Originally published by Victoria County History, London, This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved. This parish was an isolated portion of the county of Gloucester until about , when it was transferred fn. It forms a long narrow strip from the Four Shire Stone on the road from Moreton-in-the-Marsh to Chipping Norton part of the turnpike road from Worcester to London , which road runs for over 3 miles south-eastwards just within the parish boundary.
It is hilly, varying between ft. In Rudder writes: fn. There is a common about two miles in length, and in some places above half a mile broad, of very good land, and exceedingly improvable. A tribute to the amenities of the district may be seen in the fact that in the parish was called Compton 'in the flowers in Floribus '. The houses and cottages in the scattered village are mostly built of local ragstone and variously roofed with thatch, stone tiles, pantiles, and slates.
Few are of any age and they have no architectural features except for two or three 17th-century mullioned windows. The Manor House stands west of the church and faces south: it is of three stories and attics. Projecting northwards behind the east range is an earlier wing dating from the early 16th century, and north of the hall is a parallel wing containing the entrance hall and main staircase added in when the house was restored, apparently the south wall of the hall-block entirely rebuilt, and the interior rearranged.
There are traces of older walling incorporated in the west side and north end of the west wing, perhaps even earlier than the north-east wing. Alterations were made to the house late in the 17th century. These are marked by several windows, some now blocked or again altered.
One window of this period on the inside wall of the east wing, towards the south courtyard, was partly destroyed when the south wall of the middle hall-block was rebuilt, suggesting that this block was narrower than it is now. Another tall blocked window in the same wall, farther south, is now crossed by the present first floor, showing that there must then have been a difference in the floorlevels.
