Clanfield, Oxfordshire

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 90.246.130.67 (talk) at 08:48, 11 January 2014 (Removed implication that Clanfield floods. Using one off exceptional example is misleading and the parish is assesed as low and very low risk by environmental agencyk). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Clanfield
Parish church of Saint Stephen
Population855 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid referenceSP2801
Civil parish
  • Clanfield
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBampton
Postcode districtOX18
Dialling code01993
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
WebsiteClanfield Village
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire

Clanfield is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Carterton, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Little Clanfield 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the village, on Little Clanfield Brook which forms the parish's western boundary. The parish's eastern boundary is Black Bourton Brook and its southern boundary is Radcot Cut, an artificial watercourse on the River Thames floodplain.

History

Robert D'Oyly gave land at Clanfield to the Order of Knights Hospitaller, who built a moated preceptory on the site.[2] This gift must have predated D'Oyly's fall from power in 1142 during the Anarchy.[2] By 1279 the preceptory owned land and property not only at Clanfield but also at Brize Norton, Grafton, Westwell, Oxford and Woodstock.[2] The preceptory buildings have gone and their moated site is now occupied by Friars Court, a gabled house built in about 1650.[3] Friars Court is a private house but it is now hired out as an approved venue for weddings and civil partnerships.[4]

In the Church of England parish church of Saint Stephen the tympanum over the south door is Norman and both the arcade between the nave and the north aisle and the responds of the chancel arch are in the Transitional style between Norman and the Early English Gothic style.[5] These features date the church building to about AD 1200.[5] St. Stephen's has four lancet windows dating from late in the twelfth century or early in the thirteenth century: two in the south wall of the chancel and two in the north wall of a chapel on the north side of the chancel.[5] In the chancel the east window and the easternmost window in the south wall are in the Decorated Gothic style, which dates them to between 1250 and 1350.[5] The style of the bell tower suggests it was built either about 1300 or early in the fourteenth century.[5] In the fifteenth century a large statue of St. Stephen was added to the outside of the tower,[6] a squint was inserted in the south side of the chancel and the present font was made.[5] The nave was rebuilt in 1869 and the chancel enlarged and partly rebuilt in 1870.[5] The tower has a peal of eight bells.[7]

The parish had two water mills at Little Clanfield on Little Clanfield Brook. One of them, Little Clanfield Mill, is now a private house but its machinery remains operational.[8]

The road between Witney and Clanfield was a turnpike from 1771 until 1874.[9]

Amenities

The Plough Hotel is a three-bay house[5] built of Cotswold stone in about 1660 that is now a public house.[10] From late in the nineteenth century until the 1950s it was controlled by Garnes Brewery of Burford.[10] In the 1950s Wadworth Brewery of Devizes bought Garnes and thus the Plough.[10] The Masons Arms public house is also a seventeenth century Cotswold stone building, recently renamed the Clanfield Tavern.[11]

Clanfield Church of England Primary School was founded in 1873 and enlarged in 1991.[12] The village has a post office and general store.

Sport and leisure

The village's association football club, Clanfield F.C., has its ground in Radcot Road and plays in the Hellenic Football League.[13] Clanfield has a Women's Institute.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Area selected: West Oxfordshire (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b c Page, 1907, pages 105-106
  3. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 547
  4. ^ Silver Pear Weddings
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 546
  6. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 545-546
  7. ^ Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Witney & Woodstock Branch
  8. ^ Geograph: Little Clanfield Mill, Little Clanfield, Oxfordshire
  9. ^ Turnpike Roads in England
  10. ^ a b c History of the Plough: A Potted History
  11. ^ Welcome to the Clanfield Tavern
  12. ^ Clanfield CE Primary School: Our School
  13. ^ Hellenic Football League: Division One (West) League Table
  14. ^ Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes

Sources and further reading

External links

Media related to Clanfield, Oxfordshire at Wikimedia Commons

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