Upper Heyford is a village and civil parish about northwest of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,295.
The village is just east of the River Cherwell. "Upper" distinguishes it from Lower Heyford which is about "lower", downstream along the Cherwell valley. The parish measures about east–west and almost north–south. In 1959 it covered .
The parish's western boundary is just west of the river. Chilgrove Drive, a continuation of Aves ditch, forms part of the parish's eastern boundary. Field boundaries bound the parish on the south. In the north the boundary crosses the former RAF Upper Heyford airfield, following the course of former field boundaries.
Prehistory
The Portway is a pre-Roman road running parallel with the River Cherwell on high ground about east of the river. Its course bisects Upper Heyford parish and passes just east of the village. Part of it forms a minor road to Kirtlington.
Manor
The Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Haiford, with a manor of 10 hides that was one of the many estates of the Norman baron Robert D'Oyly. Along with many manors of the D'Oyly estate, Heyford became part of the Honour of Wallingford. The manor was tenanted by the de Chesney family until the late 12th century, when Maud de Chesney became married to Henry FitzGerold, chamberlain to Henry II. Maud left the manor to her eldest son Warin, who had succeeded to the manor by 1198 and after whom the village became called Heyford Warren. Warin's daughter Margaret married Baldwin de Redvers, son of William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon. Heyford Warren remained with the Earls of Devon and thereby passed to Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon in 1262. The building has similarities with tithe barns at Swalcliffe and a Grade I listed building.
The tower has three bells, the oldest of which is the tenor bell cast in 1624 by Richard I Purdue, who had foundries in places including Glastonbury and Stoford in Somerset. Mears & Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the second bell in 1866 and the treble bell in 1946.
Methodist chapels
thumb|upright|left|Heyford Galleries (left) and Chapel House (right) in the High Street. Heyford Galleries was built in 1867 as a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan chapel.]]
In 1829 a meeting-place for Protestant Dissenters was licensed in Upper Heyford. They may have been Wesleyan Methodists, whose chapel was rebuilt in 1867. By 1955 its congregation had dwindled to three members.
In the Second World War an area in the southwest corner of the new cemetery, nearest the church, was reserved for Imperial War Graves Commission burials. 40 airmen from RAF Upper Heyford are now buried here, including eight from the Royal Canadian Air Force and two from the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Economic and social history
thumb|upright|Sign of the former Three Horse Shoes pub
By 1784 Upper Heyford had a pub called the Three Horse Shoes. It was still trading in the 20th century, but is now a private house. After 1887 and in 1951 the village had two pubs.
Air crashes
thumb|[[22d Air Refueling Wing#Cold War|22nd Bombardment Group Boeing B-47 Stratojet similar to one that crashed near the village in 1954]]
From time to time there were air crashes associated with the air base. Two serious air crashes that happened in Upper Heyford parish were in 1954 and 1992.
In May 1954 a Boeing B-47 Stratojet of the 22nd Bombardment Group crashed in a field about northwest of the Oxford – Banbury railway line and burst into flames. The aircraft was not carrying bombs, but rounds from its two .50-calibre M2 Browning machine guns exploded in the fire and continued to do so for several hours.
On 17 September 1992 a General Dynamics F-111E of the 55th Fighter Squadron suffered an hydraulic failure on a routine training flight. A controller on the ground at the air base told the two crew to eject. But pilot Jerry Lindh and navigator/weapons systems officer David "Mike" McGuire feared the aircraft could hit either Upper Heyford village or its neighbour North Aston, so they chose to remain with their aircraft to try to control its descent.
A customer of the Three Horse Shoes pub who saw the crash reported "The jet was making a horrible sputtering noise and looked to barely be in control. I can only describe it as a wobbly wing-flapping with the wing tips alternatively going +/- 25-30 degrees with the right wing dipping furthest."
thumb|Monument to Captain Lindh and Major McGuire in the air force section of Upper Heyford cemetery
The aircraft was on approach to the airfield's main runway but skimmed Somerton Road, struck the tops of a set of pole-mounted landing lights, ploughed through a hedge, crashed onto the runway and exploded. The landlord of the Barley Mow pub in Somerton Road said "The pub shook and I looked out and saw the aircraft skating across the road in two separate parts. It went through the fence and on to the base and burst into flames."
Amenities
thumb|The Barley Mow pub
Upper Heyford has one pub, the Barley Mow. It is controlled by Fuller's Brewery.
The village has a village hall, allotments, sports field, football club and children's playground.
Public transport
Red Rose Travel bus route 25 serves Upper Heyford, linking the village with Bicester via Middleton Stoney in one direction, and with Lower Heyford in the other. There are bus stops in Camp Road: at the east end of the village near the junction of Somerton Road, and at Heyford Park near the entrance of the former airfield.
Stagecoach also runs bus route 25 serving Upper Heyford, Middleton Stoney, Bicester, Graven Hill, Ambroseden & HMP Bullingdon on Sundays only.
Buses run from Mondays to Saturdays, mostly at hourly intervals. There is no late evening service, and no service on Sundays or bank holidays.
Climate
Unusually for a location in the UK, Upper Heyford has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate using the new averages for 1991–2020. It is one of only two places in the UK with this climate. The other is Woodbridge, Suffolk.