England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Lewknor St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Lewknor lies in the extreme southeast of Oxfordshire, due to the rather convoluted nature of county boundaries in this area and the existence of detached portions to parishes it does actually form a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Buckinghamshire. Lewknor is sited at the foot of the Chiltern range some 7 miles due south of the market town of Thame, it sits on the B4009 road which hugs the base of the Chilterns running from Tring through to the Thames at Benson (Bensington). Lewknor is a mid-sized crossroads village with most properties built along the former route of the B4009 (it nowadays skirts the village to the south) or immediately to either side. Lewknor parish is extended from northwest to southeast, as are most parishes in this area, this enables each parish to gain a share of the differing land types available from the sticky clays of the Vale of Oxford through to the tops of the chalky Chiltern Hills. This gave the parish a varied farming landscape with almost equal measures of pastoral & arable. Modern developments have come to Lewknor, the modern M40 motorway cuts through immediately east of the village en route from London to Birmingham. Today Lewknor may be better known as a stopping off point for hikers on the nearby Ridgeway National Trail or for the frequent sight of re-introduced Red Kites patrolling the slopes of the nearby hills for carrion. Lewknor is drained by a number of small streams and field drains all tending northwestwards to meet the River Thame, the latter soon joins it bigger namesake the Thames before passing through the capital to the North Sea. Lewknor is sited at around 120 metres above the sea, sitting of the fore-slope of the Chilterns which rise as an impressive escarpment reaching 255 metres on nearby Shirburn Hill. For a southern rural farming parish Lewknor parish was quite extensive, at almost 2,700 acres it would have supported a population of close to 850 parishioners. In Domesday times Lewknor was largely held by Abingdon Abbey with a small share in the hands of Robert d'Oilly it was a large settlement amongst the largest 20% by population recorded and could boast an impressive 26 ploughs along with the usual meadows & woodland, the settlement also could support a mill making for a very wealthy holding for the Abbey.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits to the north of the village High Street, tucked away behind the properties that line that street and usually accessed from the parallel lane of Church Street to its north. The church has its origins in the Norman Romanesque period of the 12th century when it had a differing profile being a cruciform church with a central crossing tower, the common design of that early period. The church was, however, relaid out in the classic church-building era of the 14th century to its present nave, chancel and western tower. Pevsner traces the impacts of that re-design left as legacies in the fabric of today's church. The chancel arch is 12th century, as is that to the northern transept whilst parts of the nave and transept are Early English Gothic showing lancet style windows. All this early work remains with the 14th century design overlain, the chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century and the three-bay arcade also shows these styling features of this major rebuild. Further work followed into the Perpendicular period of the 15th century, the five-light eastern window and three-light windows of both northern and southern faces being contemporary with the western tower of this date. Finally the usual Victorian restorations of 1845 & 1863 completed the church as we see it today. There are several routes into the broad churchyard which sneak their way through fronting properties, parking is best sought on the High Street. Once through into the churchyard there are no obvious obstacles for the photographer.