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I Location

II General Description

Brackley is a town in the far S of the county, sited in a loop of the Great Ouse, which forms the border with Buckinghamshire. It is an ancient site on the main road from Northampton to Oxford, and evidence of Iron Age and Roman settlement has been found in the town. There seem to have been two centres to it; one around St Peter's church towards the E of the present town, and the other on its southern edge, overlooking the river, around the site of the Norman castle, of which a motte 3m high and 40m in diameter survives. The church is a long single-celled building with a short tower attached to the N side, W of centre. There is no chancel arch, but the extent of the original chancel is marked by an arcade of four bays on the N wall, now blocked but originally giving onto a chapel. There was apparently another chapel on the N side of the nave, W of the tower, where a tall quatrefoil-section pier survives with the first few voussoirs of vault-ribs above its capital. The exterior masonry is much disturbed on the S side, where blocked doorways and a total lack of fenestration at the W end indicate the removal of conventual buildings which communicated with the church. An elaborate late-12thc. W doorway is the earliest dateable feature of the fabric, but most of the remainder suggests a 13thc. date, including the W window, the triple-lancets of the chancel S wall, and the simple lancets of the tower. Construction is of stone rubble. There was a restoration in 1869-70 by Buckeridge. The only Romanesque features are the W doorway and the font, both of c.1200.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) W doorway, nave

Round-headed, of one order. Angle rolls in the jambs, much chipped and worn, and rebuilt entirely at plinth level. The capitals are tall and narrow with roll neckings. They are of waterleaf type but with fleshy projecting leaf-tips, damaged on the N and broken off entirely on the S. Imposts are moulded with three narrow rolls alternating with two hollows. The arch is carved with point-to-point chevron, centrifugal on the face with a single roll enclosing lozenges on the angle of the order. In each of these is a square flower with a central boss from which four trilobed leaves, like lilies, radiate. On the arch face, the outer tips of the chevron units rest on a roll, and outside this is a roll-section label. The N stop has gone, but the S survives, showing a small male head, simply carved with small features. The entire doorway is damaged, with areas of carved stone flaking off. The worst affected parts are the capitals and imposts, the angle rolls of the jambs, and parts of the label. Chevron ornament has been lost, especially to R of centre, and above the S springing, but what survives is crisp and well-preserved. There seems to have been no attempt to restore the doorway, beyond the rebuilding of the lower courses.

Dimensions

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Font at the W end of the nave, S of the W doorway.

The bowl is tub-shaped and stands on a short cylindrical shaft with moulded capital and base. This stands on a large circular step. Only the bowl is medieval. The design is an interesting combination of intersecting arcading and foliage decoration. Immediately below a rim decorated with a row of heavy dogtooth is a band of intersecting round arches - a total of 15 pointed bays encircling the bowl. instead of fictive shafts, however, the arches transpose below springing level into stems which encircle the bowl in a running scroll with furled-leaf offshoots. The leaves are multilobed with fluted lobes. The lower rim had a narrow roll but much of this is broken away. The basin is circular and lead lined.

Dimensions

VII History

The Hospital of St James and St John was founded c.1150 by Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester. The original endowment consisted of an acre of land on which the hospital; was built, and further lands within the parish were added by Robert's son and heir, Robert Blanchmaines. In 1484 it was given to Magdalen College, Oxford and by 1548 there was a school on the site.

VIII Comments/Opinions

A running foliage scroll similar to that on the font appears on a section of stringcourse or impost at St Peter's, Brackley. The font itself is very similar to the one at Hinton-in-the-Hedges. The dogtooth ornament points to a date c.1190-1210. The W doorway is by a different workshop active around the same time or perhaps slightly earlier.

IX Bibliography