Garford

Coordinates: 51°39′43″N 1°22′55″W / 51.662°N 1.382°W / 51.662; -1.382

Garford is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The parish is bounded by the River Ock to the north, by two tributaries of the Ock to the south (Childrey Brook and Nor Brook), and by field boundaries and the road between Kingston Bagpuize and West Hanney to the west. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 229.

Archaeology

The course of a Roman road passes through the parish about 0.5 miles (800 m) east of the village.

Manor

Garford's toponym evolved from Garanford in the 10th century to Wareford in the 11th century before reaching its current form.

In AD 940 Edmund I gave 15 houses at Garford to his thegn Wulfric, and in 960 Edmund's son Edgar the Peaceful confirmed the grant. The Benedictine Abingdon Abbey held two hides of land at Garford by the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Apart from brief interruptions during the reign of William II the Abbey retained Garford until 1538, when it surrendered its lands to the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries.Elizabeth I sold Garford in 1576, after which it changed hands a number of times.