Sydenham and Emmington

Sydenham and Emmington are quiet villages either side of the B4445 Thame to Chinnor road.

Of the two villages Sydenham is the larger and the more attractive, having a good selection of timber framed, brick, flint and wychert (a clay-like material) cottages under thatch and old tiled roofs. The name 'Sydenham' means 'at the wide hamm or meadow'.

In the centre of Sydenham is the flint and stone St. Mary's Church with its oak shingled spire. Next to the church is the Old School Room, formerly the village National School, which is now used as the village hall.

Some scenes from the popular TV series Midsomer Murders have been filmed in the village of Sydenham.
http://midsomermurders.org/sydenhamloc.htm

Most of the houses of Emmington are near 'The Inn at Emmington', either on the main road or along the Sydenham road. However the parish church and a few other houses and a couple of farms are down an extremely potholed lane on the other side of the B4445. The parish church, the Church of St. Nicholas, is tucked away behind the extremely smart Old Rectory, and the approach to the church is along a well-kept gravel path, which continues inside the church grounds. The building, on the site of an old Norman church was largely rebuilt in the 14th century, and the bell tower survives from this time.