After the
Norman Conquest of England in 1066, most of the land was granted to Walter Giffard, later
Earl of Buckingham. It later came into the possession of
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and remained with his heirs until passing back to
the Crown. Nearby Newnham Manor was originally granted by
William the Conqueror to
Miles Crispin, but by 1428 was owned by
Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet
Geoffrey Chaucer. After his death it was passed to his daughter Alice, wife of
William de la Pole, 4th Earl of Suffolk. Other land was granted to
Battle Abbey. The
Church of England parish church of Saint
Mary Magdalene is said to have been built in about 1120. The north door, south door, three windows in the south wall,
chancel arch and
font are all
Norman. A north
transept with a pointed arch was added in about 1200. The building was restored in 1836 and 1868. In 1139 King
Stephen built a wooden fort in Crowmarsh, the first of a series built in opposition to
Wallingford Castle, which supported his cousin
Matilda during the civil war known as
The Anarchy. The forts were probably dismantled as a result of the
Treaty of Wallingford of 1153. The castle at Crowmarsh consisted of a wide ditch surrounding an enclosure measuring . In 1701 agriculturist
Jethro Tull invented his revolutionary
seed drill here. In 1770 nearby
Mongewell Park was acquired by
Shute Barrington, then
Bishop of Llandaff. He was buried in Mongewell Church. Mongewell Park later became the site for
Carmel College. The
Jacobethan country house Howbery Court (also known as
Howbery Park) in Crowmarsh was built in about 1850 for local
MP William Seymour Blackstone. It now houses the facilities of HR Wallingford Group. Nearby
North Stoke was the home of the
contralto singer Dame
Clara Butt, who died there and was buried locally in St Mary's Church graveyard in 1936. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 248. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Crowmarsh".
World War II In 1944 a
Royal Canadian Air Force Halifax bomber with a full bomb load caught fire over
Wallingford. Most of the crew bailed out, but Flying Officer Johnny Wilding (USA) and Sergeant John Andrews (RAF) steered the plane away from the town, and attempted to land in the open fields of Crowmarsh, but crashed. They are commemorated by an
obelisk at the junction of Wilding Road and Andrew Road in Wallingford. , 1700-1710
Recent times Crowmarsh Gifford was the administrative headquarters of
South Oxfordshire District Council. The Offices were badly damaged by fire on 15 January 2015. ==References==