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Lyford, Oxfordshire

Lyford is a small village and civil parish on the River Ock about 4 miles (6 km) north of Wantage. Historically it was part of the ecclesiastical parish of Hanney.[1] Lyford was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 44.[2] Lyford's name refers to a former ford across the river Ock, now replaced with a bridge on the road to Charney Bassett. "Ly" is derived from the Old English lin, meaning "flax". In 1034 it was recorded as Linford.[3]

Lyford
St Mary the Virgin parish church,
seen from the north
Lyford is located in Oxfordshire
Lyford
Lyford
Location within Oxfordshire
Population44 (2001 Census)
OS grid referenceSU3994
Civil parish
  • Lyford
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWantage
Postcode districtOX12
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire
51°38′42″N 1°26′17″W / 51.645°N 1.438°W / 51.645; -1.438

Manors

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There were two manors in Lyford: Lyford Manor and Lyford Grange.

Lyford Manor

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The manor of Lyford dates from at least 944, when Edmund I granted six hides of land there to one Ælfheah. The manor was enlarged by a grant of a further two hides of land by King Canute in 1034. The Domesday Book of 1086 records Lyford as Linford.[1] The present manor house was built in the latter part of the 16th century and extended in 1617.[4] It is a Grade II* listed building.[5]

Lyford Grange

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Lyford Grange, just east of the village, was originally a moated manor house of Abingdon Abbey built in a quadrangle. The present house was built between 1430 and 1480. It is timber-framed, with a post-and-truss roof[6][clarification needed] including one queen post. It is a Grade II* listed building.[7] In the reign of Elizabeth I the Grange belonged to a recusant family, the Yates, who harboured a community of Bridgettine nuns.[1] In 1581 the house was searched; three priests were eventually found and arrested by the government agent, George Eliot: Thomas Ford, John Colleton and the renowned Jesuit, Edmund Campion.[8] They were subsequently tried and martyred.[1][9] The Mass is held annually in the village in commemoration of this event.[9] The raid and martyrdoms did not stop recusancy at Lyford. In 1690 an informer reported that a small estate in the parish had been reserved to build a nunnery "when Popish times should come".[1][10]

Parish church

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The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin was built as a chapelry of Hanney in the first half of the 13th century.[1] There is a Mass dial scratched on the south wall. The wooden bell-turret was added in the 15th century;[1] it has a scissor-braced timber frame and three bells. The Perpendicular Gothic[11] clerestory was added either at the same time or early in the 16th century.[1] The church was restored in 1875 under the direction of the Gothic revival architect Ewan Christian. It is a Grade II* listed building.[12] St Mary's parish is now part of the United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield.[13] Rev. Michael Camilleri (c. 1814–1903), sometime vicar of Lyford, translated the New Testament into Maltese.[citation needed]

Social and economic history

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In the early 1960s the digging of a soakaway in a cottage garden opposite the vicarage unearthed a small pottery bottle from the late 13th or early 14th century, and a bronze scale-pan.[14] An open field system of farming continued in the parish until Parliament passed an Inclosure Act for Lyford in 1801.[1]

Almshouses

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Oliver Ashcombe founded Lyford almshouses in 1611. The present quadrangle of brick-built almshouses and a chapel appear to be 18th century.[1][4] The quadrangle was completed as 20 houses, which were still tenanted as such in the early 1920s.[1] More recently they have been combined into eight larger units.[13]

Air crash

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On 8 April 1945 an Avro Lancaster B.I Special bomber aircraft, HK788 of No. 9 Squadron RAF based at Bardney in Lincolnshire, had taken part in a raid on a benzole factory in mainland Europe. On its return flight the plane caught fire and crashed in a field barely 400 yards (370 m) south of the parish church and Manor Farm.[15] All seven aircrew were killed. Six were members of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. The seventh was a warrant officer from the Royal Canadian Air Force. All are buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section of Botley Cemetery on the outskirts of Oxford.[15] Flight Sergeant Gordon Symonds, who was born and raised in Wantage, was killed just a couple of miles from his home. In October 2008 the widow of one of the crew provided a plaque commemorating the seven dead. It was installed in the parish church; the actor Richard Briers attended the ceremony[16] and read Noël Coward's poem Lie in the Dark and Listen.[15][17]

See also

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  •  
    Lyford manor house
  •  
    The west end of the nave in St Mary the Virgin parish church, showing the scissor-braced 15th-century frame supporting the bell-turret
  •  
    Monument in St Mary's parish church to the crew of RAF Lancaster HK788
  •  
    18th-century thatched cottage in Lyford
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    St Mary the Virgin parish church: the south side of the chancel (right) and part of the south side of the nave (left)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Page & Ditchfield 1924, pp. 285–294
  2. ^ "Area selected: Vale of White Horse (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  3. ^ Arkell 1942, p. 6.
  4. ^ a b Pevsner 1966, p. 173.
  5. ^ Historic England. "Manor Farmhouse and attached wall (Grade II*) (1048351)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  6. ^ Fletcher 1968, p. 76.
  7. ^ Historic England. "Lyford Grange (Grade II*) (1283468)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  8. ^ Ford, David Nash (2011). "The Arrest of St. Edmund Campion". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  9. ^ a b Foley 1877, pp. 279, 280, 284
  10. ^ "Original record of court proceedings (National Archive E126/14)". Anglo-American Legal Tradition website.
  11. ^ Pevsner 1966, p. 172.
  12. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary, The Green (Grade II*) (1199327)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  13. ^ a b Archbishops' Council. "Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield". A Church Near You. Church of England. Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  14. ^ Sturdy & Case 1963, p. 90.
  15. ^ a b c "07/08.04.1945 No, 9 Squadron Lancaster I HK788 WS-E F/O. Jeffs". Archive Report: Allied Forces. Aircrew Remembered. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. ^ "Richard Briers". Latest News. Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  17. ^ Coward, Noël. "Lie in the Dark and Listen". Poetry of Direct Personal Experience. Aircrew Remembered. Retrieved 13 November 2015.

Sources

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