Little Rollright is a hamlet in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Rollright,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, about northwest of
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...
. It is the village nearest to the
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
Rollright Stones
The Rollright Stones are a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments near the village of Long Compton, on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Constructed from local oolitic limestone, the three monuments, now known ...
. An early spelling may be seen, its Latin form, as "Parva Rolrandryght" in 1446. Little Rollright is in the
Kingham, Rollright and
Enstone
Enstone is a village and civil parish in England, about east of Chipping Norton and north-west of Oxford city. The civil parish, one of Oxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Enstone, with the hamlets of Cha ...
ward of
West Oxfordshire
West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based.
Area
The area is mainly rural downland ...
District Council and the Chipping Norton division of
Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...
.
Parish church
The earliest parts of the
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of
Saint Philip Saint Philip, São Filipe, or San Felipe may refer to:
People
* Saint Philip the Apostle
* Saint Philip the Evangelist also known as Philip the Deacon
* Saint Philip Neri
* Saint Philip Benizi de Damiani also known as Saint Philip Benitius or Fili ...
are 13th-century, and include the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
arch and
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es. The present south windows of the chancel were inserted in the 15th century. The
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
was rebuilt in the 16th century. The tower was built or rebuilt in 1617. The south porch and doorway, and a five-light window on the south side of the nave may be of the same date. Inside the church are two 17th-century
monuments
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
to members of the Dixon family. The church is a
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. St Philip's is part of the parish of
Little Compton,
Chastleton
Chastleton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Stow-on-the-Wold. Chastleton is in the extreme northwest of Oxfordshire, on the boundaries with both Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. T ...
,
Cornwell Cornwell can refer to: People
* Almon Cornwell (1820–1893), American farmer-politician in Wisconsin
* Anita Cornwell (1923–2023), American author
* Bernard Cornwell (born 1944), British historical novelist
* Charlotte Cornwell (1949–2021), Bri ...
, Little Rollright and
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
. The parish is part of the Chipping Norton benefice, along with the parishes of Chipping Norton with
Over Norton,
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
and
Kingham.
References
Sources
*
External links
Villages in Oxfordshire
{{Oxfordshire-geo-stub