Crowfield - a frontier forest settlement's history

Introduction
It is a testament to a free and stubborn human spirit that Crowfield has survived as a settlement since prehistory. Placed on two main routes, its position put it slap bang in the middle of armed conflicts throughout the centuries, and on the frontier of the local landed aristocracies conflicting interests.
Here is a settlement that has been forced to change with the times. Close to Syresham but apart from it, this peace-loving outlying hamlet on the edge of valuable forests, populated (until late 20th Century) by a poor but free and independent people, was drawn into the major events and conflicts of the centuries by pure geography.

Origin of the name
Besides the self-evident - a field where crows congregated - there are 2 other options
Croh derived from the norske kra means corner. That would fit as Crowfield was on the corner of the woods and also the corner of Syresham (Sighere's ham). The naming of fields was very important in early history. The adding of "field" to place name indicates a settlement in a woodland clearing. Croh in old English also means the colour saffron.
Whistley comes from the old English wisce leigh, meaning clearing in soft ground. The woods take their name from the farm not the other way round.

Influences
Its early history has been influenced by:
· The forests surrounding it, giving an extra source of fuel and food, and exposing the settlement to the comings and goings of kings and nobility on their way to their hunting;
· The essential availability of good water from local springs, and wells. The water eventually forms the River Ouse;
· The large number of freeholders in the village
· The ridge where all the houses have been built is the dry area and the road has followed the ridge.
· The absence of a resident squire resulted in no cohesive planning to the development of Crowfield, like in the Cotswolds, but rather a haphazard development of different types of buildings, with no building earlier than 1880s still standing. The lack of central control also produced a set of fiercely independent residents, who were inherently non-conformist;
· The importance of the Roman road between Brackley and Towcester, and its importance in the network of roads between Winchester and Northamptom exposing Crowfield to all the conflicts of the centuries;
· Its proximity to the Welsh lane, (an ancient Celtic way and later Roman Road), and used by cow drovers taking their cows to market in London;
· The wool trade and sheep farming;
· The influence of the church and the chapel