Middleton Stoney

"MIDDLETON-STONEY, a parish in the hundred of Ploughley, county Oxford, 3 miles N.W. of Bicester, its post town, and 12 N.E. of Oxford. The village is small. It was formerly a market town, and had a castle belonging to William Longsford, which afterwards came to the Lacys. There are now but slight traces of the castle, but a mound of great elevation. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £416 10s. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford, value £600. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is situated in Middleton Park, and is of great antiquity. It has a square embattled tower containing five bells. The interior of the church contains tombs of the Villierses, and adjoining the N. side is a chapel used as a burial-place for the Jersey family. There are schools for both sexes, also an infant school, all of which are supported by the Countess of Jersey. The mansion of Middleton Park, erected on the site of an older building, which was destroyed by fire in 1753, is one of the principal seats of the Earl of Jersey, who is lord of the manor."

"FOX, a hamlet in the parish of Middleton-Stoney, in county Oxford, 7 miles to the N.E. of Woodstock, situated on the river Cherwell. Here is a meet for the Pytchley hounds."

[The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]