2. Cedar Altar

One of our most cherished features is the cedar altar, crafted from a Cedar of Lebanon tree that had stood in our churchyard for approximately 250 years. In 2017, heavy snow caused several branches to break, revealing underlying disease. As a result, the tree was felled in 2018. The timber was carefully seasoned and, in 2023, transformed into the beautiful altar we now treasure.

Created by the renowned furniture designer Luke Hughes, his design features a central support shaped like a bobbin, reflecting Witney’s rich history in the wool and blanket industry.

The carved weaving shuttles at the corners of the altar are taken from a ledger gravestone in the south aisle, that of Thomas Major, an C18 merchant weaver. The shuttles recall the importance of wool and weaving in the town. The Witney Company of Blanket Makers’ motto was to ‘weave truth with trust’, which it adopted from the much earlier London Weavers’ Company. 

Additionally, the altar incorporates five crosses, symbolising the wounds of Christ, a traditional element in altar design.

The Cedar of Lebanon, of which the new altar is crafted, holds deep biblical significance, mentioned over 70 times in scripture, often symbolising spiritual growth. Traditionally associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary, our church’s patron, this wood reflects her strong and unchanging qualities; sometimes the tree is simply used as a symbolic reference to her.

The location of the altar has been moved around over the centuries according to changes in liturgical practice. Its current position happens to coincide with where the altar is thought to have stood almost a thousand years ago, in the apse of the Norman church.