Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/236

 ST. MARY'S CHURCH, IPFLEY, OXFORDSHIRE. WEST DOOR Some apology may appear necessary for introducing into the Archaeological Jomiial, an account of a church so well known as Iffley ; but as no satisfactory history or description of it is accessible to the general reader, and it is acknow- ledged to be one of the best examples of rich Norman work, the following notes may, to some extent, supply the de- ficiency. This interesting church has been described as Saxon, and as early Norman, and even Dr. Ingram, in his valuable Memo- rials of Oxford, seems to entertain considerable doubt as to the precise age of the structure. But a careful comparison of it with other examples of which the history is more accurately known, such as the work of William of Sens at Canterbury, and of Bishop Alexander at Lincoln, leaves no