page_title: Steeple Barton
section_title: Parish church
hierarchical_section_title: Steeple Barton / Parish church
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of drawing of St Mary the Virgin parish church, Steeple Barton, viewed from the southeast, before the church was rebuilt in 1850–51
context_page_description: Steeple Barton is a civil parish and scattered settlement on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire, about 8 ¹⁄₂ miles east of Chipping Norton, a similar distance west of Bicester and 9 miles south of Banbury. Most of the parish's population lives in the village of Middle Barton, about 1 mile northwest of the settlement of Steeple Barton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,523.
  Much of the parish's eastern boundary is formed by the former turnpike between Oxford and Banbury, now classified the A4260 road. The minor road between Middle Barton and Kiddington forms part of the western boundary. Field boundaries form most of the rest of the boundaries of the parish.
context_section_description: The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin had been built by 1190, by which time it had been given to Osney Abbey. Little of the original building is recognisable except the Norman font. The south aisle was added in the 14th century. Its surviving original features include the south porch and five-bay arcade, both of which are Decorated Gothic. The Perpendicular Gothic west tower was added in the 15th century. The chancel was rebuilt and the nave and south aisle drastically restored in 1850–51 under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect J.C. Buckler.
  The tower has a ring of five bells. Richard Keene of Woodstock cast the treble and second bells in 1698. Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the remainder including the tenor bell in 1851.
  St Mary's Vicarage was designed by SS Teulon and built in 1856.
  St Mary's was a dependent chapelry of Sandford St. Martin until the 16th century. In 1960 St Mary's Benefice was merged with that of Westcott Barton, and in 1977 this united benefice was combined with the parishes of Duns Tew and Sandford St Martin. In March 2015 the benefice was merged with that of Over Worton and Nether Worton to form the Benefice of Westcote Barton with Steeple Barton, Duns Tew and Sandford St Martin and Over with Nether Worton, also called the Dorn and Ridge Benefice.
caption: St Mary the Virgin parish church before it was largely demolished and replaced in 1850
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