Historic towns and villages in Oxfordshire

Faringdon is a pretty market town between the River Thames and the Vale of White Horse. Medieval and Georgian buildings cluster around the picturesque Old Market Hall, while the medieval parish church of All Saints holds wonderful tombs to generations of the Pye and Unton families.
A417, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: The medieval parish church of All Saints

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The little village of Islip has a big history. Islip stands at an ancient ford on the River Ray, near the edge of the Bernwood Forest, where Saxon kings had a royal hunting lodge. The proximity of the royal lodge probably explains why Edward the Confessor was born at Islip, around the year 1005.
Islip, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: Birthplace of Edward the Confessor

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Kingham is a picturesque Cotswold village, once voted 'England's Favourite Village', a settlement full of honey-toned 17th and 18th-century cottages, many of them thatched. The parish church of St Andrew dates to the 14th century and stands beside the elegant rectory, built in 1688.
Kingham, Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: 14th-century parish church of St Andrew

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It is impossible not to be enchanted by Minster Lovell. This must be one of the loveliest villages in Oxfordshire, with a low stone bridge leading to the village cricket ground and a plethora of pretty cottages. The ruins of the medieval manor of Minster Lovell Hall, stand on low ground beside the peaceful River Windrush. A few steps from the manor ruins is the 14th-century parish church of St Kenelm.
Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire, England

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The county town of Oxfordshire sits astride the River Thames. The real treasure of Oxford is the architectural beauty of the university college buildings, many of which date back to the 13th and 14th centuries.
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

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Salford is a pretty rural village near Chipping Norton. The village boasts a 12th-century parish church and the base of a preaching cross that may date to the 8th century. Salford is served by a pretty country pub, the Salford Inn. In the field beyond the churchyard are the earthwork remains of an old manor house.
A44, Salford, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: Ancient cross on the green

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A lovely village in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, with a 12th-century church on the site of a Saxon minster, a 14th-century inn that was once the guest house for Bruern Abbey, and Shipton Court, one of the largest and finest Elizabethan manors in the country.
Shipton under Wychwood, Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, England

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A large village in the Vale of White Horse, a few miles south-east of Faringdon. The name is thought to refer to an early stone ford across the River Ock (or perhaps across Frogmore Brook). There is evidence of a settlement here during the prehistoric period.
Stanford in the Vale, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: The attractive 12th-century church of St Denys, which may have been the site of the wedding of Anne Clifford and Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

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Swinbrook is only a short distance from the busy A40 east of Burford, yet it feels like it is a hundred miles from anywhere. This delightfully pretty Cotswold village is worth visiting to see the striking 17th-century Fettiplace Monuments in the tiny parish church of St Mary. Nancy Mitford, one of the famous - or infamous - 'Mitford Girls', is buried in the churchyard.
Swinbrook, Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, England

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This attractive market town was the birthplace of Alfred the Great in AD 849. It features attractive Georgian buildings and cobbled lanes, and is home to the Weald and Downland Museum, one of the finest small museums in the country. A delight to visit.
Wantage, Oxfordshire, England

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Heritage Highlight: Birthplace of King Alfred

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