Clanfield, Oxfordshire
| Clanfield | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 St Stephen's, Clanfield | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP284020 |
| Location: | 51°42’58"N, 1°35’20"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 879 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bampton |
| Postcode: | OX18 |
| Dialling code: | 01367 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Oxfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Witney |
| Website: | Clanfield Village |
Clanfield is a village about three miles south of Carterton, in Oxfordshire. The parish includes a hamlet, Little Clanfield, a mile west of the village, on Little Clanfield Brook.
The village has a church (St Stephen's), two pubs (the Plough Hotel and the Clanfield Tavern), a post office and general store.
The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 879.
Parish church
In the Church of England parish church, St Stephen, the tympanum over the south door is Norman and both the arcade between the nave and the north aisle and the responds of the chancel arch are in the Transitional style between Norman and the Early Gothic. These features date the church building to about 1200. St Stephen's has four lancet windows dating from late in the 12th century or early in the 13th century: two in the south wall of the chancel and two in the north wall of a chapel on the north side of the chancel. In the chancel the east window and the easternmost window in the south wall are Decorated Gothic, which dates them to between 1250 and 1350. The style of the bell tower suggests it was built either about 1300 or early in the 14th century.
In the 15th century a large statue of St Stephen was added to the outside of the tower,[1] a squint was inserted in the south side of the chancel and the present font was made. The nave was rebuilt in 1869 and the chancel enlarged and partly rebuilt in 1870.[2]
History
Robert D'Oyly gave land at Clanfield to the Order of Knights Hospitaller, who built a moated preceptory on the site. This gift must have predated D'Oyly's fall from power in 1142 during the Anarchy. By 1279 the preceptory owned land and property not only at Clanfield but also at Brize Norton, Grafton, Westwell, Oxford and Woodstock.[3] The preceptory buildings have gone and their moated site is now occupied by Friars Court, a gabled house built in about 1650.[4] Friars Court is a private house but it is now hired out as an approved venue for weddings.
The parish had two water mills at Little Clanfield on Little Clanfield Brook. One of them, Little Clanfield Mill, is now a private house but its machinery remains operational. The road between Witney and Clanfield was a turnpike from 1771 until 1874.[5]
Clanfield Church of England Primary School was founded in 1873 and enlarged in 1991.
About the village
The Plough Hotel is a three-bay house[2] built of Cotswold stone in about 1660 that is now a public house.[6] The Masons Arms public house is also a 17th-century Cotswold stone building, recently renamed the Clanfield Tavern.
Sport and leisure
- Football: Clanfield F.C.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Clanfield, Oxfordshire) |
References
- ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 545–546.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 546.
- ↑ Page 1907, pp. 105–106.
- ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 547.
- ↑ Rosevear, Alan. "Trusts". Turnpike Roads in England. http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/English%20turnpike%20table.htm.
- ↑ "History of the Plough". The Cotswold Plough Hotel and Restaurant. http://www.cotswoldsploughhotel.com/about-us/history.
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 2 pp 105-106: House of Knights Hospitallers: The preceptory of Clanfield (Victoria County History)
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 3 pp 110-111: Parishes: Clanfield (Victoria County History)