[3] In 1643, in the English Civil War, gunpowder and munitions stored in the church exploded, shattering windows and damaging part of the tower.

[3] The west tower has a ring of eight bells, ranging in weight from three to 12 hundredweight, and tuned to F major.

[10] Notable people buried in the churchyard include H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the UK from 1906–1916,[11] and his second wife Margot Asquith, newspaper owner David Astor and novelist George Orwell (under his real name of Eric Arthur Blair).

[12][4] Writer Bill Bryson visited the graveyard, and commented in his book Notes from a Small Island "How remarkable it is that in a single village churchyard you find the graves of two men of global stature.

"[13] Asquith, who died in 1928, is buried in a large stone chest tomb south of the chancel.

[14] He wanted his grave to be at Sutton Courtenay rather than in Westminster Abbey, and was buried after a simple church service.

Orwell is buried in a simple grave, now with a red rose bush growing on it.

Orwell had no link with Sutton Courtenay but was a friend of David Astor, who arranged his burial in the village in accordance with Orwell's dying request to be buried "according to the rites of the Church of England, in the nearest convenient cemetery".