Description

BURFORD AND UPTON PRIORY LANE
AND SIGNET (West End)
SP2412-2512; SP2512(Enlargement) Chapel of St John
5/181; 7/181 (Previously listed
12.9.55 with The Burford Priory
and chapel)

GV II*

Manor House Chapel. 1661-2 for William (Speaker) Lenthall restored 1937
by W H Godfrey. Ashlar with Cotswold stone roof. Rectangular box in
classicized Gothic. 2-bay flanks with 3 Ionic pilaster strips (the outer
ones corner piers) on high plinths; cornice and parapet, North bay with
panel supporting pediment with enriched tympanum. Skelton's engraving
shews a matching arrangement on south window too; end finials with crude
crocket-work. 2 traceried windows with ogee mouldings, the south one a
wheel window in square frame with ogee rosettes in spandrels of trefoil
ends and panels in the spandrels. The right-hand window is of 3-light
with round arches, central heart-shaped light and flanking mouchettes (a
sort of Oxford College Fontainbleau style), also set in square frames with
low relief dragons in spandrels. Shaped gables with tracery-panelled
saddle-stone finials. The south (ritual east) has arched 3-light window
of Serlian proportion but with a wheel-fanlight over. The north gable is
highly enriched with high relief royal arms; Corinthian pilastered
doorcase on 1st floor with pediment, cornice returned from sides, raised
up; ground floor door has lotus caps to plain pilasters and putti and
garland panels in the frieze. Interior: reconstructed plaster barrel
vault (c.1937) with guilloche panels, moulded cornice with egg and dart
bed-mould. Ashlar lined above wood panelled dado, latter restored in deal
with dentil cornice and drapery swagged enrichments to upper panels; main
panels have satin-wood veneer. Black insets to diamond-flag floor. The
main feature is the family pew at North End, with panelled front, recessed
in centre on spiral fluted Corinthian columns with enriched panel bases;
the door is framed by a remarkable sculpture of 2 angels and the burning
bush in deeply undercut stone. The windows are in carved 'panels with
moulded architraves, south window flanked by mural tablets and
inscriptions.
B of E Oxfordshire S Sherwood and NP pp 512; Country Life, 4 March 1911,
pp 306-315; 3 June 1939, pp 586-591; Oxoniensia Vol IV 1939, pp 71-88.

Listing NGR: SP2499712334

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532725

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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