Twyford, Buckinghamshire

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Twyford
Buckinghamshire

Parish church of the Assumption
Location
Grid reference: SP6626
Location: 51°55’55"N, 1°2’6"W
Data
Population: 566  (2011[1])
Post town: Buckingham
Postcode: MK18
Dialling code: 01296
Local Government
Council: Buckinghamshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Buckingham
Website: Twyford Parish Council

Twyford is a village and parish in the Buckingham Hundred of Buckinghamshire. It is about two miles west of Steeple Claydon and four miles north-east of Bicester in Oxfordshire.

Twyford's toponym is a common one, derived from the Old English for "double ford".

The village has a Church of England parish church, a United Reformed chapel and a Church of England primary school. 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 13th-century nave arcades and a 14th-century west tower.[2] Monuments in the church include a large baroque one in the south aisle commemorating Richard Wenman, 1st Viscount Wenman, and a smaller one to his father Thomas Wenman.

The tower has a ring of six bells. The fifth bell was cast by an unidentified bellfounder in about 1599.[3] W&J Taylor cast the treble bell in 1828 at their then foundry in Oxford.[3] William Blew and Sons of Birmingham cast the fourth bell in 1869.[3] Gillett & Johnston of Croydon cast the treble, second and third bells in 1907.[3] There is also a Sanctus bell that was cast in about 1699.[3]

The church is a Grade-I listed building.[2]

Amenities

The Crown Inn

Twyford's one public house is The Crown Inn.[4] There used to be three, but both The Red Lion and The Seven Stars were closed and converted.

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 the cohort has since recovered.

Notable residents

Two brothers who achieved high episcopal office, Euseby Cleaver (1746-1819), Archbishop of Dublin, and William Cleaver (1742-1815), Bishop of Bangor, were born in Twyford, where their father was headmaster of the local boys school.

References

Further reading