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St Matthew, Langford, Oxfordshire

Location
(51°43′14″N, 1°38′27″W)
Langford
SP 249 025
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Oxfordshire
now Oxfordshire
  • Janet Newson
  • Nicola Coldstream
2, 17 September 2013

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Description

The church contains a Transitional aisled three-bay nave, a 13thc chancel, S porch, and a splendid 11thc tower. The tower, as well as the presence of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, now re-set in the porch and on the S face of the tower, testify to the importance of the church in the 11thc. While the sculpted reliefs are probably pre-Conquest, the tower is late 11thc. Other features of interest are S and N doorways, the chancel arch, and the nave arcades.

History

The Domesday Survey lists Langford as an estate held by the king, and worth £18 TRE and the same in 1086. No church is mentioned in Domesday Book but Langford must have had an independent, and not unimpressive, church at the time, serving this and nearby townships. By 12thc Langford had at least two dependent chapels, at Little Faringdon and Radcot (VCH, 198).

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Windows

Exterior Decoration

String courses
Corbel tables, corbels
Miscellaneous

Interior Features

Arches

Chancel arch/Apse arches
Tower/Transept arches

Arcades

Nave
Comments/Opinions

There is an additional round-headed window in the S aisle.

The capitals of the arcade were probably carved by the same masons as at Kelmscott and Little Faringdon.

The benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire included Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Pogges, Filkins, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell.

Bibliography

J. Sherwood and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth 1974, 678-81.

Victoria County History: Oxfordshire, XVII, 174-208.