England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Taynton St John the Evangelist

The Parish

The parish of Taynton lies in the extreme west of Oxfordshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Gloucestershire. Taynton is located roughly 1 mile northwest of the small market town of Burford and sits a similar distance west of the A424 road which connects Burford with Stow on the Wold. Taynton sits on the northern banks of the River Windrush with most properties clustered either side of its small feeder stream the Coombe Brook. Taynton sits on Jurassic limestone which was the backbone of the local economy, extensive quarries extracted the  stone which was of such fine quality it was used in most of the Oxford colleges, in Windsor Castle and also St Pauls Cathedral. In addition to the quarrying the limestone produced sweet short turf much favoured by the sheep that once proliferated here, nowadays much has been set to the plough. The Windrush drains the parish east and then south passing through Witney to meet the Thames west of Oxford, the Thames takes water east through Oxford, Reading & Windsor to the capital and the Thames Estuary to the North Sea. Taynton is sited at around 110 metres above the sea, away from the Windrush hills rise to both north and south, those to the south generally below 190 metres whilst those to the north exceed the 200 metre contour in a few spots. Taynton parish had 2 detached small areas within the Wychwood, they are ignored below when indicating the adjoining parishes to avoid complication, the parish covered just under 2,200 acres and would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. Domesday Taynton was a substantial settlement of 51 households sufficient to place it in the top 20% of settlements by population, held by the Abbey of Paris-Saint-Denis it offered an impressive 21 ploughs, substantial meadows, pastures and woodland and 2 mills making a very wealthy holding indeed.

The Church

St John's church sits to the south of the village accessed by a short dead-end lane from the village centre. St John is a church from the later medieval period with most of the fabric in the Decorated or Perpendicular styles of the 14th or 15th century. Despite the Decorated style of the northern aisle Pevsner actually dates it into the second half of the 14th century, a period when Perpendicular had started to become the fashion, perhaps west Oxfordshire was behind the times. The aisle is richly decorated with ball-flower and flamboyant tracery. In common with the northern aisle the northern arcade is contemporary or within a few years in its construction. Whilst these northern sides are Decorated in style the southern equivalents are Perpendicular but imitating the northern version. Other Perpendicular features include the clerestory and the western tower both perhaps later from around c1500. A typical Victorian restoration occurred in 1865 at which time the chancel was rebuilt as well a general refresh of the remainder. The short lane ends with a turning and parking area to the left of the churchyard gates, views from the southeastern corner are somewhat restricted by the close properties adjacent but otherwise there are few obstacles for the photographer.