Twyford

Twyford was recorded in Domesday and was part of Bernwood Forest in the medieval period. Bernwood had been a hunting forest from the time of Edward the Confessor. It grew to its largest extent under Henry II. The whole area was not covered by woods; in the medieval period a forest was a place where deer roamed for hunting and so included open land, villages and fields. All those who lived in the forest were not allowed to hunt or even gather wood without a special licence from the king. Bernwood Forest was finally disafforested in the reign of James I in 1635, although it had been shrinking in size since the time of King John (1199-1216).

There are remains of medieval monuments in Twyford parish, such as a moat at Allen’s Grounds, though the earthworks are no longer visible. There are medieval village earthworks near Elm Grove Farm and Church View Farm, suggesting that they were once hamlets. Ridge-and-furrow, the remains of medieval farming practices, also survive around the village. Twyford was bigger in the medieval period. There are earthworks of the medieval village around the church. Medieval house platforms, hollow-ways and a pond are also visible near the old vicarage, reflecting the bigger medieval village. The manor house may also have been here. In the 18^th century the Wenman family moved out of the medieval manor house as it was crumbling and moved into The Lodge, an earlier version of the current Twyford Lodge.

The oldest building in Twyford is St Mary’s church, dating to the 13^th or 14^th century, although some 12^th century fabric was reused, suggesting an earlier church on this spot. A 13th to 15th century cross survives in the churchyard and was probably used for preaching.

Twyford vicarage is a 15^th century hall house. In the medieval period houses often had only one room, the biggest were halls, and as the medieval period progressed, the family would build new rooms on one end for more privacy and sometimes insert a ceiling in the hall to make it two storeys and provide more living space. The other listed buildings in the parish date to the 18^th and 19^th centuries, such as the Red Lion and 2 Claydon Place.

There are 18^th and 19^th records of a windmill near the watermill but it was demolished in 1945. There was also Charndon windmill, which is recorded from the 17^th to the 19^th century. The watermill building is still there, though it hasn’t worked since 1902. A watermill is recorded in Twyford as far back as 1200 and may have been on the same site as this later one. One of the later additions to the parish was the Great Central Railway, opened in 1899. Though now closed, the remains of several bridges and cuttings survive.