Cropredy

Origin: Possibly Old English relating to water plants and brook

Domesday: 50 hides and land in demesne for 10 ploughs. In demesne 12 slaves 55 villans 22 bordars . 2 mills

What can be more quintessentially English than standing in a meadow in August, a view across the valley and a beautiful village adjacent? Well the evidence of recent use by cows is only too evident, it’s been raining for hours and underfoot it looks to be rivalling Woodstock. Where else than the annual Fairport Convention event at Cropredy? Having followed the group since 1968 to find my ancestors came from Cropredy seemed serendipitous.


	A lovely Oxfordshire village with 400+ year old cottages built of the characteristic stone. A church that is attractive inside as out, 300 year old gravestones you can read (and what ornate stones they are!) and the feel of a peaceful living community with real roots.

		Things were not always so because on 29 June 1644 Parliamentary forces and the Kings men (18000 in total) fought a battle for Cropredy Bridge (over the Cherwell). I wonder what John and Thomas Haslewood (aged 10 and 3 respectively) made of that? Their father Nehemiah (my 8^th great grandfather) and his wife Alice (nee Lumbert) had married in 1633 and were living at “Constone” – the cottage is still there (see opposite). From Cropredy the family spread out, one branch to Warwickshire, mine, led my Nehemiah (great grandson of Nehemiah) to Staverton (Northants) in the early 1700s, and others remained in the village.

For an amazingly detailed amount of information on the village anyone interested should go to:

http://www.cropredyvillage.info/History%20of%20Cropredy.htm

and on page

http://www.cropredyvillage.info/Town%20of%20Cropredy.htm

there is a map of the town as it was around 1600. I have attempted on the photos page to line up the pictures with the plots on this map (with varying degrees of success since clearly many houses have disappeared entirely and others built on the sites of one or more of the original plots). If you can line up the photos with the plots more accurately please let me know on




	There is an active Cropredy family history community on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cropredy


	For a description of the village in the late 1800s a Gardner Guide of 1852 is attached.