Crowmarsh Gifford lies on a pleasant stretch of the Thames at the bridge to Wallingford. One of the town's two medieval hospitals was sited in the village on the south side of the wide main street, which for a number of years held an annual fair.
The village suffered much from two civil wars. During the 12th century, wooden siege forts were built opposite Wallingford castle; and in the 17th century, some of the Royalist soldiers took refuge in the Norman church ahead of Parliamentary troops advancing on the castle from Henley.
Two other old buildings are the 14th century Queen's Head pub and the 15th century former manor house where Jethro Tull invented his horse-drawn seed drill that helped revolutionise agriculture in the early 18th century.
