Oxton St Peter and St Paul

Churchyard

The church from the south-east,
looking across the churchyard

The south-eastern section
of the churchyard

The church stands in the northeast corner of the churchyard and abuts the road to the west. The graveyard is surrounded by mature trees to the north and east, and is retained by a stone wall to the road on the west. There are two gates in the wall, leading to the north and south porches of the church. Another gate in the hedge of mature trees to the north leads into a field and just beyond the trees to the east is the fishpond of the old hall.

In the 1790s Throsby wrote that the churchyard contained a “remarkable old yew tree”, which is probably the present one by the north porch.

In 1861 a portion of ground adjoining Church Farm was set apart for the enlargement of the churchyard and was enclosed within the churchyard walls. This ground was not originally accepted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and was not in fact consecrated until 1901. In 1977 there was the possibility that space for future burials was running out. However, by obtaining permission to fell a number of small trees on the eastern side, it was estimated that this should give a conservative cover of twenty years.

The north entrance
to the churchyard

During the 1898-1900 restorations the wall between the two gates, abutting the public road, was taken down as the old Oxton stone from which it was made was decayed. The wall was rebuilt using new Mansfield stone and at the same time the line of the wall was moved back about 18" to form a new footpath. A small part of the foundation of the tower was exposed during this re-building and was cased in concrete.

The churchyard is maintained by local volunteers.

There are 314 legible pre-1900 memorial inscriptions. The oldest ones are for William Taylor, buried 5 Sept 1674, and his wife Susanna, died 15 Aug 1677.