South Parapet & Drainage
St Edburg's Church - Bicester
For more than 900 years, Bicester people have worshipped God in this church, and gone out from it renewed to serve him in their lives; and this is still the building’s function today. Details of Sunday and weekday services and of other activities can be found on the church noticeboard by the drive and in the monthly magazine.
As the oldest and only Grade 1 listed building in Bicester, it is a major part of the town’s history and a significant landmark in the countryside.
On entering the nave, the visitor is at once impressed by the size of the church and the height of the oaken roof. Two long vistas, one looking towards the altar from the West end and the other seen from the high altar steps with the wide chancel arch framing the tall narrow arch which forms the internal east face of the tower, will reveal the noble proportions of the nave and its arches.
Foundation and Building
There was almost certainly a stone church on the site in late Saxon times, although there is no mention of one in Doomsday Book. Some people think the triangular-headed arch in the North aisle was the doorway of this building; the remains of a zigzag dripstone between the arches of the North aisle imply that this was the outside wall of the Norman church built by Gilbert Bassett about 1120. The great central arches that once supported a tower also belong to this period.
Medieval Period
By the 13th century the church had been given to Bicester Priory which stood roughly where Old Place Yard is now. The priory supplied the vicars and at intervals of about a century enlarged and improved the church. The chancel was extended in the Early English period (13th century) and the priest’s door made in its South wall; four arches were cut in the South wall of the nave and the South aisle was added; the fine arch between this aisle and the Lady Chapel was built then. So was the South doorway. In the Decorated period (14th century) the North chapel and the North aisle were built, three arches being cut in the North wall of the nave. The North chapel is now used as the choir vestry; a wooden screen leading from this to the priest’s vestry is painted with a design of flowers, birds and insects; dated 1882 and 1884, it is a good example of its period.
The Perpendicular Period (15th century) was the one that gave the building its present appearance. The central tower was taken down, its West arch removed and the crossing thrown into the nave. The nave was heightened, the clerestory added and the nave roofed with timber supported on twelve fine stone corbels, carved heads of beasts and grotesques. The West tower was built with a splendid perpendicular arch opening into the nave. Parapets were added to the outside walls and the porch was built.
Storm of 1765
In 1765 a great storm damaged the church. Lightning struck the tower, damaged the belfry and the bells, broke into the body of the church, tore up part of the floor in the South aisle and smashed most of the lower windows throughout the building, leaving it “full of smoke, accompanied with a suffocating sulphurous stench”. This explains why there is no mediaeval stained glass left. The damaged chimes were mended in 1766 at the cost of £47.
19th Century
A print of 1849 shows the nave and aisles filled with boxed pews and a three-decker pulpit opposite the Grantham memorial. There were galleries across the West end and between the arches over both aisles. This “chaos of uplifted boxes” was removed in a thorough restoration of the church carried out in 1862-3 under the Reverend J. W. Watts, vicar from 1843-81. Roofs, walls and the floor were all repaired or renewed and the present pews were put in. The church was heated and gas lighting installed. C. N. Beazley in consultation with G. E. Street carried out the restoration at a cost of £3,214; they put in the existing window tracery and the stone and marble pulpit.
20th Century
The fabric had not been altered in the last century. In 1910 the high altar was given. Made of oak, it is carved with the Lamb of God, the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice. The reredos also dates from this time.
21st Century
As part of the Reordering Project started in 2008, the interior of the church has been completely repainted giving a much fresher appearance. The building has been re-wired, new lighting and audio-visual systems installed all of which help to enhance the vitality of the church and making it more usable by the community as a whole. Regular events such as concerts and exhibitions take place bringing the church back into the centre of the Bicester Town community. Subsequently, the floor in the vestry was replaced in 2012 due to damp which was discovered during the initial redecorating work.
In 2014, a new raised floor was installed at the west end with, centrally positioned, the 13th century font with a cover of 1757. The floor is limecrete and includes underfloor heating. The revised west end also features a servery and toilets. In 2015 our attention turned to the exterior following the discovery of a collapsing parapet wall on the south aisle roof; this wall has now been replaced. Other work on the south side of the church was carried out, including replacement stone around windows, re-pointing the wall with appropriate lime mortar, and installation of a French drain from the North porch round the West end up to the chancel on the South side. In 2020 a project was undertaken to level the nave floor. Both the floor and the Victorian pews, on a raised floor area, were in a very poor state with a great deal of rot in evidence, the project outline was to remove the pews and the floor with new flooring laid and specially designed chairs replacing the pews. This made the nave more accessible for those with mobility issue, giving them the opportunity to move around the Church unhindered.
We want to make the church more usable for the future and are continuing to fundraise for the Reordering Project to complete the raised floor throughout the nave, to permit more flexible use of the church and eliminate the various different floor levels and materials.
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Bells
The church has a ring of ten bells, eight were recast in 1913 and two were installed as a gift to celebrate the Millennium. There is also a sanctus bell.