St Peter

EXTERIOR: The squat W tower, thought to date from the C14, survives from the medieval building and consists of two stages

The body of the church was rebuilt in 1860 and has windows of one and two lights based on C13 prototypes

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The oldest feature is the Norman font

In the first window from the E of the S side of the chancel there is some early C14 geometric grisaille glass painted with a design of oak leaves and acorns, and said to have come from Merton College

There are also some windows with C19 stained glass

The most significant monument is that to Sir John Walter (d 1630) to whom the N chapel was conveyed in 1627

There is a marble wall monument to David Walter (d 1679). Other C17 and C18 monuments from the old church were also resited in the new building

HISTORY: A chapel of ease, dependent on St Peter-in-the-East, is first recorded in 1236 but the Norman font suggests there was a building on the site before that

The nave was rebuilt on its old foundations, the chancel rebuilt (by Merton College), a new S porch was built at the expense of Thomas Combe of the university press, and the N chapel was replaced by a wide N aisle with a small mortuary chapel approached by a re-used C13 stone arch at its NE end to accommodate the reconstructed Walter monument and enlarged

He usually worked in the Gothic styles of the C13 and early C14 and his work, although not ranking with that of the greatest names of the Victorian Gothic Revival, often attracted favourable contemporary notices and contributed much to the built environment of Victorian Oxford and its surroundings