Sutton Courtenay is a picturesque village in the NE of Berkshire, alongside the river Thames and some 2 miles S of Abingdon. The village is a long one, extending over a series of minor roads that run S from the river towards Didcot. The oldest parts of the village, including the parish church, the manor house and Norman Hall, and the 13thc rectory house, now known as the Abbey, are grouped at the N end, near the river.
The present church has a 13thc. chancel, a 4-bay nave of c.1300 and a 12thc. W tower of two storeys, the first divided by a string course at the level of the apex of the W doorway, to which a Perpendicular third storey was added. Inside the nave, however, the first bay of the S arcade is a pointed arch constructed from a carved semicircular arch of greater span, which Pevsner suggests was the 12thc. chancel arch. The present c.1300 chancel arch is supported on 12thc. responds and capitals.
A S porch was built in the late 15thc., and a Victorian N porch was replaced with a vestry by A W Tinson, the village builder, in 1961.
Enough sculpture remains to indicate a richly carved late 12thc. church, notably the W tower windows and corbel table, the reused arch in the S arcade, the chancel arch capitals and the font.
