St Botolph's Church, Swyncombe, Oxfordshire -the present church at Swyncombe was built probably by Saxon workers under the command of the Normans. It is situated on the Ridgeway once a major road from Avebury in Wiltshire to the flint mines of Norfolk. Just prior to the Norman invasion the lands around Wallingford, including Swyncombe were in the hands of Wigod a staller to Edward the Confessor. Wigod seems to have been related to ?thelstan Ealdorman of East Anglia1 (Half King) who in turn may have been descended from Aethelred I 4,? elder brother to Alfred The Great.? ?thelstan was also Lord of Uffington and granted land to Abingdon Abbey.

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