St Peter's, Hook Norton
St Peter's church in Hook Norton is a fine medieval building, Norman in origin (traces remain visible in the chancel) but in appearance belonging mostly to the later Middle Ages with a spacious late 14th century nave and a stately pinnacled Perpendicular west tower from c1500.
The interior is flooded with light, thanks to minimal use of stained glass and white-rendered walls, though we are reminded how different the original effect would have been by the fragmentary 15th century mural over the chancel arch where a pair of angels and male saints (very rustic work) can be seen against a red ground, no doubt originally supporting figures formerly flanking the carved crucifixion group of of the lost rood screen.
The stained glass in the east window is Victorian and nothing special, but that in the south aisle is a far more inspiring piece, a late work by the studio of Morris & Co serving as a WWI memorial.
The most important artefact in the church however is the 11th century font, a cylindrical drum carved with figures in relief, coarse in quality but fascinating in subject, with a group of Adam & Eve with the Tree of Knowledge, followed by several rather pagan-looking figures from the zodiac.
St Peter's, Hook Norton
St Peter's church in Hook Norton is a fine medieval building, Norman in origin (traces remain visible in the chancel) but in appearance belonging mostly to the later Middle Ages with a spacious late 14th century nave and a stately pinnacled Perpendicular west tower from c1500.
The interior is flooded with light, thanks to minimal use of stained glass and white-rendered walls, though we are reminded how different the original effect would have been by the fragmentary 15th century mural over the chancel arch where a pair of angels and male saints (very rustic work) can be seen against a red ground, no doubt originally supporting figures formerly flanking the carved crucifixion group of of the lost rood screen.
The stained glass in the east window is Victorian and nothing special, but that in the south aisle is a far more inspiring piece, a late work by the studio of Morris & Co serving as a WWI memorial.
The most important artefact in the church however is the 11th century font, a cylindrical drum carved with figures in relief, coarse in quality but fascinating in subject, with a group of Adam & Eve with the Tree of Knowledge, followed by several rather pagan-looking figures from the zodiac.