However, the latter, a namesake of a contemporary James Pym from Oakley, has been found to be from Garsington, a village 10 miles (16 km) away in Oxfordshire.

[2] Alwid is supposed to have been the same lady who held lands in Wiltshire under the name of Leuide, embroiderer to the King and Queen.

In 1142 Empress Matilda granted Oakley parish church, with its chapels of Brill, Boarstall and Addingrove to the monks of St Frideswide's Priory, in Oxford.

In 1222 Ralphe de Norwich became first Rector of Oakley, appointed by the Henry III who had recovered the right of advowson by judgement of his Court at Westminster.

A transaction in 1224 mentions selions (cultivated strips of land) in Oakley, suggesting an open field system, i.e. no fences or hedges.

[4] In 1589 Roman Catholic layman Thomas Belson escaped capture in Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire and fled to Ixhill Lodge in Oakley, where he hid in a priest hole.

It modernised the farming structures of the communities in ways that left problems of poverty and rural under-employment for the smallholders and the landless.

The process of disafforestation – analogous in modern terms to privatisation[dubious – discuss] – should not be confused with deforestation, meaning to strip a forest of its trees.

In the same year, the enclosure of common land was opposed by a mob that tried to prevent the attorney attaching notice of it to the church door.

Villagers were outraged because large areas of land were granted to local landowners and 155 acres (63 ha) were sold to cover the cost of the enclosure.

On 20 October 1844, the hamlet of Studley, which had been part of Oakley parish, was transferred to Horton-cum-Studley in Oxfordshire, as a result of Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844[6] The 1851 census noted that houses had been demolished in Oakley as villagers left (for English cities and emigration to the Americas).

In the 1860s Charles Edmund Clutterbuck, a master stained glass artist, made two windows for the parish church.

However, in issue Number 2 in February 1889 carried the story about a pantomime and concert at the school – a complete success that befittingly crowned the exertions and careful organisations of its promoter, Miss Boys.

Children were not invited in vain, a tea feast (generously given by Mrs. Kirby) winding up an extra-special treat, which coming as a surprise was all the more thoroughly enjoyed.

Oakley Public Library (in the Lady Verney Reading Room) was opened on 17 February 1911 and closed in 1936.

Charles, Frank, George and Thomas were the sons of Joseph and Martha Measey (née Gladdy) of The Royal Oak.

He died on 20 January 1917 aged 33 and was buried at the Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery at Armentieres in France.

He was killed in action on 22 June 1918 and was buried at the Karasouli Military Cemetery on the Macedonian front in Greece.

George the fourth son to be die, was a private in the 2nd/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

He ended up as a wounded prisoner of war at the Hotel Berthad at Chateau Loes in Switzerland and died of illness on 5 October 1918.

Victoria Cross recipient Edward Brooks was born in Oakley, winning his medal at Fayet, near St Quentin, France on 28 April 1917.

An alehouse was an ordinary domestic house in which people were allowed to come into the kitchen or front room to drink beer, but not spirits.

No 11 Operational Training Unit (No 11 OTU) moved to Westcott in September 1942, many Vickers Wellingtons were located here.

After Victory in Europe Day in 1945, orders were received to clear the hangar and fit it for the provision of refreshment and succour to thousands of repatriated prisoners of war brought here as part of Operation Exodus.

On 16 January 1991 Malcolm Rifkind opened the section of the M40 motorway: the 11.4-mile (18.3 km) stretch between Waterstock and Wendlebury, passing through Oakley parish.

In 2003 Oakley featured in national and international news again through an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery.

On show were memorabilia from the robbery, Bruce Reynold's Lotus Cortina, the lorry and one of the Land Rovers used in the raid.

Like many other English villages, in the years between 2000 and 2011, Oakley lost many local facilities, including its post office, shop, surgery, filling station and one of its pubs (the Royal Oak).

St. Mary's parish is now part of the Church of England Benefice of Worminghall with Ickford, Oakley and Shabbington.

The village had a football club, Oakley United, which was successful in the Oxford Senior League and Oving Cup during the 2010s.