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To Burford, where on 13 May 1649 Cromwell launched a night attack on a Leveller-inspired mutiny in the New Model Army, preparatory to its departure for Ireland. (The episode features in #Dominion...)
340 men were imprisoned by Cromwell overnight - one of them, Anthony Sedley, scratched his name on the leadwork of the font, & described himself as a ‘prisner’. 3 of the mutineers were subsequently shot in the churchyard. A plaque commemorates them as Leveller martyrs. 
Burford Church is also notable for featuring a Green Man & this enigmatic sculpture, high on the tower. It was long taken to portray the flight of the Holy Family, but may originally have portrayed the Romano-Gallic horse goddess, Epona, with 2 attendants. It’s certainly v old...
Equally enigmatic is this sculpture, which appears on the grave of Henry VIII’s barber surgeon, & appears to show a Native American. If so, it is the oldest such portrayal to be found anywhere in Britain. it looks weirdly like an Eric Gill... #Burford
#Burford also has great ghosts. Sir Lawrence Tanfield & his wife, Lady Tanfield, were notorious 17th C reprobates who declared they would like “to grind the people of Burford beneath their carriage wheels.” They continue to drive a fiery airborne coach to this day.
Unsurprisingly, it is considered very bad luck to see Lord & Lady Tanfield... #Burford
