Church of St Peter Great Haseley, England

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GREAT HASELEY GREAT HASELEY SP60SW 5/4 Church of St. Peter 18/07/63

GV I

Church. c.1200, c.1300, early C14 and C15. Chancel restored 1897 by Thomas Garner. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; plain-tile and copper roofs. Four-bay aisled nave with chancel, west tower, south porch and chapel to north of chancel. Early-Decorated chancel has three 2-light traceried windows each side between deep buttresses, and east window of 5 lights with a rose in the tracery, probably renewed. Steeply-pitched roof rises above nave and aisles. North chapel in plain Perpendicular style with a 3-light east window. South aisle has frequent buttresses, a 3-light Decorated east window and two 3-light windows of uncusped tracery east of the porch. West of the porch and in the west wall are 3-light Perpendicular windows. Low, plain porch with a high-level oak-framed window across the top of the west wall containing 4 leaded lights. The east end of the north aisle is late Perpendicular, probably a chantry, and has a 3-light east window and, in the north wall, a 3-light window and a small doorway, both with Tudor arches. The plank door is ancient. To west, small 3-light window with mouchettes, a Decorated doorway with ancient plank door and a further 2-light Decorated window with reticulated tracery, similar to that in the west wall. The C15 square-headed clerestorey windows each have two cinquefoiled lights. 3-stage C15 tower with large diagonal buttresses has a crenellated parapet, 2-light traceried belfry openings and a deeply recessed 3-light west window. The elaborate re-set early C13 doorway has an arch of 3 richly-moulded orders and dogtooth ornament on shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Interior: Chancel is complete and very fine, with a carved stone vine cornice and moulded rere arches and hoods to the windows. There is an elaborate group of piscina, triple-sedilia and tomb recess, all richly cusped and separated by tall panelled pinnacles. The floor is of coral and grey marble. The Transitional chancel arch springs from corbels. The east bay of the nave is Perpendicular but the rest is Transitional with embryo stiff-leaf capitals on cylindrical piers. C15 oak roof of 7 bays with curved bracing to the tie beams. South aisle has three cinquefoiled tomb recesses with pierced cusping, a piscina with nodding ogee canopy, and a canopied image niche to the south of the altar. A sizeable collection of C14 floor tiles of many patterns is set into the walls at the west end. The north-east chantry contains a Tudor-arched tomb recess. The south porch protects the fine C13 doorway with 2 orders of roll moulding and dogtooth ornament, and an ancient plank door with simple early C13 crescent hinges. The porch has an old 5-sided coupled-rafter roof. Stained glass of the C19 and early C20 in the south aisle and chancel. Fittings include a Jacobean octagonal pulpit with baluster legs, 2 late-medieval chests and a plain stone tub font. Monuments include brasses dated 1444, 1495 and 158i plus various fragments, 2 medieval stone coffins, C13 tomb slab with a foliated cross, two C13 effigies of knights, one mutilated the other well preserved with sword and crossed legs, and a large early C16 table tomb in the north-east chantry (but formerly in the chancel) with panelled sides, heraldry and a black marble top, said to be of Sir William Barrendyne. Wall monuments include an elaborate Baroque cartouche to Revd. John Whistler (died 1720) and various plainer C18 tablets, The north chapel, visible through a former chancel window contains a large white marble Baroque monument to George Blackall (died 1709) who is commemorated with a bewigged bust under gilt-edged draperies framed by Ionic columns supporting an open and broken segmental pediment containing an heraldic cartouche flanked by trumpeting cherubs. It is signed "I. Piddington" (John Piddington of Oxford). (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp.618-201 Kelly's Directory: 1924).<br