BLECHINGDON, a parish in the hundred of
PLOUGHLEY, county of OXFORD, 5 miles (B. byN.) from
Woodstock, containing 570 inhabitants. The living is
a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Oxford,
rated in the king's books at £12. 9. 4£,, and in the patronage
of the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College,
Oxford. The church is dedicated to St. Giles. Leonard
Power, by will in 1620, endowed an almshouse for four
poor persons, and a school, which he had previously
built, with £200, on condition that certain parcels of
land should be given by the respective owners for the
same purpose, which was accordingly done: the almshouses
were rebuilt about the end of the last century,
and about £33 per annum is assigned for the support
of the inmates: the school has been discontinued, but
another, on a large scale, is supported byArthur Annesley,
Esq., in a building of his own.