Bletchington, Oxfordshire

Description
Bletchington or Bletchingdon, a parish in Oxfordshire. The parish lies near Akeman Street, the Oxford Canal, the river Cherwell, and is 6 miles SW by W of Bicester. It has a station about 1 1/2 mile W of the village on the G.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Oxford. Acreage, 2654 ; population, 649. Bletchington Park is the seat of Viscount Valentia; was partly rebuilt near the end of last century; and occupies the site of a house which was held for the king, and surrendered to the Parliament, in the Civil War. A striped marble is found here, which has been used in ornamental architecture. The church is a building of stone, chiefly in the Perpendicular style. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £279 with residence. Patron, Queen's College, Oxford. Dr Fairdough was a native. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel, and there are some endowed almshouses. and a farmhouse with medallion of Cromwell, at which he is said to have slept on the night before the battle of Bletchington,