Lower Heyford is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
beside the
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire.
The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...
in
Oxfordshire, about west of
Bicester
Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...
. The
2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 492.
The parish measures about east–west and about north–south. It is bounded by the River Cherwell to the west,
Aves ditch to the east, and field boundaries to the north and south. In 1959 the parish covered an area of .
Prehistory
Aves ditch is pre-
Anglo-Saxon. It may have been dug as a boundary ditch. It still forms the eastern boundary of the parish.
Harborough Bank, an
Anglo-Saxon burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
southwest of the village dates from the 6th century.
[
]
Toponym
The toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
"Heyford" is derived from Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
. It probably means "ford used at the time of the hay harvest". The earliest known record of it is a document from AD 995 now included in the '' Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici'', which records it as ''Hegford''.[
Since then its spelling has varied greatly. The ]Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086 also records it as ''Hegford'', and also as ''Egford''. A charter from 1172 records it as ''Heiford'', and other spellings of that era include ''Heiford'', ''Heiforde'', ''Heyforde'' and ''Heyfordia''. Other charters record it as Eiforde in 1193–1200 and Eifort in 1254–55. An entry in the Book of Fees from 1242 records it as ''Heyford Magna''.[ It was recorded as ''Heyrford'' in 1263, ''Hyford'' in 1278–79 and 1308 and also ''Hayford'' in 1308.
After the bridge over the Cherwell was built (see below) the village was recorded as ''Heiford ad Pontem'' in 1254–55, ''Brigeheyford'' in 1275, ''Heyforde ad Pontem'' 1278–79, ''Hereford ad Pontem'' and ''Wyford ad pontem'' in 1285, ''Heyford manor ad pontem'' in 1291, ''Heyford at Bridge'' in 1314, ''Heyford Pont'' in 1384, ''Heighford ad pontem'', ''Higheford ad pontem'', ''Heiford ad pontem'' in 1428 and ''Heyford apud Pontem'' in 1539.][
In 1634 the Rector recorded it as ''Heyforde Porcells''][ and in 1728 it was recorded as ''Heyford Purcell''.][ The reason is not clear, but there is a village of ]Newton Purcell
Newton Purcell is a village in the civil parish of Newton Purcell with Shelswell in Oxfordshire, southeast of Brackley in neighbouring Northamptonshire. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 103. The parish population from the 201 ...
about east of Lower Heyford.
It was recorded as ''Nether Heyford'' in 1246–47 and ''Nytherhayford'' in 1384.[ "Nether", like the present "Lower", distinguishes the village from Upper Heyford which is about upstream along the Cherwell valley. There are both a ]Nether Heyford
Nether Heyford is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, close to the M1 motorway and the A5 and A45 roads, west of Northampton and northwest of London. The smaller village of Upper Heyford is about half a mile to the ...
and a Little Heyford in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, so the current "Lower Heyford" reduces confusion.
Manor
Before the Norman Conquest of England the manor of Lower Heyford was held by Edwin, the son of a Saxon thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there ...
. William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
granted the land to the powerful Geoffrey de Montbray
Geoffrey de Montbray (Montbrai, Mowbray) (died 1093), bishop of Coutances ( la, Constantiensis), also known as Geoffrey of Coutances, was a Norman nobleman, trusted adviser of William the Conqueror and a great secular prelate, warrior and adminis ...
, bishop of Coutances
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances (–Avranches) (Latin: ''Dioecesis Constantiensis (–Abrincensis)''; French: ''Diocèse de Coutances (–Avranches)'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its mother church is the Cathe ...
. The manor passed through various hands until 1533 when Sir Edward Baynton sold it to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
. Corpus Christi College still owned the estate in the 1950s.[
]
Churches
Church of England
Wufwig, Bishop of Dorchester consecrated a parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
at Lower Heyford in the 11th century.[ The current Church of England parish church of Saint Mary was built in the 13th century. It was largely rebuilt in a ]Decorated Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
style in the first half of the 14th century, with north and south aisles
Aisles is a six-piece progressive rock band originally from Santiago, Chile. The group was formed in 2001 by brothers Germán (guitar) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), and childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar). Later on, it expanded to incl ...
joined to the nave by two- bay arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
s. The east end of the south aisle is a chapel with niches for statues or figurative reliefs. In the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and south porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
were added, and a rood screen with a rood loft for which a stair turret was inserted in the south aisle.
An opening high in the wall west of the south arcade suggests that the nave once had a west gallery. This has been removed, as has the rood and rood loft, but the 15th-century wooden screen to the chancel survives.
The building was twice restored in the 19th century: first in 1848 under the direction of Henry Jones Underwood
Henry Jones Underwood (1804–1852) was an English architect who spent most of his career in Oxford. He was the brother of the architects Charles Underwood (''circa'' 1791–1883) and George Allen Underwood (dates unknown).
Underwood t ...
, and then in 1867–68 directed by Charles Buckeridge
Charles Buckeridge (''circa'' 1832–73) was a British Gothic Revival architect who trained as a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott. He practised in Oxford 1856–68 and in London from 1869. He was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of ...
. It is a Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
.[
In the reign of ]Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
the west tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifi ...
had a ring of four bells. It now has a ring of six, of which the second and fourth were cast in 1766 by Matthew III Bagley of Chacombe
Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north-east of Banbury. It is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell, to the north by a tributary and to the south-east by the ...
, Northamptonshire. W&J Taylor cast the fifth bell in 1825, presumably at their then foundry in Oxford.[ Mears and Stainbank of the ]Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...
cast the tenor bell in 1867[ and the treble and third bells in 1925.][
The church is said to have had a 17th-century clock that was made in 1695 and removed during the 1867–68 restoration.
St Mary's is now part of the Benefice of Cherwell Valley along with five other parishes: Ardley, Fritwell, ]Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
, Souldern
Souldern is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about northwest of Bicester and a similar distance southeast of Banbury. The parish is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell and to the east by field boundaries. Its northern boundary ...
and Upper Heyford.
Quakers and Methodists
In the latter part of the 17th century Lower Heyford had also a Quaker congregation. Lower Heyford had a Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
congregation by 1804, which soon had a chapel in the village and eventually became part of the United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...
. A new chapel was built in Mill Lane in 1906, was still used for worship in 1955 but is now a private house.[
]
Kingdom Hall
There is a Kingdom Hall
A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii. Rutherford's reasoning was that these bui ...
at the east end of the village. It was built in the 20th century as the village hall
A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as:
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...
, but sold to the Jehovah's Witnesses in the 2010s.
Economic and social history
In the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Lower and Upper Heyford had two watermill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...
s on the River Cherwell, and one was still in use in 1858.[
There has been a bridge over the River Cherwell between Lower Heyford, Rousham and ]Steeple Aston
Steeple Aston is a village and civil parish on the edge of the Cherwell Valley, in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire, England, about north of Oxford, west of Bicester, and south of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish populatio ...
since at least 1255.[ The present bridge has nine arches and was noted by the early 16th-century antiquary John Leland. In the 1970s Jennifer Sherwood dated part of it to the 13th century, and its north side to either the 15th or 16th century. However, ]English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
dates the earliest parts of the present bridge to the 14th century, its alterations to the 17th century and its widening to the 19th century. The bridge is a Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
and forms an important part of the view from the historic adjacent landscape garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
of Rousham House
Rousham House (also known as Rousham Park) is a English country house, country house at Rousham in Oxfordshire, England. The house, which has been continuously in the ownership of one family, was built circa 1635 and remodelled by William Kent in t ...
.[
The stretch of the ]Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
between Banbury and Tackley
Tackley is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about west of Bicester and north of Kidlington. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercot ...
was completed in 1787. It runs along the Cherwell valley and bounds Lower Heyford village on its north and west sides. Coal mined in Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
and Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
was unloaded on Heyford Wharf at Lower Heyford.
An open field system
The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acre ...
of farming continued in the parish until 1802 when a land award from a Parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
Inclosure Act
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
for the parish was made.[
In 1797 the road between ]Bicester
Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...
and Enstone
Enstone is a village and civil parish in England, about east of Chipping Norton and north-west of Oxford city. The civil parish, one of Oxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Enstone, with the hamlets of Cha ...
was made into a turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
.[ Lower Heyford had two toll-gates: one at Heyford Bridge and the other at the east end of the village. The road was disturnpiked in 1876, is now the B4030 road and Heyford Bridge continues to carry its traffic.
Heyford Wharf sent coal ''via'' the turnpike road to ]Bicester
Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...
until 1850, when the Buckinghamshire Railway
The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line.
His ...
linked to on the London & North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...
.
Construction of the Oxford & Rugby Railway between and began in 1845. By the time the line opened the Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
had taken it over. In Lower Heyford the railway runs parallel with the canal on the west side. The GWR opened Heyford railway station
Heyford railway station serves the village of Lower Heyford and surrounding areas in Oxfordshire, England. It is on the Cherwell Valley Line and is ideally located for visiting the Oxford Canal and Heyford Wharf, which are both alongside. The ...
at Lower Heyford in 1850. The route is now the Cherwell Valley Line and Heyford station is served by Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
trains.
In 1808 Lower Heyford had two dame school
Dame schools were small, privately run schools for young children that emerged in the British Isles and its colonies during the early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman who would educate children f ...
s, and by 1833 there were three more formal schools. A National School was built in Market Square and opened in 1867. The building was extended by the building of an extra classroom in 1894. In a reorganisation of schools in 1932, the National School became a junior school and senior pupils from Lower Heyford had to go to Steeple Aston. Lower Heyford school became a Church of England controlled school in 1952.[ It closed in 1974 and is now a private house.
]
Amenities
The Bell Inn is a late 17th- or early 18th-century building that has been a pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
since at least 1819.[ In the 20th century it was controlled by Halls Oxford and West Brewery. It is now a free house.
Lower Heyford has a playing field and sports pavilion in Freehold Street. The field was funded by the King George's Fields Foundation.
Lower Heyford has a ]bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
club. In 2000 Lower Heyford Cricket Club was the champion of Oxfordshire Cricket Association League Division Four.
The Heyfords Women's Institute
The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being th ...
serves both Lower and Upper Heyford.
Public transport
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
bus route 250 serves Lower Heyford, linking the village with Oxford ''via'' in one direction and Bicester ''via'' Upper Heyford in the other. The bus stops are outside the Kingdom Hall at the east end of the village. Buses do not serve Lower Heyford railway station.
Buses run from Mondays to Saturdays, mostly at hourly intervals. There is no late evening service, and no service on Sundays or bank holiday
A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...
s.
References
Sources and further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Heyford.info
{{Authority control
Civil parishes in Oxfordshire
Villages in Oxfordshire