Elsfield

"ELSFIELD, a parish in the hundred of Bullingdon, county Oxford, 3 miles N. E. of Oxford, its post town. The river Cherwell runs in the vicinity, and a branch of the London and North-Western railway passes through to Oxford. This was anciently a place of considerable importance, but is now a small hamlet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford, value £215. The church, built in 1273, is dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket, and formerly contained three private chapels. This living was held for some time by Wise, the Saxon scholar, and first librarian of the Radcliffe Library, at Oxford. Archbishop Parker was also vicar of the parish. The charitable endowments produce about £10 per annum. In the chancel is preserved a large stone, with an inscription round the edge in Saxon characters, to the memory of Johannes de Chiltenham." [The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]