Barford St. John is a small village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Barford St. John and St. Michael, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the north bank of the River Swere, about south of

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

. 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 ...

it was sometimes called Little Barford or North Barford to distinguish it from the larger village of

Barford St. Michael Barford St Michael is a village on the south bank of the River Swere in Oxfordshire, England, about south of Banbury. History The village is part of the civil parish of Barford St. John and St. Michael. Barford St Michael has sometimes bee ...

on the opposite bank of the Swere. In 1931 the parish had a population of 53.

Chapel

The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

of St. John was built in about 1150, but only the south doorway and the font survive from this period. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

was rebuilt in the 13th century, and the

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 ...

windows in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

were added in the 14th century. There was a

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 ...

at the southwest corner of the church, with the date 1622 on a stone near the top. In 1860–61 the Gothic Revival architect

G.E. Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford, London, Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Gothic Revival architecture, Vi ...

rebuilt the church, demolishing the tower and replacing it with a new one over the south porch. St. John's was built as a dependent chapelry of the parish church of Barford St. Michael, and it remains part of the same

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

. The parish of St. John and St. Michael and that of

Deddington Deddington is a civil parish and small town in Oxfordshire about south of Banbury. The parish includes two hamlets: Clifton and Hempton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,146. Deddington is a small settlement but has a c ...

and

Hempton Hempton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south west of Fakenham, north west of Norwich and north east of London. The village straddles the A1065 between Fakenham and Swaffham. The nearest rai ...

are now run as a single benefice.

RAF station

RAF Barford St John was established just north of the village in 1941. It ceased flying operations in 1946 but the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

has used it as a radiocommunications centre since 1951.

Governance

Barford St John was formerly a chapelry in the parish of

Adderbury Adderbury is a winding linear village and rural civil parish about south of Banbury in northern Oxfordshire, England. The settlement has five sections: the new Milton Road housing Development & West Adderbury towards the southwest; East Adder ...

, in 1866 Barford St John became a civil parish, on 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Barford St John and St Michael".

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Former civil parishes in Oxfordshire Cherwell District