Turweston

There are several crop-marks known from aerial photographs around Turweston parish that suggest the presence of prehistoric people, such as ring-ditches and enclosures. A little Roman pottery has also been found by chance in back gardens. Other early remains include a Saxon burial, uncovered in the nineteenth century.

We have more information from the medieval period, with historical documents recording a watermill, and a possible leat for the waterwheel was seen in an aerial photograph. A possible medieval track or enclosure was identified in trenching in the middle of the twentieth century. The church is the only standing building of the medieval period, with the nave and north aisle dating to the twelfth century and the south aisle and chancel dating to the thirteenth century. The tower was rebuilt in the nineteenth century when the whole church was restored.

There are several listed buildings in both Brackley and Turweston, dating mainly from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, though the windmill of the same date is no longer standing. The nineteenth century remains are mainly connected to transport, with the railway passing through the parish needing the viaduct and road bridge at Brackley. The school and schoolmaster’s house, now a private house, testifies to the growing importance of education in the nineteenth century.