[3] The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan held the principal manor of Napton.

[3] When Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester died in 1204 leaving no male heir his estates were divided between his two sisters.

[3] Napton was included in the half that passed to his younger sister Margaret, and thereby to her husband Saer de Quincy who in 1207 was made Earl of Winchester.

[4] Prof. Louis Salzman considered that the north and south transepts were also 12th century[3] but Prof. Nikolaus Pevsner and Alexandra Wedgwood proposed a later date of about 1275, noting their triplets of Early English Gothic lancet windows.

[5] The south porch reuses a mixture of Early English and Perpendicular masonry and has puzzled historians.

In the 14th century Napton was granted a market charter by King Edward II and throughout the Middle Ages it was one of the largest settlements in Warwickshire.

[3] The present stone-built tower mill is a later structure, dating from the 18th or early 19th century that was derelict in 1966 but has since been restored.

[13] This made Napton the head of navigation for coal supplies to be forwarded by road to Banbury, Bicester, Woodstock and Oxford[13] until 1777, when the canal reached Fenny Compton which then took over as the trans-shipment point.

Even so, to climb from Napton Wharf to the summit pound at Marston Doles required eight locks around the hill (nos.

[18] To reach the same level as the Oxford Canal the W&N ascended three locks at Calcutt just north of Napton parish.

Between 1808 and 1811 the W&N built a reservoir at Ashby St Ledgers 7 miles (11 km) from Napton to feed both the Oxford and the W&N via the Grand Junction Canal.

[20] This enabled the Oxford to cease regular pumping at Napton and stop charging the W&N two shillings for each boat through Calcutt Locks.

[24] The canals are now primarily a leisure facility and Napton Junction has a marina that offers moorings and narrowboats for hire.