the west end designed by Ernest Gimson, the important Arts-and-Crafts figure.
Exterior Description
A charming little church, basically Norman. The simple and short west tower gives little vertical emphasis but contributes to this charm. It is of three stages with a tiled pyramidal roof. The bell-chamber is lit by a plain square opening in each face, and the west window is a single lancet probably of the 13th century. Pevsner made his usual architectural historian’s mistake of considering this feature to date the tower.
The nave is of three bays, the east bay roof of lower pitch (why?). In the north wall of the nave are two small deeply splayed windows of early 12th-century date, placed high in the wall. They flank a blocked Norman doorway with voussoirs and quoining partly intact. The rood stair loft is visible as a semi-hexagonal projecting turret. In the east bay of the south nave wall is a fine window which dates to the 14th century, and west of the porch is a 3-light square-headed window of the 15th century.
The chancel has a two-light east window with a square head and cinquefoiled lights. In the south wall is a four-light square-headed window of the 16th century, heavily restored. There is a disturbance in the wall below, either a blocked priest’s doorway or evidence of lengthening of the chancel. The eastern bay has a three-light 13th century window with a triangular head similar to those at Cumnor, Stanton, and Theale, all dependencies of Abingdon Abbey, and see the piscine below. Below this is a low-side window, 12th-century work.
The south porch is a late 17th- or early 18th-century addition. It has an oak frame and head to the outer doorway. The inner doorway is of mid-12th-century date recessed in two orders, the inner roll-moulded and the outer with deep chevron ornament. The hood has animal head stops and the side shafts are of red stone with scalloped capitals.
Building Fabric and Features
Nave
12th century 3-bay
Tower (component)
12th century
Chancel
13th century
Porch
17th century south
Building Materials
Limestone
12th century uncoursed rubble
Ashlar
12th century dressings
Stone
16th century slate roof
Interior
Interior Description
Moving inside, the tower space is entered from the nave by a narrow modernised pointed doorway, there is a modern staircase to the bellringing stage. The simple but splendid organ loft by Gimson fills most of the western bay. Looking east, the interior has been thickly plastered and whitewashed, and is nicely lit with downlighters. The nave roof is partly16th-century, but the pitch has been altered in the east bay as already noted. The western bays have tie beams with curved struts to the principals, ceiled at the collar. The eastern bay is open to the ridge.
In the centre of the north wall is the blocked door, plain on this side. At the east end of the north wall are traces of the upper and lower doors to the rood-loft stairs, with studded door to the upper. The seating is very plain with notably low and narrow benches with rounded ends, in places replaced by chairs. The floor is of quarry tiles and parquet, partly under blue carpet.
The chancel arch is Victorian, in enriched and rather overblown Norman style with small chevroned openings on each side. The old chancel arch was very narrow and some 8 ft high, and to the south of it was a squint. To the north, on the west face, was a shallow chevroned recess, of which the headstones still remain, though it is now pierced through the wall, mirroring the other side. There are framed paintings on either side of the chancel arch depicting St Lawrence and St Stephen carrying the instruments of their martyrdom.
There is a13th-century triangular niche for a piscina in the south wall mirroring the window, and further east a small piscina with a round head enriched with ball-flower. In the north wall two Medieval square aumbries rebated for doors. The chancel roof is open and some of the timbers may be old, though heavily restored.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
17th century communion table with 20th century top
Pulpit
19th century Hexagonal oak with steps and quatrefoil piercings, very short and chunky like the pews.
Lectern
19th century wooden reading desk
Font (component)
14th century A very fine late 14th-century limestone octagonal font with tracery within pointed frames to each face, with mostly late Decorated designs verging on Perpendicular. Something of a study manual for the Medieval period, as is indeed the whole church.
Rail
19th century Thick heavily moulded pierced with quatrefoils, matching the pulpit.
Stained Glass (window)
19th / 20th century • The east window was given by Stephen Algernon of Bloxham (1930) • Late 19th-century glass in two chancel windows and east window of nave north wall: • Western window of the north wall has shards of glass brought back from Ypres, a war memorial.
Organ (component)
20th century 2-manual pipe organ c 1925 by P G Phipps of Oxford.
Bells
Weight: 286 lbs Diameter: 22.75" Bell 2 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 1972
Dove Bell ID: 34381 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Weight: 352 lbs Diameter: 24.5" Bell 3 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 1972
Dove Bell ID: 34382 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Weight: 383 lbs Diameter: 25.5" Bell 4 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 1972
Dove Bell ID: 34383 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Weight: 413 lbs Diameter: 26.5" Bell 5 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 1972
Dove Bell ID: 34384 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Weight: 473 lbs Diameter: 28.63" Bell 6 of 6
Founded by Richard Keene 1675
Dove Bell ID: 34385 Tower ID: 16211 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
Registers: The registers previous to 1812 include entries of marriages 1756 to 1794. In County Record Office.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SP 494 54
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
The churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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