Iffley, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Iffley, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire. The village stands on a height adjacent to the river Thames, at the boundary with Berks, 1¾ mile SE by S of Oxford, which is the nearest railway station. It commands pleasant views of Oxford and the river; was anciently called Givetelei, signifying " the gift field," and has a post office under Oxford; money order and telegraph office, Cowley. Acreage of parish, 485; population, 548. A portion of it is included in the administrative county borough of Oxford. The manor belonged to the Black monks of Kenilworth. The church was served by the monks from Abingdon. Limestone, for rough building, is quarried. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £250 with residence. Patron, the Archdeacon of Oxford. The church is chiefly Norman, with three magnificent Norman doorways; has an Early English chancel, good painted glass windows, and a Norman tower; and contains a large square Norman font, in which according to tradition Edward the Confessor was baptized. The churchyard contains a venerable yew tree and a restored cross. The old rectoy-house, of picturesque appearance, with some fine panelled rooms, is adjacent. There are a Free Methodist chapel, and charities worth about £250 a year. Iffley Mill, a favourite subject for painters, belongs to Lincoln College.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Oxfordshire online.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Iffley from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ifley (St. Mary))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Oxfordshire is available online

Maps

Online maps of Iffley are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Oxfordshire newspapers online:

• Oxford Journal
• Banbury Advertiser
• Banbury Guardian
• Oxford University and City Herald
• Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette
• Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette
• Oxford Times
• Banbury Beacon
• Ossett Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Oxfordshire, 1566, 1574 &1634 are available on the Heraldry page.