South Leigh Parish Church

West tower and west door.

South side with entrance.

The beautiful nave, covered in 15th-century murals.

Center of Last Judgment mural, depicting the resurrection of the dead.

St. Peter welcomes the redeemed into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The devil and the mouth of hell on the south wall.

The Virgin Mary and Clement of Rome under canopies, both 15th-century.

Rood cross (1873) and chancel with east window (1871).

The Church of St. James in South Leigh, Oxfordshire, mostly dates from the 15th century. It is especially notable for its beautiful 15th-century wall paintings depicting the Last Judgment, saints, and other themes.

History

South Leigh Parish Church was originally built in the 12th century, but most of the church was rebuilt in the 15th century. The Norman chancel was rebuilt in a 1871-72 restoration by E. Christian.

The nave was restored by C.C. Rolfe (beginning 1871) and H.W. Moore (1887-88). The wall paintings were restored in 1872 by Burlison and Grylls.

What to See

The exterior is almost entirely 15th century. It features an embattled west tower with three stages and a door, a south porch, and a north aisle that extends along the chancel to form a chapel. All the windows have hoods with human corbel head stops.

Inside, a few elements survive from the original 12th-century Norman church: a round-headed lancet in the north wall; the hogbacked lintel of a Norman doorway on the south wall; a fake tympanum decorated with a Maltese cross bordered by arcs and cones. In the chancel is a Late Norman pillar piscina.

The wonderful murals in South Leigh Church are 15th-century and heavily restored in 1872. Extending over the chancel arch is a Last Judgment or "Doom," which spills over onto the nave walls. In the center of the scene, the dead are raised from their graves by trumpeting angels.

On the left (north wall), St. Peter welcomes the redeemed into the castle-like kingdom of heaven. On the right (south wall), the damned are corraled by a thick thorn and dragged into the mouth of a beast that is propped open by the devil.

On the south wall, St. Michael weighs souls on scales with the Virgin interceding. The south wall of the chancel has a mural depicting the Virgin Mary under a canopy; the north aisle has St. Clement of Rome under a similar canopy.

The painting at the west end of the north aisle - a rather abstract depiction of the mouth of hell and the seven deadly sins - was the only one not restored.

The north arcade dividing the nave from the north aisle has three bays of high four-centered arches with slender piers. In the back of the nave is a brass memorial to William Secoll (d.1557).

The chancel is an 1871-72 rebuild by E. Christian with an east window of 1871 by O'Connor.

The east window of the north chapel has a main light with fragments of 15th-century glass, including: a head of St. James the Greater; heads of Christ and the Virgin; head of a possible Apostle; an incomplete angel; and various pieces and fragments. In the traceries are fragments of the original 15th-century design of a shield of arms hanging from a tree against a background painted with birds.

The easternmost north aisle window has 15th-century roundels with either the Yorkist sun badge or a crown, proably in situ but inside-out. The second from the east has 15th-century roundels with the sun badge, again inside-out. The west window in the tower has fragments of 15th-century glass depicting canopies and the head of an angel.

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Location Map

Location map and satellite view of South Leigh Parish Church. Using the buttons on the left, zoom in for a closer look or zoom out to get your bearings. Click and drag the map to move around. For a larger view, see our England Map or get our free Google Earth download.

Sources

Personal visit (May 20, 2007)
Nikolaus Pevsner and Jennifer Sherwood, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (Yale University Press, 2002), 769-70.