Thenford or Taneford, is bounded by Thorpe Mandeville on the north, Marston St Lawrence on the east, and Middleton Cheney on the south and west It contains 873 acres; its population in 1801 was 155 ; in 1831, 231 ; in 1841, 155; in 1851, 132; in 1861, 131; and in 1871, 131 souls. The rateable value of the parish is £1866, 7s., and the gross estimated rental £2223: The soil varies from a light to a strong loam; the greater part of the lordship is in permanent pasture; and the whole, exclusive of forty-six acres and about sixty acres belonging to the rector, is the property of John Edmund Severne, Esq., the lord of the manor. This lordship is remarkable for its luxuriant growth of trees ; and south of Thenford House there is an extraordinary echo. " Without attempting a philosophical solution of the phenomenon," says Mr Baker, " the fact may be stated, that a person stationed about three hundred and eighty feet from the north front of the house, uttering a sentence not exceeding thirteen syllables, will hear it distinctly and audibly repeated. By advancing or receding, a nearly similar effect is produced, but the resonance is strongest and most perfect at the given distance."

Roman Antiquities,—From the fact of Thenford being on the line of road from Erinavis (Chipping Warden) to Aelia Castra (Alcester, near Bicester), and several fragments of Roman materials having been found here, it is the supposed site of an intermediate post between the two stations. In the two fields called Stone Green and Flaxlands, about half a mile east of the village, foundations of buildings, tesserae, coins, Roman pottery, tiles, portions of hypocausts, &c., have been discovered. In Seabridge Close several skeletons were discovered some years since, and a small drjnking-cup near them, which is preserved by Mr Severne. An urn containing ashes was found in digging a grave m the churchyard, and in the field such squares as the Romans made their checkered pavements of, and also a medal of the Emperor Constantius. Morton thinks it not improbable that the church was built upon a burial-place of the Romans.

Arbury Hill, an oblong mount, rounded at the angles, but not encompassed by a fosse, is supposed by Morton to have been cast up by the Danes long before the fight at Danesmoor. Bridges thinks it was originally the work of the Romans, and without giving a decided opinion, is inclined to consider it of British origin, and that it primarily bore a relation to the two hills of the same name at Badby and Chipping Warden.

Manor.~At the time of the general survey, Maino held one hide of land of the king in Taneford, which, with a mill of the yearly value of thirtypence, was rated at its former value of forty shillings. In the reign of Henry II., Mainfelin de Wolverton, one of his descendants, held one hide here, and Robert Bassett another hide, of the fee of Wallingford. In the ninth year of Edward II. (1316), John Omnibou was lord of Thenford. In the reign of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Pabenham, and from them was called Paben-ham's manor. In the sixth of Henry V. (1418), Sir Thomas Aylesbury died seized of it in right of his wife, who carried it again in marriage to the family of Chene, with which it continued till the reign of Henry VIII., when Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Chene, married Lord Vaux of Harwedon, whose son, William Lord Vaux, sold it to Fulk Wodhull, Esq., usually called Lord Wodhull. There was another manor here which in the fourth of Edward VI. (1550) came into the possession of Fulk Wodhull, Esq. In the ninth of Henry VII. (1493), William Somerton died seized of a third manor in Thenford, of which a fine was levied in the twenty-third of the same reign {1531} between Fulk Wodhull, Esq., grandfather of the purchaser of the first-mentioned manor, and William Cowley. Michael Wodhull, Esq., a bibliographer, a man of extensive learning, the author of an " Ode to the Muses," and several other poems; the translator of the first English version of "The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides," was the last of the male line of the great baronial family of Wahull or Wodhull, and lineal representative of Walter Flandrensis, the Domesday lord of several manors in this county. By wilt dated 2ist August 1815, he devised Thenford and his other estate to Mrs Mary Ingram, after whose decease in 1824 they devolved, in pursuance of her will, on Samuel Amy Severne, Esq., from whom they descended to John Michael Severne, Esq., and from him to John Edmund Severne, Esq., the present proprietor.

The Village of Thenford. which is small, is situated about five and a half milesN.W. by W. of Brackley.

The Church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is an ancient structure of mixed styles, and consisting of a nave, chancel, side aisles, north porch, and square embattled tower, in which are five bells. In the south wall of the chancel is an old piscina in good preservation. The living is a discharged rectory in the Deanery of Brackley, rated in the king's books at £10, and now worth about £130 per annum. The patronage is vested in the crown, and the Rev. Arthur Severne, M.A., is the incumbent. The rectory consists of 61a. 1r. 16p., allotted in lieu of glebe and tithes. The Rectory House is in the village. The School was established in 1842, and is supported by Mrs Severne.

Thenford House, the seat of Mrs Severne, is a handsome mansion situated east of the village. It was erected by Michael Wodhull, Esq., in 1765, and is surrounded by extensive plantations. It contains a valuable library, and amongst the pictures is one from Vandyck of Charles I. dictating to Sir Edward Walker on the drum-head.

The Charities of Thenford are a rent-charge of £4 per annum, left by John Tooley in 1692 ; and William Tooley's charity, consisting of ten acres at Ever-don, the rent of which, £20, is distributed amongst the poor, except a small sum annually retained towards apprenticing one poor boy belonging to the parish.

Letters are received here through Banbury.

Butler Mrs Mary, shopkeeper

French Mr John

Hancox Levi, farm bailiff

Hayward Miss Clara,schooImrs.

Severne Rev. Arthur, M.A. rector

Severne Mrs, Thenford House

Severne Walter M. Esq. Thenford House

Young Robert, gardener,

Farmers and Graziers.

Belcher John

Belcher John, jun.

Hawkes William

Sewell Thomas

Sharpe Samuel, Hill Farm

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