The project

In 2024 research was undertaken by Mark Jarvis to understand Woodford Halse before the railways and the results were presented in a talk to the village history society in December 2024. This research looked at the landscape, the Domesday records and other historical records now available online to paint a picture of Woodford Halse in the Saxon period. The results of that research identified the origins of the name for the village. Woodford Halse was a village located near a wood and ford and subsequently got the Halse addition to differentiate the village from Woodford near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. The ford part of the village name is key to understanding the geographical position of Woodford next to the river Cherwell. The Interesting fact is Woodford has had 4 fords associated with the village and currently only has one left in its original form. The ford at the bottom of Kitchen Lane was a main route from the old village to Charlwelton and has been in use since the village was formed by the original settlers of this location. At the conclusion of the talk in 2024 it was noted that it might be worth taking a look at the ford site to see if any archaeological remains of interest to the current village population, could be found. In January 2025 after very positive response from the residents of Woodford Halse, the project began to undertake an investigation of the last visible ford site in Woodford Halse. This website is the culmination of that project and shows the results of that work.

Once it was identified that the community wanted to undertake an exploration of the village's past, a project plan was pulled together to undertake this work in a professional manner. Consultations were held with the Parish Council, the County Archaeologist adviser, Archaeological Archives Curator at Chester House and ultimately a professional archaeologist who agreed to lead the project.