Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire

Description
Stanton Harcourt, a parish, with a village and two-hamlets, in Oxfordshire, 2 miles SSE of South Leigh station on the G.W.R., and 4 3/4 SE of Witney. It has a post office under Oxford; money order and telegraph office, Eynsham. Acreage, 3447; population, 561. There is a parish council consisting of six members. The manor has belonged for seven centuries to the Harcourts. The manor house of the 15th century, was the place where Pope finished his translation of the fifth book of Homer, and is now represented by interesting remains at a farm. Three stones called Devil's Quoits, said to be commemorative of a battle in 614, are near the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford, and till 1868 was united with South Leigh; gross value, £260 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church is a fine ancient cruciform building of stone chiefly in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel with S chapel, nave, transepts, N porch, and a central embattled tower. It has a fine wooden rood screen of 13th century work, and is unusually rich in ancient tombs and monuments,chiefly memorials of the Harcourt family. There are two interesting epitaphs by Pope in the church, one on the son of Lord Chancellor Harcourt, the other to two lovers who were killed by lightning.