Chalgrove is a good sized village in the South Oxfordshire district, 10 miles SE of Oxford, and the church is on the southern edge of the village. It is built of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and consists of an aisle nave with a W tower and a S porch, and a 2 bay chancel. The oldest parts are the transitional nave arcades; the N later than the S but both described here. The lower stages of the tower are early 13thc and the top stage dates fron c.1300. Its parapet was added in the 18thc after the spire collapsed in 1727. The nave aisles windows date from the 14thc and 15thc. The chancel Has Y-tracery side windows and a reticulated E window suggesting an early-14thc date. It can also boast one of the most complete cycles of wallpaintings in the country, depicting the Tree of Jesse, the Life of Christ, the Life of the Virgin and the Ascension, Resurrection and Descent into Hell, as well as the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, and dated by Sherwood to the mid-14thc.

The church was restored in 1881-84 by Joseph Morris and S.S. Stallwood of Reading.

A manor of 10 hides was held by Thorkil in 1066 and by MIles Crispin in demesne in 1086. In the early 12thc. it was helbd by memebers of the Boterel family as constables of Wallingford castle (it belonged to the Honour of Wallingford). Thereafter is returned to the crown. In 1190 Prince John granted it to Hugh de Malaunay, and during the 13thc it was also granted, wholly or in part, to Hugh Despenser, Hugh de Plessis,and Drew Barentin. The manor was divided between these and other claimants in 1233.

The church was given by Miles Crispin for the endowment of prebends in St Nicholas's chapel in Wallingford Castle.

The main issue is the dating of the two arcades. For Sherwood and Pevsner both are transitional, the S earlier than the N. The List Description places both in the early 13thc, At the other extreme the Victoria County History (VCH) dates the S arcade to c.1190 and the N c.1240. The S is certainly earlier; the big volute capitals, roll-moulded arches and spurredf bases place the work at the end of the 12thc. The N arcade is very different, and while the foliate capital on pier 1 could be late 12thc, the chamfered arches, imposts and moulded capital on pier 2 certainly could not; in fact it is hard to see these features before c.1230 at the earliest.

The other issue to address is the short bay at the E end of the S arcade. VCH suggests that the bay was shortened when the new chancel was built, and this is certainly possible, except for the form of pier 1, which differs from the rest of the arcade piers. It may have originally formed the entrance to a transeptal chapel.