The village of Mapledurham in the Hundred of Langtree sits in the extreme S of Oxfordshire on the banks of the Thames between Pangbourne to the W and Reading to the E, with the Chiltern scarp behind. The layout, with its scattered farmsteads and cottages, retains the character of a rural medieval community, centred round manor house, church and (functioning) mill. It is still largely an estate village with a working farm at its heart. The church of St Margaret of Antioch is found at the end of a narrow cul-de-sac, charmingly situated alongside the redbrick, Tudor Mapledurham House, on a narrow stretch of the river. It now consists of nave, N and S aisles, W tower, N vestry and N porch. The exterior is of flint with stone dressings. The tower is faced with a bold chequer pattern in brick and flint. Pevsner dates a blocked arch at the W end of the S wall to the 13th century, but the rest of the structure is later medieval and the whole was essentially re-created by William Butterfield in 1863. The only Romanesque feature is the font which seems to predate the present church.
