About

The Benefice of Brize Norton with Carterton and Black Bourton
in the Witney Deanery

We are three parishes: St John the Evangelist Church serves the town of Carterton (population 18,000) with St Britius in the village of Brize Norton (population 2,500) and St Mary the Virgin in the village of Black Bourton (population 275). We are located in West Oxfordshire on the edge of the Cotswolds on three sides of Brize Norton RAF base.
The nearest major conurbations are all approximately 15 or 20 miles away from the benefice, with Oxford to the east, Cheltenham to the west and Swindon to the south-west. The market town of Witney is six miles away.

Each church has its own style of worship and working collectively we offer a choice of services and activities which are open to everyone across the benefice.

OUR THREE CHURCHES

St Britius

St Britius church is Norman with 13^th Century additions and is a Grade II* listed building.  It was refurbished in 1886 with many Victorian
embellishments.  In recent years we have made several improvements.  We have added toilet facilities and a small kitchen area in the tower and, following a very successful fund raising campaign involving the whole village and including support from English Heritage, we replaced a
significant part of the roof in 2013 at a cost in excess of £400,000.  More information can be found on the church’s guide on our website.

St John’s

St John’s Church is a Parish Centre for Worship and began life in 1908 as a Mission Church in the Parish of Black Bourton. It was rebuilt in 1963 as a dual-purpose hall/church and developed again in 1994 with a new worship area and other facilities including an office. It first had its own minister in the 1960’s and the vicarage was built in 1962. Another phase of building was completed in 2010 to extend the church yet further by adding a small kitchen, a catering kitchen and storage and, as a result, is now a modern multi-purpose, well equipped building offering a wide range of activities to the community, and a capacity to hold services for up to about 400 people.  

In addition to church activities, significant use is made of the building through the hiring of its facilities to groups within the community.  Uniformed youth groups such as Guides, Brownies and Rainbows,
exercise classes, the U3A badminton group, all hire the hall.  We can also provide a meeting/training course venue for local organisations, and end of term school services are held in our worship area.

St Mary’s

St Mary’s dates back to the 12th Century when the chancel was first
constructed followed shortly by the nave. In the 13th Century alterations took place which included the addition of the Hungerford Chapel on the north side and it is thought that this is when the wall paintings were completed. The Tower is said to date from 1500 and held 6 bells until 1 bell was given to the Mission Church in Carterton, which is now St John’s. The church is Grade 1 listed. After falling into disrepair, a
restoration programme was undertaken in 1866 by Vicar Lupton and this is when the pews were added. In 2017 the Chancel roof was replaced followed in 2018 by the complete restoration of the bells and bell tower. A sixth bell was added and for the first time in almost 60 years the bells were rung again. In 2022, when the old boiler broke down, an electric under pew heating system was installed and in 2023 the roof on the north aisle was replaced and a toilet and kitchen/vestry added. More
information can be found on the Black Bourton village website.