Sandford-on-Thames, also referred to as simply Sandford, is a village and Parish Council beside the River Thames in Oxfordshire just south of Oxford.

In the middle of the 12th century a small "field church" dedicated to Saint Andrew was built on a hill in the Sandford manorial grounds for the use of the nearby Minchery nuns.

The original Norman porch was restored and repaired in 1652 through the generosity of Elizabeth Isham but the majority of the improvement works to the church took place in the 25 years between 1840 and 1865.

In the centre of the graveyard stands a fine yew tree planted on Good Friday 1800 and just to the east of the porch is a flat-topped gravestone from which bread was handed out to the poor of the parish.

[2] In 1239 Sir Thomas de Sandford gave land to the Knights Templar enclave in Oxford's Temple Cowley.

The river Thames dominates Sandford's history, with the fertile meadows promoting agriculture and the water providing both transport and power.

Roman pottery from kilns found on the northern edge of the village hints at Sandford's manufacturing heritage.

In May 1644, during the English Civil War, the Earl of Essex took his troops across the river at Sandford to join the battle of Cropredy.

[3] The watercourse behind the lock-keeper's house (dated 1914) flows from the "big lasher" weir which creates strong currents and eddies.

In 1921 the river here claimed the lives of three Christ Church students, including Michael Llewelyn Davies, the adopted son of J. M. Barrie, who was the inspiration for Peter Pan.

Iffley, Sandford and Culham locks were built by the Oxford-Burcot Commission following the Thames Navigation Act 1623 (21 Jas.

[4] The Knights Templar name lived on until recently in Temple Farm, which was acquired by Magdalen College, Oxford in 1900.

After Dick Morris' death in 1966, his wife Freda continued on in partnership with her son Lloyd and together they ran the club until 1985 when the lease expired.

Originally a corn mill belonging to the Abbey of Abingdon and recorded in 1100 as owned by the local monks for bread making, it came into the hands of the Knights Templars at the beginning of the 14th century.

At the beginning of the 20th century the wharf adjacent to and upstream from the King's Arms was used extensively both by the paper mill and also by the brickworks, which developed well until 1914 when the engines were taken for service in the First World War.

Despite being left at the start, Cambridge did not give up and responded well, with the judge's verdict at the finish recorded as a win for Oxford by just two-thirds of a length.

[citation needed] The village has two public houses: the King's Arms on the river (converted in the 19th century from the Mill malthouse), and The Catherine Wheel on Henley Road.

The village has several public open spaces including a large, fenced recreation ground next to the church containing children's play equipment, a grassed area on the riverside near Sandford Lock which is the site of the old wharf, and recreation areas off Heyford Hill Lane which also contain children's play equipment.