Lyford, Oxfordshire

Infobox UK place
official_name= Lyford
civil_parish= Lyford
country= England
region= South East England
os_grid_reference= SU395945
post_town= WANTAGE
postcode_area= OX
postcode_district= OX12
constituency_westminster= Wantage
shire_district= Vale of White Horse
shire_county= Oxfordshire
latitude= 51.647
longitude= -1.43

Lyford is a small village in Oxfordshire, England established in 944 AD and referenced in the Domesday Book in the 11th century. [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7572558&queryType=1&resultcount=1]

The Jesuit martyr St Edmund Campion was arrested whilst staying at Lyford Grange in 1581 and was subsequently executed. A mass is held annually in the village in commemoration of this event.

A church dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin exists in the village dating back to the 13th century. A wooden tower containing three bells has been added and the church fabric extensively restored in 1875. The village contains an 18th Century Almscourt. Lyford Grange lies just outside the village and was originally a moated manor house built in a quadrangle.

Lyford Grange is also reputed to have been one of the last places where English Monasticism was practiced prior reinstitution in modern times.

References

*CoorOS
* United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield [http://www.cherbury-gainfield.org.uk/villages.asp]
* [http://www.hadland.me.uk/tvp/tvp8.htm]

External links

* [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/tvp/tvp8.htm "The Press at Stonor"] Extract from "Thames Valley Papists" detailing St Edmund Campion's activities, arrest and execution
* [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/tvp/tvpcontents.htm Thames Valley Papists] "from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829" by Tony Hadland (published 1992 in hard copy as ISBN 0950743143, electronic version of 2001 added illustrations).