Sanctuary
Crypt
The Sanctuary is a good height due to the Crypt beneath, which has a flattened roof with two plain ribs. The Crypt is probably the site of the original reliquary crypt-chapel of about 1120AD. Some former Rectors and their families lie buried here. A tradition states that a passage went from the Crypt to the Manor house – once the summer palace of the Abbot of Evesham and in later times to the Rectory (as when Charles I stayed as a guest of Dr Thomas Temple in the 17th Century). Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to access the Crypt.
English Oak
The Sancuary has a fine set of English oak furniture created by Messrs Sly of Northleach: a Bishop’s Chair in memory of Lady Ena Swiney and bearing her armorial arms, a prayer desk in memory of Helen Lumsden and a matching sedilia desk in remembrance of Frederick Alder, for many years a Reader in the Parish Church.
Ceiling
The blue shields form part of the Santuary ceiling and are found above the High Altar.
In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ), iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ.
The Greek letter iota is represented by I, the eta by H, while the Greek letter sigma is either in its lunate form, represented by C, or its final form, represented by S. Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC".
XPI (chi-rho-iota) comes simply from the first three letters of the Greek spelling ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) meaning Christ.