Lower Heyford is a village and civil parish beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Bicester.

It is bounded by the River Cherwell to the west, Aves ditch to the east, and field boundaries to the north and south.

Harborough Bank, an Anglo-Saxon burial mound southwest of the village dates from the 6th century.

[4] The reason is not clear, but there is a village of Newton Purcell about 10 miles (16 km) east of Lower Heyford.

[4] "Nether", like the present "Lower", distinguishes the village from Upper Heyford which is about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream along the Cherwell valley.

Before the Norman Conquest of England the manor of Lower Heyford was held by Edwin, the son of a Saxon thegn.

William the Conqueror granted the land to the powerful Geoffrey de Montbray, bishop of Coutances.

The manor passed through various hands until 1533 when Sir Edward Baynton sold it to Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

[2] Wufwig, Bishop of Dorchester consecrated a parish church at Lower Heyford in the 11th century.

It was largely rebuilt in a Decorated Gothic style in the first half of the 14th century, with north and south aisles joined to the nave by two-bay arcades.

The east end of the south aisle is a chapel with niches for statues or figurative reliefs.

[7] St Mary's is now part of the Benefice of Cherwell Valley along with five other parishes: Ardley, Fritwell, Somerton, Souldern and Upper Heyford.

In the Middle Ages Lower and Upper Heyford had two watermills on the River Cherwell, and one was still in use in 1858.

[2] There has been a bridge over the River Cherwell between Lower Heyford, Rousham and Steeple Aston since at least 1255.

[13] The bridge is a Grade II* listed building and forms an important part of the view from the historic adjacent landscape garden of Rousham House.

[14] It runs along the Cherwell valley and bounds Lower Heyford village on its north and west sides.

An open field system of farming continued in the parish until 1802 when a land award from the Lower Heyford and Calcot Inclosure Act 1801 (41 Geo.

The route is now the Cherwell Valley Line and Heyford station is served by Great Western Railway trains.