Barford St Michael

Barford St Michael
St Michael's parish church
Barford St Michael
Location within Oxfordshire
OS grid referenceSP4332
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBanbury
Postcode districtOX15
Dialling code01869
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

Barford St Michael is a village in the civil parish of Barford St John and St Michael, in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the south bank of the River Swere, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Banbury.

History

Barford St Michael has sometimes been called Great Barford as it is much larger than the village of Barford St John on the opposite bank of the Swere.[1]

The bell tower and north doorway of Church of England parish church of St Michael are Norman. Much of the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 13th century in the Early English Gothic style.[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3] In August 1549 the vicar, James Webbe, was executed at Aylesbury for his part in leading a rising in protest at the abolition of the Latin liturgy and other religious reforms.[4] The village has one public house, the George Inn. It was built in 1697[5] and in the 20th century was a Hunt Edmunds tied house. There is also a farm shop. Woodworm Records Recording Studio is based in the village.

Barford St Michael was an ancient parish in the Wootton hundred of Oxfordshire. In 1890 the parish was merged for ecclesiastical purposes with the neighbouring parish of Barford St John (which had historically been a chapelry in the parish of Adderbury) to form an ecclesiastical parish called Barford St Michael with Barford St John. The two Barfords were subsequently also merged for civil purposes in 1932, becoming a new civil parish called Barford St John and St Michael, subject to an adjustment at the same time to the boundary with the neighbouring parish of Deddington.[6][7] At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Barford St Michael had a population of 186.[8]

References

  1. ^ Crossley, Alan (ed.); Baggs, AP; Colvin, Christina; Colvin, HM; Cooper, Janet; Day, CJ; Selwyn, Nesta; Tomkinson, A (1983). A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. Vol. 11: Wootton Hundred (northern part). London: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research. pp. 45–58. ISBN 978-0-19722-758-9. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 445–446. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
  3. ^ "Church of St Michael". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. 8 December 1955. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  4. ^ Woodman, A. Vere (1957). "The Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Rising of 1549" (PDF). Oxoniensia. XXII: 82–83.
  5. ^ "George Inn, Lower Street". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. 8 December 1955. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  6. ^ Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume I, Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. xvi, 392. ISBN 0901050679.
  7. ^ "Relationships and changes Barford St Michael AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Population statistics Barford St Michael AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 18 August 2023.