Sandford-on-Thames, also referred to as simply Sandford, is a village and Parish Council beside the River Thames in Oxfordshire just south of Oxford. The village is just west of the A4074 road between Oxford and Henley. Early history In 1086 the Domesday Book counted 18 families as living by the sandy ford over the Thames between Iffley and Radley. Six hundred years later the population of the village had barely doubled, and it was still under 200 people at the start of the 19th century. Today the population numbers more than 1,000 and the parish boundaries have undergone considerable revision. Parish church of Saint Andrew In the middle of the 12th century a small "field church" dedicated to Saint Andrew was built on a hill in the Sandford manorial grounds for the use of the nearby Minchery nuns. The original Norman porch was restored and repaired in 1652 through the generosity of Elizabeth Isham but the majority of the improvement works to the church took place in the 25 years between 1840 and 1865. In the centre of the graveyard stands a fine yew tree planted on Good Friday 1800 and just to the east of the porch is a flat-topped gravestone from which bread was handed out to the poor of the parish. Four war memorials are on the south wall in St Andrew’s church: a wooden village shrine which lists the fallen of both World Wars, and three individual commemorative plaques to E.G. Wilkins, H.S. Cannon and H.C. Cannon. Each has been recorded and included in the National Inventory of War Memorials at the Imperial War Museum. Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller In 1239 Sir Thomas de Sandford gave land to the Knights Templar enclave in Oxford's Temple Cowley. In the reign of Edward II the Templars were suppressed and in 1324 the Knights Hospitaller took over. In 1541 Henry VIII dissolved the order, and the land passed to Cardinal Sir Thomas Wolsey. River and lock The river Thames dominates Sandford's history, with the fertile meadows promoting agriculture and the water providing both transport and power. Roman pottery from kilns found on the northern edge of the village hints at Sandford's manufacturing heritage. The toponym "Sandford" suggests a river crossing, and there are references to Sandford Ferry throughout history. In May 1644, during the English Civil War, the Earl of Essex took his troops across the river at