St Peter and St Paul's Church, Kings Sutton

St Peter and St Paul stands on The Square in Kings Sutton, south-east of Banbury, and its spire is the one the local rhyme calls the beauty. Historic England lists the church Grade I. The church's entry with the National Churches Trust dates the spire to about 1370, and its own page gives the tower and spire as about 60m. It is open in daylight.

The story of St Peter and St Paul

The church tells the story of St Rumbold, who is said to have been born here in 662. That is legend: the building is Norman at its oldest. The listing finds twelfth-century work in the chancel walls, the south arcade and the font. In the fourteenth century came the north arcade, and the south arcade was rebuilt higher. The listing dates the tower to the early fifteenth century, while the National Churches Trust entry dates the spire to about 1370, so the two do not quite agree. The clerestory and the panelled roofs followed in about 1500.

Sir George Gilbert Scott restored the church in about 1866 and designed the screen. The pews, with carved poppy heads, are of about 1842 by D. G. Squirhill. The church's page says it has been Anglo-Catholic since the late nineteenth century, and its services are formal, with music.

What to look for

The spire is best seen from The Square. At each corner of the tower a pair of crocketed pinnacles is joined to the octagonal spire by flying buttresses, and the spire has two-light openings framed by pinnacles, crockets up its edges and a band of fleur-de-lys near the top. Under the bell openings, the end stops of the hoods are carved as figures holding musical instruments. The parish leaflet quotes Nikolaus Pevsner calling it the finest spire in a county of spires.

Inside, look for:

• Norman blank arcading along the north and south walls of the chancel, with twelfth-century shafts
• The late twelfth-century round piers of the south arcade
• Roofs of about 1500 with carved and gilded bosses, one with the letter R in the south aisle and heraldic shields in the north
• The chancel monument to Thomas Langton Freke, who died in 1769, a plaster relief of the Resurrection, with Christ holding a banner and an angel trampling a skeleton
• A reredos with painted panels by E. W. Tristram, and a seventeenth-century turret clock at the back, restored in 1968
• The large stone font, which the parish leaflet says was found under a mound in the churchyard in 1923

Visiting St Peter and St Paul

The church's National Churches Trust entry says it is open during daylight hours, with level access to the main areas, accessible toilets nearby, and a welcome for walkers, cyclists and dogs. Services are formal and sung, so a weekday is better for a quiet look round. Ring the church on 01295 811364 if a visit depends on it.

Getting there

The church is on The Square, OX17 3RJ, with on-street parking and more within 250m, says the church. Kings Sutton station is on the line between Banbury and Oxford, and our walk from Kings Sutton station takes in the village.

Nearby

The Butchers Arms is in the village. Across the valley, St Mary's in Bloxham and St Mary's in Adderbury are the other two churches in the rhyme. South of the village are the canal at Aynho Wharf, with the Great Western Arms beside it, and the Iron Age ramparts of Rainsborough Camp. Read our story of Kings Sutton, the spire and the spa for more on the village.