Launton, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Launton, a parish in Oxfordshire, on the Oxford and Bletchley branch of the L. & N.W.R., near the boundary with Bucks, 2 miles E of Bicester. It has a station on the railway, and a post office under Bicester; money order and telegraph office, Bicester. Acreage, 2818, population, 619. The manor belongs to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £450. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church, dedicated to St Mary, is a building of stone in mixed styles, has a rude exterior, a very ancient rude tower, an agreeable interior, a nave in Early and Decorated English, and a chancel in Early Tudor. It contains a brass of 1520, some ancient memorials, and an Early English font In this church Bishop Skinner of Oxford, during the Commonwealth, ordained 300 clergy. In the rectory garden there is a fine unique yew and elm hedge 35 feet high, supposed to be planted in the time of Queen Elizabeth. There is also a Congregational chapel.

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 Launton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Launton (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 Launton 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.