Towersey

Towersey is a small rural parish just inside the East Oxfordshire border. The origins of its name can be found back as far as the Saxon times. The village can be found in the Doomsday Book under it’s original name of Eye. The name Towersey is actually derived from Richard de Tours. The Tours family were owners of the land and area. Therefore, they became know as the Tours of Eye which led to usages such as Toureye, Towerseye and finally Towersey. By the 14th Century some of the land was owned by the Abbott and his Church of Thame. The occasional residence for the Abbott was Grange Farm. The dissolution of the Thame Abbey by Henry VIII in 1542 meant the church owned lands in Towersey were passed to the Dean and Chapter of Oxford. In 1669 after the Civil War these lands were seized by Parliament and conveyed to Sir Edmond Pye. By the 1900’s several cottages and the manor were owned by James Whitehorse (who was Lord of the manor at the time). Along with Phillip James Digby Wykeham and Thomas Alfred Grange. They were the chief landowners at that time. The village was originally part of Buckinghamshire but became part of Oxfordshire in 1933. This was due to a boundary change.