St Mary’s has stood at the heart of Bloxham for almost 1,000 years. The first written record of the church appears in a 1067 charter, in which William I granted the church and Rectory Estate to Westminster Abbey.
In the 12th century, King Stephen built a Chantry Chapel and endowed two royal fields to fund daily masses for his mother, Adela. The 14th-century Milcombe Chapel is a fine example of the work of a renowned group of Banbury-based stonemasons.
In the late 1870s, Victorian architect G.E. Street carried out a significant renovation, adding stained glass windows by Morris and Burne-Jones. St Mary’s contains one of the best-preserved Street chancels in existence. In the 20th century, the north aisle became a War Memorial Chapel, and a nave altar and Millennium Screen were added.
St Mary’s is a Grade I listed building, with a 198-foot spire visible for miles around. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described it as “one of the grandest in the country.”
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