Church of St Mary and St Nicholas
CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST NICHOLAS, COWLEY ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1047667
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jul-1963
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary and St Nicholas
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST NICHOLAS, COWLEY ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-05-25
- Reference:
- IOE01/16132/01
- Rights:
- © Mr Sean Bergin. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1047667
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jul-1963
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary and St Nicholas
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST NICHOLAS, COWLEY ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST NICHOLAS, COWLEY ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- Oxford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Littlemore
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 53755 02770
Details
SP 5302 LITTLEMORE COWLEY ROAD (East side) 15/99 Church of SS. Mary and 18/07/63 Nicholas. GV II*
Church. 1836, tower and chancel 1848. By H.J. Underwood for Rev. (later Cardinal) J.H. Newman, extended by Joseph Clarke. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; steep-pitched tiled roof. 4-bay aisleless nave, and chancel with tower and vestry to north. Early English style. Nave has lancets flanked by buttresses and, to west, a double lancet with plate-tracery. The west door has detached shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Triple lancet east window with dogtooth ornament and shafts. The 3-stage tower has 2-light shafted openings with plate tracery (in the top stage ) flanked by quatrefoil openings. Interior: Chancel roof of 4-bays has 5-sided coupled rafters and arched braces rising from wooden angel corbels with elaborate bosses. Nave roof (not original) has 7-boarded trefoil trusses. The stone altar stands against richly-decorated and gilded arcading with a triple sedilia to south. The lancet to north has an elaborate double-shafted rear arch with trefoil head and dogtooth ornament. The richly-carved oak screen of 1913 in C15 style is by F.H. Crossley and has rood figures from Oberammergau. Elaborate 4-tiered oak font cover of 1924 stands on a C13 font with pointed trefoil arcading divided by fleur-de-lys brought from Church of St. Mary, Oxford. Mid C19 glass in 8 lancets is by T. Willement, and 2 others (the eastermost in the nave) have figures, of c.1887 by Morris and Co. East window of c.1900 by Louis Davis, and the central pair in the nave north wall also c.1900 by Shrigley and Hunt of Lancaster. Wall monument of c.1836 to Newmans' mother, with shallow relief, by R. Westmacott Jnr.Graded II* for historical asaciation with JH Newman. (V.C.H. Oxfordshire V, pp.213; Buildings of England, Oxfordshire pp. 688-9)
Listing NGR: SP5375502770
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 246496
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1957), 213
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 688-9
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 18:30:52.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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