A small collection of things made, given and used in the village
A village's history is not only in documents. It is in things people made, gave and used. This is a small first collection of Somerton objects, each with a photograph, a date, its connection with the village and where to read more. For now they all come from St James's Church, because those are the objects we have good photographs and records for. We hope to add objects from the village hall, the Social Club, the show and people's homes.
Every object here can be seen in the church, which is usually open in daylight. The photographs come from the Somerton Village History Project collection unless we say otherwise.
Object 1
The Last Supper reredos
Date: probably about 1400 · Where: behind the altar, St James's Church
The oldest and perhaps most important carving in the church. The disciples are caught in mid-gesture, one refusing another drink, with John lying in the lap of Christ. It is carved in Brize Norton stone, like a similar reredos at Bampton. It was taken down and hidden from the Puritans in the seventeenth century and only put back in 1822. The damaged section in front of Christ may once have held Judas.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: St James's Church
Object 2
The font
Date: medieval · Where: the nave, St James's Church
Its unusual six-sided shape suggests it may not have been made as a font at all. The Pevsner guide to Oxfordshire suggests it may once have been the base of a cross. It was moved to its present position in late 2009.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: Church Guide
Object 3
Brigitta's little dog
Date: about 1580 · Where: the tomb of Thomas and Brigitta Fermor, Fermor Chapel
On the tomb of Thomas Fermor, who died in 1580, his wife Brigitta's little dog, in a studded collar, is busy untying one of the knotted ribbons on her dress. Thomas Fermor is the man who left money for Somerton's free school.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: The Fermor Family
Object 4
The Fermor hatchments
Date: eighteenth century; the earliest is for Henry Fermor, who died in 1747 · Where: the Fermor Chapel, St James's Church
Hatchments are diamond-shaped boards painted with the coat of arms of someone who had died, displayed during mourning and then hung in the church. Somerton has three Fermor hatchments. They were in a very poor state, and in 2014 they were sent to the conservator Sally Woodcock in Cambridge, with grants from Viridor Credits, the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust and the Church Buildings Council. They are now back on the chapel walls. One carries the motto RESURGAM, "I shall rise again".
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: Fermor Chapel Hatchments
Object 5
The Whall window
Date: installed 29 September 1893 · Where: the east end of the north aisle, St James's Church
An early work by Christopher Whall (1849 to 1924), the leading stained-glass artist of the Arts and Crafts movement. It shows the Risen Christ with St James and St Paul, and is a memorial to William Barnes, father of the rector George Barnes. The glass was made under Whall's direction by James Powell & Sons, whose records show £46 charged for making it.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: The Whall Window
Object 6
The pig on the choir stalls
Date: 1890s · Where: the chancel, St James's Church
After the architect John Sedding died in 1891, Henry Wilson took over the restoration of the church's interior. His love of animals shows in the carvings of the choir stalls, made with the firm of Charles Trask of Norton-sub-Hamdon, in Somerset.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: Henry Wilson's Work
Object 7
The rector's plaque
Date: after 1923 · Where: the north wall of the chancel, St James's Church
George Barnes was rector for 48 years, from 1875 until his death in 1923. He and his wife paid for much of the church's restoration, and after his death his widow gave the village its hall in his memory. This bronze plaque in the chancel commemorates him.
Date: 3 June 2002 · Where: the tower, St James's Church
Peal boards record notable ringing. This one records the ringers who rang for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee on Monday 3 June 2002, under Tower Captain Neil Clare. Bell ringing at Somerton had restarted in the early 1990s, and the two newest bells, cast at the Whitechapel foundry, were dedicated in 1994.
Photograph from the Somerton Village History Project collection. Read more: The Church Bells
Objects we would like to add
We know these exist, but we do not yet have a photograph we can use:
Mrs Barnes's dedication plaque in the Barnes Memorial Hall, from 1924, which still hangs in the hall today.
The Social Club bell, dedicated on 30 June 2023 in memory of Malcolm Arnold, on its mount made by George Brown.
And these we are still hoping to find:
The village show cups: the Emberlin, Ethel Smith, Walter Smith, Baldwin and Ivor Greenhouse Cups and the Children's Cup. See the show cups.
Anything with a Somerton name on it: shop bags or receipts, railway tickets from Fritwell & Somerton station, school prizes, programmes, posters or tickets for village events.
If you have an object with a Somerton story and would be happy for us to photograph it, please use the form below or see Can you help? We will always ask your permission before putting anything on the site, and say whose it is only if you want us to.
Share a memory or correction
Did you grow up in Somerton, or does this article bring back a memory? Do you spot something that needs correcting or adding? Rosemary Arnold and Della Paviour would love to hear from you.
