Waterperry with Thomley

Waterperry was an ancient parish in the Bullingdon Hundred of Oxfordshire. The parish included the hamlet of Thomley as well as Waterperry itself. Thomley appears to have been a thriving settlement in the early 13th century, but subsequently declined to the point where by the 19th century Thomley essentially just comprised the farm of Thomley Hall and its outbuildings.^[2]

Despite Thomley's decline, parish functions under the poor laws from the 17th century onwards were administered separately for the hamlet of Thomley and the rest of Waterperry parish. As such, Thomley became a separate civil parish in 1866 when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws.^[3]

Thomley and Waterperry parishes were merged into a single civil parish called "Waterperry and Thomley" in 1995, effectively reuniting the ancient parish of Waterperry under a new name.^[4]