Burford, Oxfordshire, gateway to the Cotswolds from the east, is a picturesque town and very popular tourist destination. Its beautiful and charming High Street is lined with antique shops, and there are lots of good pubs and restaurants. The StatWife, StatDaughter, and I stopped at The Lamb Inn for an excellent pub lunch. It was one of the most comfortable and friendly pubs we visited on our trip.
Burford’s High Street slopes up from the River Windrush, where the parish church, St John the Baptist Church, has stood since the 12th century. Unlike churches in many other wool towns of the Cotswolds, it was never completely re-built; rather, new features—chapels, shrines, and memorials—were added over the centuries.
It was at first a simple Romanesque church consisting of a nave and tower only, built around 1160. The west door and the lower parts of the tower survive from the Norman period. By 1250, north and south transepts had been added to make a cross-shaped church; rich fleece merchants also added a south aisle and an adjacent Guild Chapel. By 1495, wool merchants had raised the clerestory, built another stage onto the tower and added the slender spire. Wealthy patrons had also added chapels on either side of the chancel and set up the grand south porch. Finally, the Guild Chapel had been joined to the church and called the Lady Chapel.
This photo shows the tower, spire, and south porch of the church. Like the porch at the Cirencester parish church, this porch has three storeys of chambers. To the left of the porch is the former Guild of Merchants Chapel, originally built in the early 13th century and incorporated into the main building in the late 15th century.
(As always, click on photos for larger views.)
This photo was taken from the middle of the nave looking under the arches of the Norman tower toward the high altar and East Window. The re-building of the Norman nave in the 15th century was funded by wool merchants. Part of the fine oak roof can be seen above the painting of the Crucifixion.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the church had nine altars in its many chapels and shrines. After the Reformation, the chapels and chantries were converted to family pews and mausoleums.
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the church is the Tanfield monument, constructed in 1628. Sir Lawrence and Lady Tanfield lie here in this ornate tomb. He was a judge in the time of James I and also Lord of the Manor of Burford. At their feet is the figure of their grandson Lucius Cary, killed during the Civil War on the Royalist side.
Simon Jenkins tells the tale of how the Tanfield monument came to be placed in the church:
The north chancel chapel contains the celebrated Tanfield monument, erected by the wife of Sir Lawrence Tanfield, a prominent judge, in 1628. The couple were unpopular in Burford and, on Tanfield's death, the church refused his widow permission for a memorial, one having already been refused at Westminster Abbey. She was adamant that her husband should have a tomb appropriate to his status, and marched her workmen in undaunted. They erected six Corinthian columns, arches, obelisks and the Tanfield coat of arms above effigies of the couple lying in prayer. For good measure, Lady Tanfield added her own verse. 'So shall I be / With him I loved / And he with me / And both us blessed / Love made me poet / And this I writt. / My harte did doe it / And not my witt.' The church let them be.
Source: Simon Jenkins, England's Thousand Best Churches, p. 537.
The church was later the scene of more serious conflict. Early in 1649, discontent arose in the New Model Army over the decision to invade Ireland and Parliament’s refusal to settle arrears in pay. A Leveller-led mutiny occurred at Salisbury in May 1649. Loyal troops surrounded the main body of mutineers at Burford who surrendered following a surprise night attack led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell then ordered several hundred Levellers imprisoned in the church for three days, after which they were to be shot. Three ringleaders were executed in the churchyard on 17 May 1649, and Cromwell then allowed the rest to be pardoned. This memorial plaque to the three Leveller leaders is located in the outside south wall of the church.
Sometime during the three days of imprisonment under an apparent death sentence, one of the prisoners, Anthony Sedley, scratched his name into the lead lining of the church’s baptismal font. The font dates back to the building’s original construction; carvings were added in the 14th-century.
The church has its own website with lots of photos and historical and current information.
More photos of the church are posted here. A collection of detailed photos of the Tanfield Tomb can be found here.
Burford is located about 20 miles west of Oxford. Here’s a map.
Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.
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