Lyford, Oxfordshire
Coordinates: 51°38′42″N 1°26′17″W / 51.645°N 1.438°W
| Lyford | |
 Thatched cottage, Lyford, looking west |
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 Lyford
Lyford shown within Oxfordshire |
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| Population | 44 (2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SU3994 |
| Civil parish | Lyford |
| District | Vale of White Horse |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Wantage |
| Postcode district | OX12 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wantage |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Lyford is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Wantage. Historically it was part of the ecclesiastical parish of Hanney.[2] Lyford was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.
Contents |
[edit] Manors
There were two manors in Lyford: Lyford Manor and Lyford Grange.
The manor of Lyford dates from at least AD 944, when Edmund I granted six hides of land there to one Ælfheah.[2] The manor was enlarged by a grant of a further two hides of land by Canute the Great in 1034.[2] Lyford is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.[3]
[edit] Buildings
[edit] Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built as a chapelry of Hanney in the first half of the 13th century.[2] The wooden bell-turret was added in the 15th century[2] and has three bells. The Perpendicular Gothic[4] clerestory was added either at the same time or early in the 16th century.[2] The church fabric was extensively restored in 1875.[5] St. Mary's is now part of the United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield.[5]
Rev. Michael Camilleri (circa 1814-1903), sometime vicar of Lyford, translated the New Testament into Maltese.[citation needed]
[edit] Almshouses
Oliver Ashcombe founded Lyford almshouses in 1611.[2] The present quadrangle of brick-built almshouses and a chapel appear to be 18th century.[2][6] The quadrangle was completed as 20 houses but these have now been combined as eight larger units.[5]
[edit] Lyford Grange
Lyford Grange, just east of the village, was originally a moated manor house of Abingdon Abbey built in a quadrangle.
During the reign of Elizabeth I the Grange belonged to a recusant, Francis Yate,[7] who harboured a community of Bridgettine nuns.[2] In 1581 the property was searched, three priests were eventually found and arrested by the government agent, George Eliot[7]: Thomas Ford, John Colleton and the renowned Jesuit, Edmund Campion.[7] They were subsequently tried and martyred.[2][8] A mass is held annually in the village in commemoration of this event.[8]
[edit] Lyford Manor Farm
The house at Lyford Manor Farm (originally Lyford Manor) is timber-framed. The core of the house is from the latter part of the 16th century and the extensions at either end were added early in the 17th century.[6] It bears the dates 1617 and 1621.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ "Area selected: Vale of White Horse (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790499. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 285-294
- ^ The National Archives Documents Online. Place: Lyford, Berkshire
- ^ Pevsner, 1966, page 172
- ^ a b c "St. Mary's, Lyford". United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainsfield. United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainsfield. http://www.cherbury-gainfield.org.uk/villages.asp?ID=7. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
- ^ a b c Pevsner, 1966, page 173
- ^ a b c Ford, David Nash (2011). "The Arrest of St. Edmund Campion". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. http://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/campion_lyford.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ a b Foley, 1877, pages 279, 280, 284
[edit] Sources
- Foley, Henry (1877). Records of the English province of the Society of Jesus: historic facts illustrative of the labours and sufferings of its members in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Burns & Oates. pp. 279, 280, 284. http://books.google.com/books?id=w6hlAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
- Hadland, Tony (1992). Thames Valley Papists: from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829. Hadland Books. ISBN 0950743143. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/tvp/tvpcontents.htm.
- Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 285–294.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 172–173.
[edit] External links
- The geographic coordinates are from the Ordnance Survey.
