England 2023- Lewknor, a pleasant surprise

The path to Lewknor

 On our previous trip to England in 2018 I somehow discovered the perfect hotel to stay at the night before flying out of Heathrow.  My late 40’s brain can’t exactly remember how I found it but I think I searched hotels in a 30 minute radius from Heathrow. You see, we wanted one more night in the countryside. We had done the whole airport hotel thing previously and that just made me anxious and made me feel like the trip was completely over. We wanted to get everything we could out of our time. I wanted to feel like it wasn’t over until we returned the rental car and stepped foot inside Heathrow Airport. 

Mercure Thame Lambert Hotel 

In 2018 we got lost on our way to the Mercure Thame Lambert Hotel and nearly ended our trip in divorce court. Thankfully this time we knew exactly how to get there and avoided a tantrum from either or both of us. It’s amazing how much more calm you can be when you know where you’re going. The Mercure is like a modern mock Tudor beacon of light. The building looks like it was built in the 16th century but it is a 2008 creation that was renovated in 2016 with all of the modern conveniences. The first time we stayed there we had a ground floor room with a view of the grounds. We were so exhausted that outside of using the on site gym (rip to my running days) we stayed in, not bothering to explore beyond the hotel grounds. This time we decided to walk off our dinner and do some light exploring.

This is how we stumbled upon a little village tucked away on the other side of the M40. We discovered a lovely little walking path that leads from the hotel, under the motorway and drops you along a field and a road into the Saxon village of Lewknor. 

                                                               The walk to Lewknor

Wild buttercups in Lewknor

This little village has been in use since the Iron Age and Roman era although the name is first mentioned in a lawsuit in 990 AD. The parish church dates to the 12th century and is truly an understated marvel. Made of local flint, it sits in the town field known as St Mary furlong. One of my favorite features that you see before you even enter the churchyard is the gate, called a lychgate (pronounced litch-gate, rhymes with glitch). The name is old English for “corpse”, as this area was traditionally where you would place the coffin before burial- protecting it and the mourners from the elements. 

The lychgate in Lewknor is fairly large and has ornate floral carvings as well as “ I know that my Redeemer liveth” carved overhead as you pass through. This lychgate is the first one I’ve seen in person- it just seemed so fitting to find one in the English countryside of Oxfordshire where I could envision the world of early 20th century England as brought to you by *Merchant Ivory.

The lychgate and churchyard. Listen to those birds. 

• We passed through the gates and found ourselves on consecrated ground. Headstones and graves were hidden in the overgrown grass, only the topmost portion visible unless you were fortunate enough to have an above ground burial vault, but even those were not fully visible. Pathways were worn into the dirt by centuries of parishioners making their way to the medieval church. St Margaret’s Church was originally dedicated to St Mary, although I can’t find a source for when this name change took place, it appears that the change of patronage came about from the fact that the village wake (a traditional vigil forthe deceased) takes place on St Margaret’s day. 

The church is still very much in use. It serves several communities not just that of the village of Lewknor and you can tell that those parishioners take pride in their historic place of worship. Once inside the heavy doors, you will find the limestone bucket font- dating from the 12th century, it is still in use and is one of the only surviving features of the original Norman structure. 

The thing I remember most is how cold it was inside. It made me realize how hard it must be to heat those old stone buildings. We didn’t linger too long inside because of this fact, but I did stay long enough to admire the stained glass windows and 17th century effigies. 

Walking back to the hotel we passed by a row of cottages that looked right out of a film. I don’t even want to think of the cost of one of those little cottages. Lewknor is a place for the affluent, with prices sitting about the 1 million pound mark. I took a video and tucked them away for my lottery win fantasy. 

Lewknor was such a delightful surprise and proof that you should just follow the little lane, go on the adventure and just maybe you’ll stumble upon a 12th century church, 

*Merchant Ivory was/is a production company who produced several period films made popular in the 1980’s and early 1990’s- often bringing early 20th century novels to life like A Room with A View, Howard’s End, and The Remains of the Day.