St. Stephen's Church, Clanfield
St. Stephen's Church in Clanfield comprises chancel with north chapel, nave with north aisle and south porch, and embattled west tower of two stages; the medieval parts are of roughly coursed limestone rubble, and 19th-century restorations of coursed and dressed rubble. The church appears to have been built about 1180–90 with a three-bay aisle, a short rectangular chancel, and, probably, a north-east chapel. The chancel arch has responds with trumpet capitals and double-torus bases; the arcade has pointed, doublechamfered arches on round piers with heavy multiscallop capitals and double-torus bases, and has matching east and west responds. The south doorway has a semi-circular tympanum with a hacked-off row of chevron, a semi-circular hoodmould, and chamfered jambs, and the C-hinges on the south door also appear original. A masonry break in the south wall of the chancel just east of a narrow lancet indicates the length of the late 12th-century chancel. Continuously moulded image-niches flanking the chancel arch, one of which has a trefoiled head and traces of red paint, may also be late 12th-century. Presumably about 1312, when the church was reconsecrated, the chancel was extended, with an east window of three intersecting lights, a south door, a south-west window, and, inside, an aumbry, a trefoiled credence, and a piscina. The lower part of the tower is also 14th-century; the high nave-arch incorporates four chamfered orders, the inner one carried on shafts with chamfered capitals, and the west window has a cusped rear-arch perhaps derived from windows in Bampton church. The north aisle's west window is perhaps of similar date, though the tracery is 19th-century. The porch may also have been added in the 14th century, and in the late 14th century or early 15th an ogee-headed window under a square hoodmould, incorporating a stepped three-seat sedilia, was inserted into the chancel south wall. The upper part of the tower and its stair turret, which has a cusped niche with a statue of St Stephen holding a book and stones, were added in the mid to late 15th century, and part of the north aisle was said in 1850 to be also 'Perpendicular'. The font, which has quatrefoils on each face, is of similar date, though its wooden cover was given in 1913. In 1520 the chancel roof and window-glass were in disrepair, and perhaps after that the chancel north chapel was remodelled with a chamfered arch to the chancel, a similar arch to the aisle, and a large squint with a depressed four-centred head. Before 19th-century restoration the north chapel had a rectangular east window with stone transoms and mullions. In 1631 the church was 'in decay'. The nave seems to have been roughly repaired either then or later, and in the early 19th century had a single pointed window (without tracery) east of the porch, a large rectangular window to its west, and a roofline lower than the chancel. The chancel was repaired in 1677. General repairs were noted in 1847, but by 1867 parishioners were seeking to demolish the church and rebuild it. Those plans were vetoed by the diocesan architect in favour of a restoration to designs by John Luker of Faringdon (then Berks.), who between 1868 and 1870 entirely rebuilt the south wall of the nave (including the south porch), the north wall of the aisle, and the arch into the north chapel, some original carved features being incorporated in new walling. Luker also enlarged the chancel arch and reroofed the chancel, cleaning and scraping its remaining medieval masonry, replaced the east window of the north chapel by one matching the chancel east window, and unblocked the squint, probably also building the surviving fireplace into the north chapel south wall. The church was repaved and repewed, a gallery was removed, and a stone pulpit was installed. The total cost was met by subscription and a twenty-year loan secured on parish rates, together with a small grant from the Diocesan Church Building Society. Heating was installed about 1883. A church clock mentioned in 1814 survived (in need of repair) in 1897, but was not mentioned later. The aumbry was reopened in 1903, and the tower, lightly repaired between 1868 and 1870, was more fully restored in 1905. An oak reredos, choir stalls, and large brass chandeliers in the sanctuary were fitted in 1906 following a bequest from Amelia Carter, and at the same time a north doorway in 13th-century style was made into the north chapel, and the chancel south doorway was internally blocked. Memorial glass to the vicar's wife Sarah Rainey, by Mayer & Co. of London, was installed in the east window in 1908, and a harmonium mentioned in 1872 was replaced in 1910 with a two-manual pipe organ by Martin and Coate of Oxford. The church was electrified in 1933, and a lectern in memory of Ernest White of Northcourt Farm was given in 1934. General repairs were carried out in 1959 and 1992. There was apparently a ring of at least three bells before the Reformation, and in 1608 Leonard Wilmot left £7 for a new bell. A ring of four was recast as five by James Keene of Woodstock in 1653, probably at the expense of John Saunders, and two bells were recast in 1667 and 1696. Three bells by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough were added in 1905, and the 17th-century frame was replaced. The plate includes a silver chalice and paten cover of 1575, a silver paten of 1679 given by Margaret Alworth, and a pewter flagon of the late 17th or early 18th century. Memorials include inscriptions to Leonard Wilmot (d. 1608), Ferdinando White (d. 1719), and members of the Gunn and Rogers families, lay rectors. Registers survive from 1633. The churchyard was extended southwards in 1874, 1930, and 1962. In 1908 the churchyard walls were repaired following a public appeal. Historical information about St. Stephen's Church is provided Christina Colvin, Carol Cragoe, Veronica Ortenberg, R B Peberdy, Nesta Selwyn and Elizabeth Williamson, 'Clanfield: Religious history', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 15, Bampton Hundred (Part Three), ed. Simon Townley (London, 2006), pp. 139-146. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol15/pp139-146 [accessed 6 April 2023]. St. Stephen's Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN, Clanfield - 1053402 | Historic England. For more information about St. Stephen's Church see Clanfield: Religious history | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
