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Nuffield is a village and civil parish in the
Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...
in South Oxfordshire, England, just over east of Wallingford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 939.


Early history

The ancient Ridgeway path runs through the village. The section of the Ridgeway west of the village follows the ancient Grim's Ditch, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The earliest known records that refer to Nuffield by name are from the early decades of the 13th century, when episcopal registers variously record the toponym as ''Togfelde'', ''Toufeld'' or ''Tofelde''. The ecclesiastical valuation prepared in 1254 by Walter Suffield, Bishop of Norwich for Pope Innocent IV records it as ''Todfeld''. A feudal aid prepared in 1428 records it as ''Tuffeld''. At a later date the first letter changed from T to N to create the modern form of the name. The name comes 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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, possibly ''hōh-feld'' meaning "field by a spur of hill".


Parish church

The oldest parts of the
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of the
Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
are Norman. They include the
baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
and some of the masonry in the south wall of the nave. Around the bowl of the font is a Latin inscription in Lombardic capitals. In the 14th century the church was rebuilt and the north aisle was added. In the 15th century a ceiling with moulded wooden beams and carved wooden bosses was inserted in the nave. In 1845 the chancel was restored and the Gothic tracery in all the windows was replaced, to designs by Gothic Revival architect
Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey FSA FRIBA (1 April 1810–22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic Revival. Family Benjamin Ferrey was the youngest son of Benjamin Ferrey Snr (1779–1847), a draper who became Mayor of Christc ...
. The church is a Grade II* listed building.


Economic and social history

The road between
Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...
and Wallingford passes through the parish just north of Nuffield. It was made into a turnpike in 1736 and ceased to be a turnpike in 1873. It is now classified as the A4130. Huntercombe Place is an Edwardian
Tudor-style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
house designed by Oswald Milne, a former assistant to the Arts and Crafts Movement architect
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
and completed in 1910. Huntercombe Place is now part of HMYOI Huntercombe. Nuffield Place is a house that was completed in 1914. Lord Nuffield had it enlarged in 1933 and lived there until his death in 1963. He was buried at the parish church, and bequeathed Nuffield Place and its contents to Nuffield College, Oxford as a museum. The college has in turn given the house and part of the estate to the National Trust. There was a 17th-century pub in the parish, The Crown, on the A4130 main road at Nuffield Common. By September 2016 it had ceased trading and its freehold was for sale.


Amenities

Huntercombe Golf Club is in the parish. The Ridgeway is now a long-distance footpath. Another long-distance footpath, the
Chiltern Way The Chiltern Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in the Chiltern Hills of southern England. It was created by the Chiltern Society as a Millennium project. Route The Chiltern Way runs for around .Thames Travel bus route X38 links Nuffield with Wallingford and Oxford in one direction and Henley and Reading, Berkshire in the other. It stops on the A4130 main road between Nuffield Place and The Crown former pub. Buses run generally hourly from Mondays to Saturdays. There is no Sunday service.


Gallery

File:Nuffield HolyTrinity nave.jpg, Inside the nave of Holy Trinity parish church, looking east to the chancel (right) and north arcade (centre) File:Nuffield TheCrown sign.jpg, The former Crown pub on Gangsdown Hill, pictured before being reopened as a café and makerspace.


References


Sources

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External links


Nuffield Parish Council
{{authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Villages in Oxfordshire