Meaning: Royal Farm .

The Norman decorated church contains old wall paintings, plus examples of Jacobean woodwork. The 18th Century Manor house is situated in a fine park. The curious Blowingstone, a perforated Saracen stone described in Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown’s Schooldays, lies to the south of the village .

Thomas Hughes’ grandmother lived here. Harrison Ainsworth wrote Jack Sheppard (1839) and Guy Fakes (1841). His Old St Paul’s is based on the area .