4. New Chancel Ceiling

Chancel Ceiling

The renewal of the chancel ceiling in 2018, a hundred years after the end of the First World War, was an opportunity to commemorate Witney’s role in wartime among the 75 stars of gold leaf in the traditional blue ceilure which represents the vault of heaven.

A wartime incident involving St Mary’s took place on 2 September 1942 when an RAF Miles Master plane towing a glider in preparation for D-Day crashed into the spire, killing the plane’s crew of two and bringing the top of the spire crashing into the chancel. The glider pilot survived, landing his craft in a nearby garden. The small dots in the south side of the ceiling represent the wing and tail lights of that plane.

The lights of a Hurricane and a Spitfire plane can also be picked out. These recall the many damaged planes, particularly Hurricanes and Spitfires, which were brought to Witney for repair after the De Havilland Civilian Repair Unit relocated from Hertfordshire to Witney for safety at the outset of the Second World War. De Havilland were to occupy Witney airfield near Downs Road until 1949, employing many local men and women.

At the centre of the map is the constellation of Pegasus, remembering the local men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry who landed by glider a few miles inland from the Normandy Beaches at Pegasus Bridge on the eve of D-Day, 6th June 1944.

High Altar

At the far end of the Chanel is the High Altar designed by architect GE Street in the 1860s. Street was part of a movement inspired by medieval church design, the ‘Gothic Revival’.

 This movement sought to use images, statues, and complex patterns and shapes to give a sense of beauty and to inspire devotion. 

 Behind the altar are statues of the risen Jesus (holding a banner), St John the Evangelist (holding a chalice), St Peter (holding keys), Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalen (holding a jar). The angels above the altar and by Jesus reflect the nearness of heaven during worship. 

 Together, these figures encourage us to reflect on Jesus rising from the dead, and our fellowship with Christians past, present and future.