Yelford is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in Hardwick-with-Yelford

Hardwick-with-Yelford

Hardwick-with-Yelford is a civil parish in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the villages of Hardwick and Yelford . It was formed in 1932 from the parish of Yelford, most of the parish of Hardwick, and parts of the parishes of Ducklington and Standlake....

 civil parish. It is about 3 miles (5 km) south of Witney

Witney

Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....

.

Manor

In 1086 the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 records that Walter of Ponz held the manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 of Yelford. Walter's other manors included Eaton Hastings

Eaton Hastings

Eaton Hastings is a village and civil parish beside the River Thames about northwest of Faringdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Eaton Hastings was formerly considerably larger than it is today, and is regarded as a deserted medieval...

, and together his manors were sometimes called the honour

Honour (land)

In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...

 of Hastings. By 1221 the overlord of the manor was one Philip of Hastings. In 1651 The Hastings family sold the manor of Yelford to William Lenthall

William Lenthall

William Lenthall was an English politician of the Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons.-Early life:...

, who was Speaker of the House of Commons during the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

, Rump Parliament

Rump Parliament

The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

 and First Protectorate Parliament

First Protectorate Parliament

The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....

. The manor remained in the Lenthall family until 1949.

In the latter part of the 15th century the Hastings family built the manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

, a timber-framed building with a moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

. It was altered in about 1600, when a first floor was inserted in what until then had been the great hall and a great stone chimneystack was added. Early in the 20th century the house was divided for use by three families and by the middle of the century it was derelict. It was restored in 1952. In the 1970s Jennifer Sherwood described the house as "The best, and certainly the most picturesque, large timber-framed house in the county."

Parish church

The small Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...

 and Saint Swithun may have been founded as a chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 by 1221, when Philip of Hastings was recorded as patron of the living. It was completely rebuilt in about 1500. It was restored at some time between 1869 and 1873, which may be when the bellcote was added.