The Church of the Holy Rood, Shilton. Given to the Cistercian Monks in January 1205 and, today,still showing the form of their farming grange.

The Church of the Holy Rood, Shilton. Given to the Cistercian Monks in January 1205 and, today,still showing the form of their farming grange.

Early Beginnings and Background. We do know that the Romans built churches in west Oxfordshire but do not know whether the Church of the Holy Rood was ever earlier than Saxon or Norman. Shilton was possibly a Saxon settlement, Scylfton, belonging to the Godwin family of which Harold was King at the Battle of Hastings. The village passed into ownership of the William I after the Conquest and then passed through many name iterations via Sculton, to Shulton and finally Shilton. Principal doorways to churches usually point south and the south aisle of this church with a closed off doorway, pointing south, and with a different roof pitch might indicate a smaller church existed once with a lost settlement to the south of it. Shilton probably originated as a Saxon village from the 8 th or 9 th Century AD. Since the Saxon period lasted from 600 AD until the Conquest it is possible that the church itself has Saxon origins, or that Saxon builders used their techniques to build this church to a Norman design in coursed rubble. Introduction. The church is one of 211 Grade II* listed buildings in West Oxfordshire and three tombs in the churchyard also have a Grade II listing. However, the listing descriptions and guide book entries for the Church of the Holy Rood are informative but bland and miss the interest and life evoked by many aspects of the church s structure, artifacts, mysteries and treasures.

Consider its Setting. The Cistercian monks from the Abbey of Beaulieu were responsible for most of the church building work and also for the ancient buildings that comprise older Shilton; namely the old manor reputed to date from 1127 although most of it is 16 th Century, a tithe barn (now disappeared but integrated into Headford House) and the dovecote allegedly dating from the early 1300s. Between the church and the old Manor was the conygar for rabbit meat. Fishponds, another food source, fed from the Shill Brook still exist but have been incorporated into the gardens of Headford House, left, (the former tithe barn) and the Old Manor,right. The abbeys, Beaulieu, Winchcombe, Cirencester and Gloucester, were important sheep farmers from the start in the late 1100s to the enormously rich period from 1400 to the Dissolution in 1538. Their flocks numbered tens of thousands and were sheared at the rate 750 per day per abbey at the peak in 1485 (especially Winchcombe Abbey, the largest flock). The high quality wool was exported to Flemish weavers in the Low Countries to Italian weavers in Tuscany who worked their looms on an industrial scale and could get a closer weave for finer cloth than the English weavers.

The living remained in the Royal gift from William the Conqueror s time until the founding of Beaulieu Abbey when King John gave the manor of Shilton (with Great and Little Coxwell, Inglesham, Great and Little Faringdon and Langford) to the Abbey, on 25 th January 1205, as an attempted absolution of his sins. Had he visited then he would have seen the nave and an apse chancel, no pulpit, probably no entry porch and certainly no tower. Beaulieu Abbey must have been responsible for all structural development of the church, including the tower, consequently all building extensions, additions and alterations stopped when Henry VIII argued with the Pope and the Act of Supremacy in 1534 broke England away from the Church of Rome. The Dissolution of the Monasteries followed and Beaulieu Abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII on 2 nd April 1538 such that the Church of the Holy Rood, Shilton, became a village parish church dependent upon local benefactors. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1534-8 Shilton Church had probably been built to the size and form that you see today. Since farming land around Shilton was poor quality the village never prospered and was never rich the church reflects this as you see a building dating from the Conquest to the Tudor, 1538, period. After the Tudors many village churches fell into disrepair until Victorian restorers took interest in them with mixed, good and bad, results such that restoration often became extensive alteration. One prominent restorer, George Edmond Street, RA, FRIBA, (1824 1881), lived in Oxford from 1852, did restoration work on this church and probably built the neo-gothic vicarage next door.

The nave has three arcades supported on stout Norman circular columns with square capitals and rounded arches, circa 1150; note the red painted Chevrons, from about 1150, in the arches. The eastern capital has a scalloped design. The western one is a simple cushion. The church has parts which are Norman (up to 1150), 13 th Century, late Perpendicular Gothic ( 1350 1500) and Tudor (1450 up to the 1538 Dissolution). Each Norman arch has a hood moulding which terminates on each capital with one or two heads - kings, serpents or other figures.

The rounded string course around the walls of the Chancel, and forming the window sills, has original 13 th Century rubble stonework below it. This contains the aumbry (left), the piscina (right) and a mysterious half face (left). The altar is the original 12 th Century Mensa (or table) which would have probably been sited in the centre of the Chancel for the monks to kneel around when receiving the Sacrament. Sawn in the 12 th Century and inscribed with five crucifixes it currently serves as the altar and is usually covered with an altar cloth. It is mounted on more modern wooden stand. Originally the Chancel would have had a flat floor, maybe stone or earth, and the aumbry, left, for holding the dry unleavened bread, and the piscina, right, for washing communion vessels, would have been at convenient standing height. One of the altar consecration crosses. The steps and tiles were probably installed by Victorian restorers under the direction of the architect George Edmond Street, RA, in the 1860s.

The font, described in various sources as Norman, 13th Century and 15th Century. Being big, heavy and square it is probably Norman and would have been used for the total immersion of children at baptism in post-norman times. Later it became customary to pour water over the child and fonts were raised higher. Most likely this square Norman font with fine 14th Century, high relief carvings depicting the Passion of Christ was raised onto legs in the 14th Century judging by the style of the mouldings. It is said, that it was hidden during the Civil War and saved from defacement by Cromwellian troops. As you move towards the font be careful not to step on the body of William Bagges deceased, sorry desesed, (by the Norman pillar). Laid to rest before Dr Samuel Johnson standardised English spelling. Above the font is a 13th Century two light window. The lights with rounded trefoil heads are fitted with a mixture of delicate pale green, pink, yellow and blue quarries.

George Edmund Street was the Diocesan architect in Oxford and entirely responsible for building Filkins church. He rejected all submitted designs and decided he could do better himself. He is most famous for building the Law Courts in the Strand, London, but was, unfortunately, killed in 1881 one year before their completion. He stepped back into the Strand to admire his work and was run over by a horse and cart. As you leave the churchyard gate and walk down the gravel drive, note the vicarage on your left. Probably built by the eminent Victorian restorer, George Edmund Street, RA, FRIBA, (1824 1881), who lived in Oxford from 1852, did restoration work on this church, on Burford Church, Christ Church Cathedral Dublin and many others, built the Theological College at Cuddesdon, Oxford and used a very economical neo-gothic style for this vicarage. Acknowledgements: No man is an island and it would have been impossible for me as photographer and writer to complete this guide alone. I would like to thank Pat Daman and the late David Glennie for the original research. Elizabeth Harfield and David Roberts for suggesting further sources of information and making them available, for example Burial Records and NADFAS files, etc. Jean Roberts for opening locked doors, standing precariously on ladders to assist with multiple exposure photographs and proof reading. Finally I would like to thank those for whom the bell has already tolled for their skill, devotion and philosophies which have built this church and left us with its mysteries. Derek Cotterill 12 June 2005