Caversfield

Caversfield, a small village on the northern edge of Bicester, was, until 1844, part of an exclave of Buckinghamshire.

Before the Norman Conquest the manor of Caversfield was held by one Edward, who was a man of Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria. The Domesday Book records that in 1086 it was one of the manors owned by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. William’s descendants retained Caversfield until the beginning of the 14th century.

By the 12th century the Gargate family held the feudal tenancy of Caversfield. In 1236 Muriel de Ros and Isabel de Munbury, the daughters of Hugh Gargate, endowed the tenancy of half of the manor to the Augustinian Priory at Bicester. The priory retained this holding until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537. The Gargate family is recorded to have owned a watermill, a windmill and a house where the manorial court was held, though no evidence of these structures survives today.

The oldest part of the parish church of St Laurence is the Saxon base of the bell tower, which probably dates from the 10th century. The nave and chancel were rebuilt late in the 12th century. Early in the 13th century the chancel was remodelled again in the Early English Gothic style with two lancet windows at its east end, and the bell-stage of the tower was either added or rebuilt. Small north and south aisles were added around the same time but these were demolished in the 18th century and later rebuilt in 1874.

The churchyard includes 25 Commonwealth War Graves connected with RAF Bicester, all dating from before and during the Second World War. This was a training station for Bomber Command and a number of the burials are of airmen killed in training accidents. 19 are RAF airmen, including one Australian and one Canadian serving in the RAF. Four are RCAF airmen, one is from the RNZAF and one is a soldier from the Royal Artillery.

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