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This village, which now includes Newnham Murren, lies on the eastern bank of the
river Thames, across the bridge from Wallingford. The name Crowmarsh can be
taken literally and the Gifford part comes from Walter Giffard who was given
this land by William the Conqueror. Walter had been Standard Bearer to William
in Normandy.
Many of the houses straddle the busy main road to Henley. There are pleasant
rows of old cottages as well as small estates of more modern houses. The wide
street in the centre of the village for centuries held an annual fair. It was
said in the Middle Ages to be the most considerable in Qxfordshire. The horse
fair, as it later became, died out about the end of the 19th century.
Much of the villages history is linked to that of nearby Wallingford. For
instance, during the 12th century King Stephen constructed a series of wooden
forts close by the bridge, opposite Wallingford castle where he was laying siege
to Empress Matilda who contended the throne. No traces of these buildings remain
today, unfortunately. The parish church of St Mary Magdalene was apparently used
during the siege as a fortified post, and desecrated. Later, during the Civil
War of the 17th century, some of King Charles troops sought refuge in the
church when Cromwells men marched on Wallingford from Henley; the vestry door,
which was formerly the west door of this Norman church, has supposed bullet
holes in it. A leper hospital, with its own chapel, was established in Crowmarsh
by the burgesses of Wallingford in the 12th century and was closely associated
with the hospital of St John the Baptist on the southern side of Wallingford.
But in times of plague Wallingford tried to keep Crowmarsh people out of the
town by posting wardens on the bridge.
A foundry was set up in the village about 1865 by one of the local Wilder
family. Walter Wilders made castings, mainly for agricultural machinery but
also for, amongst others, street lamps and drain covers. Have a look for them as
you go around South Oxfordshire!
Some of the old farmhouses have gone now. One row of cottages next to the
foundry was once part of Howbery Farm which at the beginning of the 18th century
was tenanted by a farmer of national repute Jethro Tull; he was a pioneer of
mechanized agriculture, producing the first seed-drill that really worked.
A hundred years ago the village had more small shops than it has today, and
included a baker and butcher, as well as two grocers and a post office. There is
still a post office and general stores but the other present businesses are
mainly concerned with the building trade. There used to be two beerhouses in
addition to the two public houses that are still open, the Queens Head and the
Bell. The Queens Head is the oldest secular building in the village. It was
originally a 14th century aisled hail of a kind which was usually the dwelling
of a man of considerable status. The elaborate design is still evident in its
timber frame. The Bell has been much altered as well as enlarged over the years,
but has been an inn since at least the mid 18th century.
Crowmarsh Gifford has a modern primary school which also takes in children from
Mongewell and North Stoke, having outgrown two former school buildings that have
since become private houses. One cottage, next to the Bell, and some land, was
left to the village under a charity set up by one William Emery. There is a
tradition that Emery had a lot of money because he had found a buried hoard on a
plot where he farmed in nearby Ipsden. The cottage became known as the Poors
Cottage and the land is now used for allotments.
South of the village are meadows and farmland, while on the north side the 18th
century Howbery Park now houses Hydraulics Research Limited, the Institute of
Hydrology and headquarters offices of the District Council. Visitors to
Crowmarsh may choose to stay at the Bridge Villa camp site which is close to the
river south-east of Waliingford bridge. Watery Lane, the bridleway which runs
alongside it, sometimes lives up to its name!
Like so many villages Crowmarsh suffers from too much through-traffic, but a
north-south bypass was built in 1987, and the proposed bypass for Wallingford
with a new bridge over the Thames should help to restore some of the villages
lost tranquillity.
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