Byfield is a village and civil parish forming part of West Northamptonshire, England. The population (including Westhorp) of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,277. History The villages name means 'by the open land'. It has also been suggested that the first element is 'river-bend'. Byfield, with Westhorp, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has been close to many of the important events in history. During the Wars of the Roses, in 1469 the battle of Edgecote took place, only three miles from Byfield. Likewise during the English Civil War, the battles of Edgehill in 1642 and Naseby in 1645 must have affected the local citizenry. In the Second World War the area around Byfield had numerous airfields and other military installations which would have had a considerable, and in some cases, long-lasting effect. One example of this is POW camp 87 which sits between Byfield and Upper Boddington, however the site is currently home to a scrap merchant; there are plans to convert the former camp into a recycling centre. Byfield once had a station on the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (later part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway), but this closed in April 1952. One of the platforms of the station is still visible on the original site, however it is heavily overgrown. The remains of the goods shed is still visible. Two of the three bridges are still in the village, one being on the Twistle and the other being on the main road towards Banbury on the A361. Byfield was also home to an ironstone railway; This railway closed in 1965 along with the SMJR network Byfield was also the home of British folk-rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny, and her husband Trevor Lucas, from 1974 until her death in 1978. A number of Sandy's demos issued since her death (most notably on the 2004 box set A Boxful of Treasures) were recorded at home in Byfield and in 2017 the BBC unveiled a plaque commemorating her last professional gig in Byfield Village Hall. Geography The village of Byfield is situated in the folds of the northern edge of the Cotswolds, in the south-western corner of Northamptonshire, some four miles east of the intersection with the boundaries of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Byfield also lies almost equidistant between Daventry to the north and Banbury to the south on the A361 road, each about nine