St Laurence's Church

St Laurence’s Church stands in the quiet Oxfordshire village of Combe, beside the Wychwood Way long-distance footpath. The building began as a small Norman church by 1141, when the Empress Matilda gave it to Eynsham Abbey. Lincoln College, Oxford, became patron in 1478 and still holds that role today. Parts of the walls and the north porch doorway date from the 12th century. The nave was rebuilt near the end of the 14th century and still shows its medieval stone pulpit and traces of wall paintings. The church is worth visiting for its rare surviving medieval art. In 1892 workers removed layers of whitewash and uncovered paintings from about 1440. They include an Annunciation on the south wall, a Doom over the chancel arch, and a Saint Christopher carrying a fish and an otter. The tower bells were recast after a 1918 fire, and the remains of the old turret clock now belong to the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. Inside, visitors find the 14th-century nave with its stone pulpit and painted walls. The south-east window holds a nearly complete 15th-century stained-glass figure of Saint James the Great. On the north wall a Saint Catherine of Alexandria can be seen, while the east window tracery shows Christ in Majesty with angels. The tower still contains a ring of six bells cast by John Taylor & Co after the fire, and the 1948 clock keeps the hours.