Lewknor is a small village at the foot of the Chiltern Hills close to the cutting which carries the M40 into the hills.You approach the church through the playground of the local primary school and a small lych gate.
The first documentary evidence for a church in Lewknor is in a grant confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1200, of some tithes and a pension from it to Abingdon Abbey. The foundation of the church cannot have been later than 1146, since it contains some late Norman work. The church is built of local flint with stone dressings, and comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, porch, a north transeptal chapel and a western tower. Until the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to have consisted of chancel, nave and transeptal chapels all dating from the end of the twelfth century. Of this late Romanesque church there remains the chancel arch, portions of the nave, the northern transeptal chapel, and the eastern respond of the arch to the southern transeptal chapel, now incorporated in the arcade of the fourteenth century aisle.
The south porch is part of the expansion of the church which occurred in the first half of the fourteenth century when the chancel was rebuilt and the south aisle was added.
Near to the south porch entrance is a remarkable cylindrical font, carved with a pattern of linked roundels which dates from the early 12th Century, or possibly before.
The chancel was rebuilt on a larger scale in the 14th century. It is a fine example of 'Decorated' architecture with a five-light east window and three three-light windows on either side. In 1845 the chancel was completely restored at the charge of All Souls College, and was carried out with considerable care.
The priest's sedilia and Easter sepulchre are all framed by elaborately crocketted canopies, and the pointing hand carved on the arch of the Easter sepulchre is an unusual feature.
The view back down the nave from the chancel arch.
The North trancept chapel is known as the Jodrell chapel and is entered by wrought iron gates. In the chapel is an immense wall-monument commemorates the death of Sir Paul Jodrell in 1728. The inscription gives details of his life and enumerates all the members of the Rolles family buried in the church since 1536. Another inscription records that the chapel was repaired by his son Paul Jodrell in 1734.
A marble monument by P Bazzanti of Florence was erected in 1833 to Richard Paul Jodrell (d. 1831). The chapel was restored in 1914 by Sir Alfred Jodrell.
The church chest.
The church is Grade 1 listed with some interesting features. Overall a quite impressive and picturesque church in a relatively small village.
The above information in the main has been extracted from the Victoria History of the County of Oxford, O.U.P. Volume 8, pages 109-114 http://www.lewknor.org.uk/history.htm
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