Woodeaton has had a parish church since the early or middle part of the 11th century, when a
Saxon timber one was built. This was destroyed by fire by about 1080 at the latest. The present
Church of England parish church of the Holy
Rood originates from an early
Norman stone church that was built between 1070 and 1120 to replace the destroyed Saxon one. It was a small building, dominated by a western tower. The original Norman layout is not entirely certain: there may have been a small nave east of the tower and an even smaller
chancel beyond that, or the tower may have been a "tower-nave" with only a chancel to the east of it. In about 1180–1220 a late Norman south
aisle and possible south chapel were added and in about 1200–50 the chancel was extended. An
Early English Gothic doorway in the south wall of the chancel is of a style that suggests a date of 1200–30. Several Early English
lancet windows in the chancel also date from this period. The
nave was rebuilt in about 1250–1300. Later in the Middle Ages, the east and south walls of the chancel were rebuilt and were given late
Perpendicular Gothic windows. The eastern window in the south wall of the nave was also revised with Perpendicular
tracery. The Perpendicular Gothic
belltower was added in either the 14th or 15th century. Unusually the tower is built on columns erected inside the nave. This seems to be because the ground falls away west of the church to an extent that precluded building a tower conventionally to the west of the nave. The south porch was built in the 18th century. In 2010 the church roof was restored, re-using many of the original
Stonesfield slates. Holy Rood church is a Grade I listed building.
Bells and clock The tower has a
ring of five bells, all of which were cast by Henry II Bagley of
Chacombe,
Northamptonshire in 1680. Holy Rood also has a
Sanctus bell cast by Richard Keene of
Burford Restoration work in 2010 exposed remnants of an early 14th-century crucifixion scene above the rood beam over the chancel arch. Both the chancel and the nave have pews with 15th-century carved wooden bench ends. The wooden screen in the chancel arch and some of the nave seating was added late in the 15th or early in the 16th century. Reportedly there was a rood
tympanum but this had been removed before 1846. In the 18th century the wooden pulpit,
tester and reading desk were added, along with the wooden panelling and
west gallery. Some timbers from the chancel screen tympanum seem to have been re-used in the 18th-century reading desk and pew floors. There is also one
box pew at the front of the nave, presumably for the manorial family. ==Pioneer balloon flight==