Old All Saints Church, Nuneham Courtenay

Old All Saints Church stands in the grounds of Nuneham House, a short walk southwest of Nuneham Courtenay village. It overlooks the River Thames about ten kilometres southeast of Oxford. The church is built of limestone ashlar with a copper-covered dome and a rectangular plan that projects on each side. Its north front has a portico with six Ionic columns and a Diocletian window on either side. The south front carries a central doorway with wrought-iron gates beneath a pediment. The church was designed by Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, with alterations by architect James Stuart and completed in 1764. It replaced a mediaeval church that had fallen into ruin and was later turned into a private chapel for the Harcourt family in 1880. The building was declared redundant in 1980 and placed in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust the following year. Its estimated cost exceeded £800, a substantial sum for the period. Inside, the central rotunda is surrounded by niches and a small baptistry to the south. The walls carry plaster panels with texts and elaborately carved stalls in 16th-century Italian style. The wooden lectern dates from the 17th or 18th century, and the gadrooned font of 1843 has a Baroque Italian cover. Four 19th-century hatchments, three tapestries from Edward VII’s funeral and monuments to the Harcourt family remain in the building.