St Mary the Virgin Little Coxwell

Cistercian monks of Beaulieu Abbey built the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary in the 12th century as a chapel of ease. Little Coxwell was a dependent chapelry of the ecclesiastical parish of Great Faringdon. In 1866 the civil parish was established.

The Church of St. Mary's is a 12th Century Chapel of Ease, built by the Monks of Beaulieu Abbey. It contains a number of features of historical and architectural interest, including:

Norman doorway
Perpendicular stone porch
Transitional Priest's door
Early decorated window
3 large perpendicular windows
13th Century Bell-cote
12th Century Chancel Arch, rebuilt in the 15th Century
Norman door jambs of the Vestry in the north wall of the nave
Carved wood rail of organ loft - part of a pre-Reformation Rood Screen
15th Century octagonal font
Iron Hour-Glass stand
Brass Candelabrum dating from 1729
George III Coat of Arms

You walk along a narrow lane to find the church and come to this wonderful lychgate

Go though and you are met with a view of the South side of the church
A seat stands to the side of the porch looking towards the Lychgate

Go around to the West end and you find a large window with a rose one above
The North side also had a porch

Though this has been blocked off in the past and a false door placed over where the opening is. The porch is used a vestry

Above the East end window with family vault under it.

Left we look towards the Porch

Standing near you cam look up and see the bells in the cote which dates to the 13th Century
Right one of the headstops on the window

The ones around the door are very eroded

Priest door in the chancel and the door on the porch

Inside another door takes you to the Nave

Looking down you see the 12th century chancel arch which was rebuilt in the 15th century

Above which you can see the George III coat of arms

Through the arch into the chancelm the sreen at the back is tilted

Behind on the East wall are tow recesses, one looks partly blocked in, they look like they were windows once

The Altar dressed in white

On top of which are simple wooden candle holders and a brass altar cross

The The chancel window depicts the Crucifixion and looks Pre-Raphaelite

Looking back through the arch you can see the 1729 Brass Candelabrum

Looking at it from the Pulpit on the right you can see a dove on the top

Looking from the pulpit to the Nave

Another view of the Brass Candelabrum

Looking up at the Organ loft you can see the rails of the loft which is part of a pre-Reformation Rood Screen
Right a view down from the loft, I might add the stairs are some of the most narrow I have climbed

One thing that is worth looking at above the stairs is this Stained glass window, it is something you would miss if you did not go up them

Around the church are plaques with scripture on them, from the look they are enamelled tin and in good condition compared to some I have seen

The George III coat of arms

Not easy to read this memorial even if you are close

Little Coxwell Roll Of Honour, some one hand wrote this with great care and devotion

Right some of the kneelers in the pews

along with hymn books all neatly held

View towards the Pulpit

Before heading back out the Font which is near the door

Outside is a mixture of headstones these near the porch have footstones maching the headstone though one has lost it's top

Looking further west the churchyard has been extended

Though I did not wander through the headstones here are not so old

The headstone on the left with ivy growing up is on the Norths side, at the East end you see this family vault

Looking east here at three headstones beside the path

A Commonwealth war grave of Private A.E.King who died in 1918 age 20. The motive of the Royal Berkshire Regiment prominent on top. Many local men belonged to the Regiment, back then this area was in Berkshire, now it is Oxfordshire