Hardwick, Cherwell
| Hardwick | |
|---|---|
 St Mary the Virgin parish church |
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 Hardwick
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| Hardwick shown within Oxfordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SP5729 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Bicester |
| Postcode district | OX27 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Hardwick is a village about 4.5 miles (7 km) north of Bicester in Oxfordshire.
The village's toponym comes from the Old English for a farm or dwelling place for sheep. After the Norman Conquest of England Walter Giffard held the manor of Hardwick, but the Domesday Book records that by 1086 he had given it to Robert D'Oyly in an exchange of lands. It descended with D'Oyly's heirs until 1232 when it passed to Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick.
William Fermor of Somerton bought a third of the manor of Hardwick in 1514 and had acquired the remainder by 1548.
The house at Manor Farm was built late in the 16th century. The Fermors usually let it to tenant farmers. It is now a Grade II* listed building.
Some of the farmland in the parish seems to have been enclosed in the 16th century for sheep pasture, but there was still an open field system of three fields by 1601. By 1682 parts of Heath Field and Mill Field had been enclosed, and by 1717 the enclosure of Heath Field was complete. Enclosure of the remainder of the parish was complete well before 1784, when Tinker's Field and the remainder of Mill Field were described as having been enclosed "from time immemorial".
In 1857 Henry Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham bought the estates of Tusmore and Hardwick. In 1869–70 he demolished the old cottages of the village and replaced them with new ones of stone with brick quoins. He built a village school which was finished in 1873, and his heir Henry Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham maintained the school until at least 1895. However, the 3rd Earl died in 1898 and by 1903 the school had closed. It is now a private house.
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Wikipedia