Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

77known within the parish at present lie 1i miles to the SW at Stowford andmile N at Woodperry. No evidence of Roman settlement closer to the presentvillage is known.There is at present no evidence of early Saxon settlement within theparish.The early medieval parish was larger than the present civil parish, partshaving been transferred to Forest Hill on at least two occasions. Apart fromStanton St. John itself, the medieval parish contained two other nucleatedhamlets, both now depopulated. Stowford (PRN 1075), in the SW, was apparentlydeserted by the end of C14th, its site now occupied by a farm of thesame naine near the Crematorium. Woodperry (PRN 1205), to the N, may havebeen partly abandoned in the C15th, but some occupation seems to have con,tinued into the C16th or even C17th. Earthworks mark the site of the villagenear the present Woodperry House. Excavations here in 1838, notable asprobably the first recorded archaeological excavation on a deserted medievalvillage site, uncovered remains of the church. In addition to the nucleatedhamlets, there is also some evidence for isolated farmstead sites associatedwith medieval assarting in the parish. Breach Farm, to the SE towards ForestHill, certainly existed by 1778, and is perhaps related to 'le Brech' recordedin the 1279 Hundred Rolls, a name indicating woodland clearance. MenmarshFarm, in the NE of the parish, has a small moated site (PRN 5295), probablyof medieval date, close by. Minchincourt Farm, transferred from Stanton toForest Hill in 1949, was in medieval times the site of a capital messuage ofthe prioress of Littlemore.DOCUMENTARY HISTORYThe place-name is derived from the O.E. stan-tün, interpreted as 'thefarmstead on stony ground'. The St. John family held the manor from the1140s to 1354.The first documentary record of Stanton is in the Domesday Book, whichrecords a population of 8 serfs on the demesne, 16 villeins and 8 bordars.Robert de Lacy held two estates there from Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, one of 10hides, the other of 2 hides.Later medieval tax returns record the following minimum populations:1279 -1306 -, 35 taxpayers at Stanton, of whom 16 were at Woodperry1316 - Recorded in Nomina Villarum, linked with Stowford and Woodperry1327 - 43 taxpayers in Stanton, of whom 17 were at Woodperry1377 - 91 persons over the age of 14; no separate receipts identifiablefor WoodperryRobert de Lacy forfeited his Stanton estate in 1100 when he was exiledby Henry I. From the 1140s for the next two centuries the manor was heldby the St. John family. During the later Middle Ages the descent of themanor was confused and complicated by a number of disputes; but in 1526 itwas granted to the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford, in whose handsit has subsequently remained.During the C16th and C17th the village held associations with severalimportant historical figures. It was the birthplace in 1575 of John White,subsequently Fellow of New College and chief founder of Massachusetts. Italso has connections with the family of John Milton, and with Henry Ireton,an important figure in the Civil War, and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.