• Home
• Cherwell
  • List of villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in Cherwell
  • Photography dates
• South Oxfordshire
  • List of villages
  • Thames-side villages
  • The Oxfordshire Chilterns
  • Recommended villages to visit in South Oxfordshire
  • Photography dates
• Vale of White Horse
  • List of villages
  • Thames-side villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in Vale of White Horse
  • Photography dates
• West Oxfordshire
  • List of villages
  • Recommended villages to visit in West Oxfordshire
  • Photography dates
• Information
  • Useful links
  • "Midsomer Murders" film locations
  • Link your website to Oxfordshire Villages
  • Weather forecast and traffic
  • Licenses and acknowledgements
  • Contact me

The church of St. Mary Magdalene in Wardington consists of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, vestry (on the north side of the chancel), south chapel, south porch, and an embattled west tower. The earliest features of the building date from the 12th century. There is a partially blocked 12thcentury window in the south wall of the chancel, and the southern respond of the 12th-century chancel arch remains embedded in the wall behind the pulpit. At the east end of the north nave arcade are the responds of a 12th-century arch, indicating the existence of a transept or north chapel, whose site is now occupied by the east bay of the north aisle. The existing nave and aisles were built in the 13th century. They are separated by arcades of five arches on each side. Most of these rest on plain circular columns, but the three westernmost piers on the south side have roughly formed compound shafts. The south aisle, which retains its original doorway and two three-light lancet windows, is narrower than the north aisle, which is slightly later in date. The greater width of the north aisle was probably determined by the presence of a 12th-century transept at its east end. Early in the 14th century new windows were inserted in the chancel and at the east end of the north aisle. The clerestory was also constructed in the 14th century, but the two easternmost windows on the south side were replaced by larger three-light windows in the 15th century. The west tower was added before the end of the 14th century. The vestry was built in the 15th century; until 1915 it had an upper room or loft reached by a ladder. The screens which separate the chancel and the south chapel from the nave and the south aisle respectively incorporate portions of medieval tracery, that of the chapel dating from the 14th century.

There are stray references to minor repairs in the 17th century, and a gallery had been taken out by 1855, when Bishop Wilberforce considered its removal a great gain. The question of a restoration was raised in 1871 and again, in vain, in 1879, when Ewan Christian, a London architect, was called in and produced a report which condemned the condition of the church in terms which ranged from 'seriously bad' downwards. 

The main fabric, including the chancel, was restored in 1887 and 1889, in accordance with the plans of Ewan Christian, at a total cost of nearly £2,000; the floor was relaid and new seats substituted for the former 'huge square pews and other expositions of bad taste'; an eagle lectern carved by the village carpenter (Bonham) was installed, and also a new oak pulpit. The small round window above the chancel arch was filled with stained glass representing St. Mary Magdalene. The choir seats and desks were renewed in 1890; the south porch had been restored before the rest of the building. The proposed scheme of restoration was not, however, carried out in full: in 1887 George Loveday of Williamscot House successfully resisted a proposal to move the organ into the 'south or lesser chancel' (i.e. the south chapel) on the grounds that the chapel belonged to him as owner of the manor-house. The organ, renovated in 1950, was in 1969 in the north aisle.

The first restoration was not entirely well done: the new chancel roof was heavier than the old, the chancel foundations had already been in places entirely displaced by the insertion of coffins, cracks began to appear in the chancel walls in 1913, and the roof of the lower story of the vestry fell in. Further work was therefore carried out on the vestry, chancel, and chapel in 1915 at a cost of about £1,000. Later nearly £1,900 was spent on the tower, clerestory windows, and chancel arch; the tower was extensively refaced and buttresses were added at the end of the chancel. The builders in this third instalment of restoration were Messrs. Franklin of Deddington and, for the tower, Messrs. Booth of Banbury; the architect was W. T. Loveday. A reredos was set up in the sanctuary in 1932 to commemorate the work of J. E. Sabin as churchwarden. In 1933–4 electric light was installed in place of oil lamps. 

The octagonal font bears the letters 'RM RS' and the date 1666. In the south aisle are two medieval tomb-recesses. One contains a curious monument consisting of a foliated slab with the head and joined hands of an ecclesiastic carved in a recess.

¶At the east end of the south aisle is a floor brass to Henry Freebody, gentleman (d. 1444). The south chapel contains a monument to George Denton (d. 1757) and four floor slabs (two of them armorial) to members of the Chamberlayne family; the east window of the chapel was formerly blocked up, but was restored as a memorial to John, Lord Wardington (d. 1950). The chapel also contains mural tablets in memory of members of the Wardle, Loveday, and Wallace families. In the chancel are memorials to members of the French family, and two windows inserted in memory of the Chamberlain family. 

The six bells are of mixed dates from 1669 to 1841; all originally came from the Bagley foundry in near-by Chacombe. The present treble, fifth, and tenor bells were cast by that family in 1669, 1682, and 1685, but the other three were replaced by new bells in 1791, 1795, and 1841. The bells were rehung in 1899. 

The church plate includes a silver chalice bearing the names of the churchwardens of 1612 (one of them a Sabin), and a silver flagon and paten given by Mrs. Chamberlayne in 1750 and bearing the Chamberlayne arms. 

Wardington church had an old tower clock, repaired in 1864. A new clock was installed in July 1900 by J. Smith, Midland Clock Works, Derby. 

The churchyard was enlarged in 1899 and 1957. The registers, which date from 1633, are complete, except for a few gaps in the Civil War period.

Historical information about The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is provided by Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, N H Cooper, P D A Harvey, Marjory Hollings, Judith Hook, Mary Jessup, Mary D Lobel, J F A Mason, B S Trinder and Hilary Turner, 'Parishes: Wardington', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10, Banbury Hundred, ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1972), pp. 210-225. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp210-225 [accessed 22 February 2023].

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY MAGDALENE, Wardington - 1228671 | Historic England.

For more information about The Church of St. Mary Magdalene see Parishes: Wardington | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).