Nuffield 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 ...

in the Chiltern Hills in

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

, 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 Grim's Ditch, Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke or Grimes Dike in derivative names) or Grim's Bank is a name shared by a number of prehistoric bank and ditch linear earthworks across England. They are of different dates and may have had different funct ...

, which is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. 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 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 ...

as ''Togfelde'', ''Toufeld'' or ''Tofelde''. The ecclesiastical valuation prepared in 1254 by

Walter Suffield Walter Suffield (died 19 May 1257) was a medieval Bishop of Norwich. Life Suffield was a canonist at Paris before his election to the see of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of Engl ...

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in t ...

for

Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...

records it as ''Todfeld''. A

feudal aid Feudal aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a feudal tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstance ...

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

, possibly ''hōh-feld'' meaning "field by a spur of hill".

Parish church

The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of the Holy Trinity are

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

. They include the baptismal font and some of the masonry in the south wall of 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 ...

. Around the bowl of the font is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription in

Lombardic capitals Lombardic capitals is the name given to a type of decorative upper-case letters used in inscriptions and, typically, at the start of a section of text in medieval manuscripts. They are characterized by their rounded forms with thick, curved stem ...

. In the 14th century the church was rebuilt and the north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

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 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 restored and the Gothic

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

in all the windows was replaced, to designs by Gothic Revival architect Benjamin Ferrey. The church 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 ...

Economic and social history

The road between Henley-on-Thames and Wallingford passes through the parish just north of Nuffield. It 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 ...

in 1736 and ceased to be a turnpike in 1873. It is now classified as the

A4130 The A413 is a major road in England that runs between Gerrards Cross (west of London) to Towcester (northwest of Milton Keynes). It passes through or near various towns and villages including (in northbound order) Amersham, Great Missenden, ...

. Huntercombe Place is an

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Tudor-style house designed by

Oswald Milne Oswald Partridge Milne FRSA FRIBA (February 1881 – 15 January 1968) was a British architect. Biography Born in Balham, London, in February 1881, Milne was the son of the architect William Oswald Milne (1847-1927), who was a partner with T ...

, a former assistant to the Arts and Crafts Movement architect Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1910. Huntercombe Place is now part of HMYOI Huntercombe.

Nuffield Place Nuffield Place is a country house near the village of Nuffield, Oxfordshire, Nuffield in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, England, just over east of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallingford. The house was completed in 1914. William Morris ...

is a house that was completed in 1914.

Lord Nuffield William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, (10 October 1877 – 22 August 1963) was an English motor manufacturer and philanthropist. He was the founder of Morris Motors Limited and is remembered as the founder of the Nuffield Foundation, ...

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 Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...

as a museum. The college has in turn given the house and part of the estate to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. There was a 17th-century

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 ...

in the parish, The Crown, on the A4130 main road at Nuffield Common. By September 2016 it had ceased trading and its

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

was for sale.

Amenities

Huntercombe Golf Club is in the parish.

The Ridgeway The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ...

is now a

long-distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway (landscape), greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking (wilderness), backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-cou ...

. Another long-distance footpath, the Chiltern Way, passes through the northern part of the parish.

Thames Travel Thames Travel is a bus operator serving the southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It is based in Didcot and is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. In May 2011 the Go-Ahead Group bought Thames Travel. Branded routes River Rapids ...

bus route X38 links Nuffield with Wallingford and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in one direction and Henley and

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

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 A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" ( 501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

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