LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Manor Courts and Officers
Before 1248 Richard, earl of Cornwall, as overlord of
Clanfield manor, withdrew his tenants' suit from the
hundred court, establishing a twice yearly view of
frankpledge at Clanfield which was attended by tenants
of several St Valery manors. (fn. 1) The view, held by successive lords of the honors of Wallingford and later of
Ewelme, continued until the early 19th century, when it
met annually at the Mason's Arms inn. In the Middle
Ages it regulated assizes of bread and ale, mill tolls, and,
as in the 18th century, cleaning of ditches, though by the
19th century its chief function was probably collection
of cert money and quitrent: then as in the 13th century,
tithingmen representing Chestlion, Southwick, and
'Abbot's fee' tenants made annual payments at the court
totalling 10s. 4d., originally comprising fixed view,
wardpenny, and hidage. (fn. 2)
A separate court baron and view of frankpledge for
the Hospitallers' manor (Friars Court) was held at
Clanfield throughout the Middle Ages, dealing with
assizes of ale, wastes, maintenance of roads and watercourses, and copyholds. (fn. 3) In 1511 manor tenants were
fined for failure to maintain the butts for archery practice, (fn. 4) and in 1582 lords were said to have strays
throughout the manor. (fn. 5) Court profits totalled 26s. 8d.
in 1338 and 28s. 8d. in 1540–1, by which time tenants in
Clanfield, Grafton (in Langford), and Weald (in
Bampton) belonged to separate tithings, together owing
certainty payments totalling 11d. (fn. 6) The court and view
continued in the early 18th century (fn. 7) and, though no
later courts are known, owners in 1803 still claimed
royalties and other manorial rights, including profits of
courts leet and baron. (fn. 8)
Other Clanfield tenants attended their respective
manor courts. A court baron for tenants of Ralph
Hareng's Clanfield manor was mentioned in the early
13th century, (fn. 9) and courts baron continued for
Chestlion and for Southwick manor tenants in the mid
16th century. (fn. 10) Tenants of Osney abbey and later of
Christ Church attended the Abbots Bourton court in
Black Bourton, and tenants of Exeter cathedral attended
Bampton Deanery court in Bampton. (fn. 11) Bampton
hundred court appointed a tithingman in the 16th and
17th centuries presumably for Clanfield tenants of
Bampton Earls manor, and inhabitants were occasionally presented at the court for failure to scour ditches. (fn. 12)
A constable for Chestlion manor was elected at the
view for Ewelme honor in the 16th century and still in
the early 18th; (fn. 13) presumably that was the constable for
Clanfield noted in the 1640s and 1660s. (fn. 14) A constable
appointed by Bampton Deanery court retained jurisdiction over Exeter cathedral's tenants. (fn. 15) Other officers
mentioned from the 17th century may already have been
appointed, as later, by the parish vestry. (fn. 16)
Parish Government and Officers
Two churchwardens were recorded from the early 16th
century, (fn. 17) two overseers from the early 17th, (fn. 18) and two
surveyors of highways from the late 18th, when inhabitants indicted them for failure to repair the roads. (fn. 19)
Presumably there was also a hayward, since the fieldname Hayward's ham or patch was recorded in the 19th
century. (fn. 20)
By the 1840s and presumably earlier all parish officers
were elected by the vestry, which met up to four or five
times a year usually in the school or Mason's Arms, and
which was generally attended by around half a dozen
prominent farmers and by the vicar. It administered
parish property and rating, oversaw grazing on roadside
verges and wastes, and in the 1840s and 1850s raised
funds to facilitate emigration. Throughout the 19th
century it usually appointed two churchwardens, two
overseers, two highway surveyors (replaced from 1864
by a single waywarden), and two acting constables; a
watchman paid 10s. a week plus expenses was appointed
in 1848, and a hayward in 1877. Other appointees
included a salaried assistant overseer in 1873 and again
from 1889, two rate-assessors in 1873, and a poor-law
guardian in 1858 and 1871. Parish clerks, paid until
1863 partly in Easter offerings, were appointed occasionally, and from 1886 there were three sidesmen, still
mentioned in 1919. (fn. 21) Parish property in 1839 comprised
two houses, the school on Bampton road, and 3 a. of
land, but was sold piecemeal between 1851 and 1872. (fn. 22)
Parish stocks, on Bampton road by the edge of the green,
survived in 1876, but had apparently gone by 1899. (fn. 23)
From 1834 Clanfield belonged to the new Witney
poor law union, and under the 1894 Local Government
Act it became part of Witney rural district, (fn. 24) the vestry's
few remaining civil functions passing to a parish council
which continued to oversee the waste, paths, and
streams, and to let grazing on the green. The parish
council continued in the late 1990s, when there were still
two churchwardens. (fn. 25) The parish became part of West
Oxfordshire district in 1974. (fn. 26)