St Martin's Church, Bladon
St Martin's Church in this part of the country is probably best known for being the final resting place for the Churchill family. Yes, those Churchills, of PM Winston fame. The first church can be dated back to roughly the 11th or 12th century and is believed to have been demolished in 1802. There's a print of the original church in the current one which shows it had a Norman doorway on the south port which is what helped with the early era dating. Unfortunately, no records of the building between this date and its demolition date survive so we don't know if there was a second church, renovations, or a complete rebuild. We just know there was a medieval building on this site, that was a church, and it was demolished and replaced in 1802. John Randolph, the Bishop of Oxford had been petitioned by the parish for a new building due to the state of the old one which is what led to the new church in 1804. The church was then rebuilt in places again in 1891 by the a...
