Thenford
| Thenford | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's parish church |
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 Thenford
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| Thenford shown within Northamptonshire | |
| Population | 74 (2001 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP5141 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Banbury |
| Postcode district | OX17 |
| Dialling code | 01295 |
| Police | Northamptonshire |
| Fire | Northamptonshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Thenford is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the market town of Brackley in South Northamptonshire, England, and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Banbury in nearby Oxfordshire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish population as 74. At the 2011 Census the population of the village remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Middleton Cheney.
Traces have been found of a Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement east of the village. Neolithic artefacts found include four flint arrowheads and a fragment of a polished stone axe southeast of the village. Bronze Age artefacts found include a middle Bronze Age palstave and a late Bronze Age hoard at Thenford Hill Farm north of the village that included two swords, four spearheads, two rings and other bronze objects.
Traces have been found also of an Iron Age settlement in the north of the parish on Arbury or Arberry hill. It was a fortified farmstead with a circular rampart 490 feet (150 m) in diameter. Fragments of Iron Age and Roman pottery have been found in the eastern part of the site.
East of the village are the remains of an Iron Age settlement and Roman villa dating from 1st to the 4th centuries AD. The site was developed in four phases, with the villa itself being built about AD 300. It had six rooms, one of which had a fine Roman mosaic. Later extensions to the villa included a bath house. In the 1820s coins from the reigns of Tetricus (271–274) to Constans (circa 323) were found in the walled garden of Thenford House. A few years later skeletons were found in the same garden. The villa site was excavated from 1971 to 1973. and is now a scheduled monument. The mosaic is preserved in Thenford House.
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