Binsey's most noted feature is the parish church of St Margaret, set at some distance north of the surviving houses.

[1][2] Its fame lies mostly in that just outside its west end and belltower stands St Margaret's Well, a Grade II Listed Building,[3] which is the model for Lewis Carroll's "Treacle Well" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; this is a holy well dedicated to St Frideswide, patron saint of Oxford.

According to legend, she fled to Binsey in a bid to escape marriage to a king of Mercia, whose pursuit of her was halted when he was struck blind at the gates of Oxford.

[4] The reason for the apparent separation of church and village is revealed best from the air; cropmarks show the floor-plans of houses that lay along the straight road that runs between them, suggesting a much larger village during the mediaeval period, or possibly one that has migrated south.

[5] Plans in 2001 by Christ Church to double the size of the village by demolishing a barn and constructing seven new residences were met with worldwide protests, leading to withdrawal of the proposal.