Trifter

On a hill overlooking an attractive stretch of the River Thames, stands the high-steepled church of St. Michael and All Angels, in the Oxfordshire village of Clifton Hampden.  And although the greater part of the present church is the result of Victorian ‘restoration fever’, there is historical evidence to suggest that a church has stood on the spot since well before the 12th century.

Some parts of the original medieval village church still exist inside the building, dating back to around the time of King Stephen who was the grandson of William the Conqueror.  Examples of the architecture from that time include the large square bases of two pillars, a piscina that once held holy water for making the sign of the cross and a carved crosslet in the lower part of a substantial stone pillar. 

A unique and fascinating artefact that also survived from around the 12th century is set into the south wall of the south chapel.  Believed to have been above the door of the original medieval church, it is a stone carving depicting a medieval boar hunt.

The baptismal font is attractive and richly decorated but relatively new in historical terms.  There is also a plain 900 year-old lead lined Norman font that stands against one of the pillars in the church.  The church did at one time possess an ancient lead font until, in 1797, in what can only be described as a sheer act of vandalism, it was melted down by the churchwarden of the time, John Ridge, who then proceeded to use the lead to help repair the roof.  Quite rightly he was ‘invited to resign’.

For whatever reason, by 1843 the church had deteriorated to such an extent that only substantial restoration would save the building from being lost forever.  George Gilbert Scott, the celebrated architect responsible for, amongst other things, St. Pancras railway station in London and the Albert Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, was commissioned to save it.  Funds for the project were provided from a legacy from the late George Henry Gibbs, (whose tomb is inside the church), his widow and his son.  A second phase of restoration took place in the years 1864 to 1867 when a new organ was installed, three Gothic windows were introduced into the north wall and the chancel was re-fitted with stalls for the choir.

Outside, the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels is interesting in its own right.  The steps leading up to the carved wooden lych-gate, and the churchyard itself, start from a deeply-hollowed lane that was once part of a coaching road that ran through the village from Dorchester-on-Thames.

At one point the churchyard was actually part of a farm, thereby bringing about the necessity to have all burials transported to nearby Dorchester-on-Thames.  In 1819 however, the land was given as a gift to the church by Anne Noyes, her sister and Elizabeth Drake, finally allowing the residents of Clifton Hampden to be buried in their own village.

On the subject of burials, there are two graves at Clifton Hampden that are of particular interest.  The first is that of William Dyke.  Dyke, at the time a 20 year-old private in the 1st Foot Guards (later to become the Grenadier Guards), accidentally fired the very first shot in the Battle of Waterloo of 1815.  The second is that of John Shannon DSO DFC RAAF, a 20 year-old squadron leader who, as a member of one of bomber crew, survived the ‘Dam Busters Raid’ over Germany in 1943.

One other item is worth a small mention with regard to the churchyard.  At the east end is a Cedar tree.  It was brought back from the Lebanon in 1864 by John Lomax Gibbs and grown entirely from seed. 

The Victorian façade of St. Michael and All Angels is only one small part of the timeline of its historical past.  How many other age-old secrets are yet to be revealed?

Other village churches in the series include: Brixworth(Northamptonshire),  Charwelton(Northamptonshire), Cheriton (Hampshire),  (more to follow).

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