St Martin's Church, Bladon

The first church on the current site was probably built in the 11th or 12th century. . A print hung in the present St Martin's shows the old church before its demolition in 1802. This print shows an ornate Norman doorway to the south porch, which suggests a 12th or late 11th century date for the building. It also shows a clerestory that would have increased the amount of natural light in the nave. The parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials date from 1545 and are kept at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. There is no surviving record of the church's building until 1802, when the parish petitioned John Randolph, Bishop of Oxford, to grant them a new building as the old one was…