Merton, or Martin (St. Swithin)

MERTON, or Martin (St. Swithin), a parish, in the union of Bicester, hundred of Bullingdon, county of Oxford, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Bicester; containing 230 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £110; patrons and impropriators, the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford: the tithes were commuted for land in 1763. The church is an ancient edifice, with a tower formerly surmounted by a lofty spire, which was taken down in 1796. Near it is the manor-house, erected in the reign of Elizabeth, and now occupied as a farmhouse. A branch of a Roman road runs through the parish.