Twyford 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

Aylesbury Vale The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertford ...

district of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, England. It is about west of

Steeple Claydon Steeple Claydon is a village and civil parish in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about south of Buckingham, west of Winslow and northwest of Waddesdon. The 2011 Census recorde ...

and northeast 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 ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

. Twyford's

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 ...

is derived from the

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 ...

for "double ford". It is a common name in England. The village has a

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 ...

, a URC chapel and a Church of England

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. There is one public house, one general store which is community owned and run by volunteers.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of the Assumption of the Blesséd Virgin Mary is 12th-century, with four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

13th-century nave arcades and a 14th-century west tower. Monuments in the church include a large

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

one in the south aisle commemorating

Richard Wenman, 1st Viscount Wenman Richard Wenman, 1st Viscount Wenman (1573–1640), was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1625. He was created Viscount Wenman in the Peerage of Ireland in 1628. Life Wenman was the eldest son of ...

, and a smaller one to his father

Thomas Wenman The Honourable Thomas Francis Wenman FRS (18 November 1745 – 8 April 1796) was a British professor, natural historian, and antiquarian. Wenman was the second son of Philip Wenman, 6th Viscount Wenman and his wife Sophia, daughter and co-hei ...

. The tower has a ring of six bells. The fifth bell was cast by an unidentified bellfounder in about 1599. W&J Taylor cast the treble bell in 1828 at their then foundry in

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 ...

. William Blew and Sons of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

cast the fourth bell in 1869.

Gillett & Johnston Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a be ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

cast the treble, second and third bells in 1907. There is also a Sanctus bell that was cast in about 1699. The church is a

Grade I 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 Irel ...

Amenities

Twyford's one public house is The Crown Inn.The Crown Inn, Twyford
/ref> There used to be three, but both The Red Lion and The Seven Stars were closed and converted in the past 15 years. Twyford Church of England School is a mixed, voluntary controlled infants' school for the 4–11 age range. The school once taught as few as 25 pupils, but has since recovered to its highest class numbers ever, at just over 100.

Notable residents

Two brothers who achieved high episcopal office,

Euseby Cleaver Euseby Cleaver (8 September 1745 – 10 December 1819) was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin (1789–1809) in Ireland and subsequently Archbishop of Dublin (1809-1819). Life He was of Buckinghamshire origin, the younger son of t ...

(1746-1819),

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Ireland ...

, and William Cleaver (1742-1815),

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...

, were born in Twyford, where their father was headmaster of the local boys school.

Parish church

Amenities

Notable residents

References

Further reading