Our Church
The first reference to the 'Chapel in Marston' is in 1122 when it is assigned to the Augustinian Canons of St. Frideswide. We can still see today part of the building work of the latter end of the C12th in the chancel arch, the arcade of the nave and the inner south door. This work was done when the church was endowed with land by the lord of the Manor of Headington. Further changes and additions continued in the 15th and 16th centuries. Very recently the vestry (built in 1977) has been enlarged.
By the right hand side of the vestry door visitors can find a list of the clergy responsible for the church from 1210, beginning with Osbert, son of Hereward, to the present day, with just a gap between 1529 and1637. The 16th century was a time of upheaval and religious change, but there is little evidence of how people reacted in Marston. The article on the Civil War records our knowledge of the effect on the church of the crisis of the English Civil War.
During the 18th and early part on the19th century Marston had no resident vicar, but was served by various clerics from the university. In 1849, Canon Richard Gordon was appointed vicar here. He had been vicar of Elsfield since 1832, and continued to live there, whilst a curate took most of the services in Marston. The first incumbent to live in a vicarage here was the Revd John Mortimer, who came in 1904 to a house built for a comparatively wealthy Marston family, and stayed for 46 years. He was a keen musician and trained the school choir as well as that in the church. His life here is marked by Mortimer Road and Mortimer Hall. A purpose built vicarage came later when Paul Rimmer was vicar.
Today, the church is at the heart of the village as it has been for almost 900 years. The interior and the graveyard are lovingly cared for by a willing team of volunteers, while the very active congregation play their full part in the community.
Taken from the history of St. Nicholas Church by Tony Kelly.
Printed in Marston Times January 2008
Reprinted by permission Jan Sanders Editor
Further articles below picture
Further Articles on St Nicholas Church, Old Marston
A Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford 1846
Marston Church = see 'A Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford', Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture. Parker, Oxford 1846 [City Ref L]
pp 185-188 ill.: ground plan; Sculpture over E. Window; dripstone termination; chancel door; arch south of Nave.
Last Sentence:
CROSSES: In the church-yard there wes formerly a cross, which was taken down to mend the wall with in the yeat 1830; and in the village another cross, which was used about the same period to mend the roads with!
p188 (re Crokes house) This house was pulled down in 1843
MARSTON - Motoring Guide February 1932
The church of St Nicholas has quire, clerestoried nave, aisles, S. porch and a low embattle SW tower of perp. period. The porch has been rebuilt but retains the old stone seats, also the EE inner doorway. Note the archaic sculptured finials to the label, and a votive cross on the jamb. The quire has a mutilated piscina on the S. and the window sill is lowered for sedilia. The three-light E. window is Perp., as also the four of two lights N. and S., and the priest's door.
Note the old balustrade altar rails and two good sanctuary chairs. There are fragments of ancient glass in the windows. The imposts of the chancel arch indicate an original Norm. arch as they are of that period, but the present arch and jamb-shafts are E.E.
The nave arcades are late E.E., cylindrical pillars and rude octagonal moulded caps., but on the N. the bases appears to be earlier (Norm.). The clerestories are perp. The N. aisle has an aumbry. The E. window of three lights is early Perp. and has remains of old stained glass. The other window of nave isof three lights, perp. The S. aisle has a hagioscope, one two-light perp. There are traces of mural paintings on the pillars, arches, over S. door, and on E. wall of quire. Note the good Jacobean pulpit. The exterior of the priests' door on S., and the two windows should be noticed. The finials to the hood-moulds have a rebus on them.
[Bird, W. Hobart. Old Oxfordshire Churches. A concise guide, especially compiled for motoring folk and others... London. Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd. [n.d.]. Foreward dated Febr 1932]
