Local History

Geography

Yarnton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about one mile west of Kidlington and four miles north west of Oxford. In the past 100 years the population has risen ten-fold from approximately 300 in 1918 to some 2600 residents now.

Human Activity

Archaeology indicates that humans were settled in Yarnton near the river Thames (which flowed a more northerly route than now) about a mile south of the present village as early as 2700 – 1700 BC. The evidence is followed by late Iron Age and Romano/British enclosures.

Village Name

The first recorded reference to Yarnton was Erdington in 1005 when land including the manor was given to the Benedictine abbey in Eynsham and confirmed by King Ethelred. Erdington, as Yarnton was known then may originally have meant either ‘dwelling place’ or Earda’s farm.

The Doomsday survey in 1086 referred to what we now know as Yarnton as Hardington. In the late 15th century, the pronunciation changed and the letter ‘Y’ first appears in the form of Eyrynten. However, common 16th century spelling included Yarrington and Yardinton. The spelling of the village name as we know it first appeared in records in 1517 and eventually became the accepted form.

Yarnton Manor

A manor was established in the late Saxon period: the origins of the present manor however date from the early 17th century. The dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 resulted in the manor being forfeit to the crown.

In 1584 Sir John Spencer of Althorp purchased the manor for his son, William, and in 1611 William’s son Thomas commissioned the manor house in the Jacobean style that we see today. 

Over the centuries, the ownership of the Manor passed though a number of families. More recently in the late 20th and 21st centuries it has been owned by educational institutions.

More information on the Manor House can be found in Robin Hearn’s book, Yarnton: 1000 years of recorded history 1005 – 2005. Available for purchase in the Church.



The Church (St Bartholomew’s)

In 1009 a chapel at Yarnton is mentioned for the first time. The present church, however was built after the Norman conquest, possibly incorporating some of the old Saxon chapel features.

Like all English churches, the building evolved over the centuries with many additions and changes. For example, in the early 17th Century, the Spencer family added a square bell tower, porch and chapel.

The clock, which dates from 1641, still chimes the hour to this day. At the time of writing (2025) the roof needs major repairs.

More information on the Church can be found in Robin Hearn’s book, Yarnton: 1000 years of recorded history 1005 – 2005. Available for purchase in the Church.

Other interesting historical snippets

• Yarnton can truthfully claim to have one unique custom; drawing the Lots for the Common Land. Thirteen Mead Balls were used to draw the lots (nine Yarnton, four Begbroke).
  
  Each ball made of cherry or holly is inscribed with a name which thought to be the name of medieval tenant farmers who had mowing rights to the meadows (Oxhey or Oxney, Pixey and West meads) on a prescribed day each year.
  
  1st Monday in July, Oxhey; 2nd Monday, Pixey; and the Monday after for West mead. The strips of mead were allocated to the tenants by the drawing of the named balls. The farmer was then the owner of that strip and the custom being that the strip had to be mown in a single day.
  
  This changed after 1817 when some farmers brought in outside labour to satisfy the one-day rule, and during a riotous fight between villagers and outsiders a man was killed. The custom of drawing the lots may pre-date the Doomsday survey (Book) but ceased in 1978.

• On 3rd June 1644 King Charles I decided to evacuate his garrison of 6,000 troops from Oxford (The Royalist capital). Passing north through Wovercote after crossing the Thames, the large column of troops hurried up Meadow Lane and into Church Lane then wheeled left into Cassington Road and north-westwards up Frogwelldown Lane to Bladon and on to Hanborough Heath. Legend has it that on still summer evenings the voices of King Charles’ men can be heard echoing in the vicinity of Church Lane and Frogwelldown Lane.

• In the 19th century Yarnton farms were mostly dairy and farmers took their milk twice-daily to Yarnton Junction to take advantage of the rail link where it was dispatched to the capital. In 1853 there were twelve recorded farms in the village. By the early 1980s there were none.

• In 1344 Yarnton Vicarage was sacked and burnt by angry villagers who believed the vicar of Yarnton to be implicated in getting the abbot of Eynsham removed from office.

• In November 1900 a particularly grisly murder took place at Paternoster Farm, on the Cassington Road. The tenant, an elderly gentleman called William Savage was shot by his adopted son, Richard Hopcroft, after a heated argument. Hopcroft went to Oxford where he turned himself over to the authorities. He was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment. It seems there must have been mitigating circumstances otherwise Hopcroft would have received the death sentence.

• The old Red Lion and Grapes Inn public houses are first mentioned in the 1750 records. The present Red lion dates from 1957 and the Grapes Inn changed it's name to The Turnpike in 2001.

• Situated at the junction of Rutten Lane and Cassington Road, the once prominent feature of the Village Green disappeared in the mid–20th century. Three giant elm trees stood at each corner and the village stocks were originally in the centre of this green.

• In 2018 a war memorial was erected on the green area outside the British Legion Club to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War and honour the fourteen men from Yarnton who gave their lives during the conflict. The names of four Yarnton men killed during 2nd World War are also inscribed on the memorial.

Ref. Yarnton: 1000 years of recorded history 1005 – 2005 by Robin Hearn.