Historic Places

Be surrounded by history in South Oxfordshire

South Oxfordshire is a treasure trove for those fascinated by history, which should come as no surprise; after all, King Alfred built Wallingford in the 9th century!

Mapledurham House is one of the finest Tudor houses in England, with family references in the Doomsday Book. Today it boasts the only working flour mill on the Thames.

Fawley Court near Henley is a manor house dating back to the 12th century. After the Civil War it was rebuilt in 1684 by Sir Christopher Wren, decorated by Grinling Gibbons and James Wyatt and boasts a garden designed by Capability Brown.

Stonor House has an uneven number of windows on either side of the front door, to hide a priest hole with an escape through the roof. Edmund Campion, a Jesuit priest who hid at Stonor during the Civil War, set up a secret printing press and in 1581 published ’Ten reasons for being a Catholic’ from Stonor.

Dorchester Abbey is one of the largest churches in Oxfordshire. It stands on the site of a Saxon cathedral and has been a site of worship for over 1300 years.

Stoke Row boasts a 25ft-high iron and gilt, Indian temple-style well with winding gear that was built in 1863.

This Maharajah’s Well was a gift to the village from His Highness The Maharajah Ishree Pershad Narayun Sin Bahador of Benares, India, to help with water conservation in Victorian times and still works today.

The ruins of St James’s Church, a tiny Norman Church that has not been used since 1874, and a restored Victorian water tank next to the road can be found in the village of Bix.

Even though South Oxfordshire is full of treasures of its own, it is also an excellent base from which to explore other locations, such as Windsor Castle and Blenheim Palace, all within easy travelling distance from anywhere in the district.