Sydenham is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Thame in Oxfordshire.

[2] Before the Norman Conquest of England a Saxon called Almar held the manor of Sydenham.

[3] In 1203 the manor of Sydenham was granted to Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester.

In 1248 his son Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester gave the manor of Sydenham to Thame Abbey.

The Abbey held the manor and Sydenham Grange until the Crown forced it to surrender all its property in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.

In 1559 Baron Williams died without a male heir, leaving his estates to be divided between his two daughters.

He left Sydenham to his daughter Margaret and her husband Henry Norris,[2] who in 1572 was created 1st Baron Norreys.

However, half of the land of the parish continued to be farmed under an open field system until the Thame and Sydenham Inclosure Act 1823 (4 Geo.

[2] In the chancel is a set of Medieval corbels that formerly supported a Lenten veil to screen the altar.

[2] By both accounts the tower was rebuilt, the chancel and nave lengthened and a vestry and south porch added.

[4][2] the Victoria County History adds that the tower and its arches were moved some distance to the west.

[2] By the 12th century a brook through the centre of the parish had been dammed to form a millpond to drive a water mill.

The walls of some of the timber-framed cottages have lath and plaster infill; others are filled with brick nogging.

BBC presenter Fiona Bruce and her husband Nigel Sharrocks have a second home in Sydenham.