The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
"Stoke Lyne"
Parish church
St Peter’s church, Stoke Lyne, is situated in NE Oxfordshire, 4 miles N of Bicester. Dating from the mid-C12th, it was originally a two-cell build of chancel and nave. The present church comprises a chancel, nave, and N and S transepts with a tower over the S transept. The S transept was added in the C14th and forms the lower stage of the tower. There was once a N aisle. Although the church was built of limestone rubble and dressed stone, blocks of the local rust-brown Hornton ironstone have been introduced as replacements in later restorations. In a restoration by H. Woodyer of 1868-9, the chancel was rebuilt on its old foundations, and the S chancel doorway restored, but leaving the original Romanesque chancel arch. The nave remains as a C12th. build, and there is a fine Romanesque S doorway with a niche overhead containing a figure, probably St Peter, and also the remains of a nave string course.
Parish church
Finmere is 7 miles NE of Bicester in the extreme NE corner of Oxfordshire, bounded by Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. The present church is largely 14thc., of limestone rubble, comprising a chancel, clerestoried nave, S porch, N aisle and W tower. Only the Romanesque font remains from an earlier church.
Parish church
The village of Stratton Audley is 2.5 miles NE of Bicester in NE Oxfordshire. The present church was largely rebuilt in the C13th and C14th. It comprises a chancel, clerestoried nave, N and S aisles, a N porch and a W tower. A Romanesque doorway, perhaps a priest’s doorway, has been reset in the wall of the chancel S aisle.
Parish church
Hethe is a hamlet in NE Oxfordshire, 4 miles N of Bicester. A church existed here by the mid-12thc., probably a small two-cell structure with an apse. The present church comprises a square-ended chancel, a clerestoried nave, S and N aisles, a S porch and a W open wooden belfry and spire. In the early 13thc. the apse was replaced by the existing chancel with pilaster buttresses and part of a keeled half-roll string course. The S aisle was added in the 14thc. There was a drastic restoration by G.E. Street in the 19thc. Surviving Romanesque decoration is found in the chancel, in the E wall a re-set stone bearing a beast head, pilaster buttresses at NE and SE corners, and the remains of a string course, and in the S wall a priest’s door and a round-headed window. In the nave W wall is a similar window. The plain tub font may also be Romanesque.
Parish church
Fringford is 4 miles NE of Bicester. The present church comprises a chancel, clerestoried nave with S and N aisles and a W tower. The shell of the nave may be 12thc. The S arcade is thought to be a 13thc. addition, possibly rebuilt in the 14thc. (VCH). The church was rebuilt piecemeal in the 19thc.: the chancel in 1821, the N aisle in 1829 and again in 1905, and the tower was added in 1831. The remaining Romanesque features are the two round-headed bays with a round pier and scalloped capitals in the original N arcade, and the S doorway, now in the S aisle wall, which is supposedly a copy of the original by G.E. Street from 1857.
Parish church
Mixbury is in the NE corner of Oxfordshire, eight miles from Bicester and six from Buckingham. The original late 12thc. church, probably of c. 1170, consisted of a chancel and nave, to which a N aisle and W tower were added in the 14thc. In the 1840s much of the church was rebuilt, reusing some windows and mouldings. The chancel arch was rebuilt as an enlarged version of the original, and the porch was given an outer doorway in the same 12thc. style. Although the S doorway itself has been restored, it is largely Romanesque, with multiple chevron and scallop capitals. The chancel arch is also described as an indication of the original.
Church
The church was restored in 1863, when the Romanesque chancel arch was replaced by the existing one. The N nave doorway (now a window) was also rediscovered at this time. The N chapel, originally built in the 15thc, was rebuilt in 1928. The S porch is of 15th/16thc date. The church appears to have been originally a rectangular nave with a square-ended chancel. There is a W tower, but it is not certain whether this was part of the original plan. The tower appears to have been rebuilt in the 16thc above the first-floor level, but repairs to the tower also took place in 1657 and to the bell-house in 1765.
Church (ruin)
Single cell, nave and chancel church (32.1 m x 6.00 m internally). The E wall and northern return are 13thc., the remainder of the fabric represents a 15thc. enlargement. A plain round-headed window in the N wall may be reused from an earlier structure. Reset carved stones in the E wall may also be from an earlier building.
Church of Ireland church
Multi-phase, stone roofed church with incorporated, probably 15thc tower house. The earliest part of the church may date to the 12thc. Inside is a small collection of loose stone, one piece of which may be Romanesque.
Parish church
Romanesque church consisting of nave and chancel. The nave measures 9.00 m x 5.96 m
and the chancel 5.75 m x 5.00 m externally. Ruined, but with most of the walls
intact. The W portal is partly restored. There are round-headed windows in the S wall
of the nave, and in the E and S walls of the chancel. There is a stone altar, and a
niche in the S wall of the chancel. Only the S jamb of the chancel arch remains, and
some fragments of loose sculpture have been set into the wall above the jamb. Eleven
cross-inscribed slabs have also been found on the island, close to the church. There
are also remains of a number of small stone houses on the island.