Topography and History
The parish is in the district of West Berkshire, on the River Lambourn. The modern civil parish includes the historical parish of Little or East Shefford, a small hamlet and lost settlement downstream. The tiny Church of St Thomas there contains important monuments to the widespread Fettiplace family. The parish also includes the village of Shefford Woodlands, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south of Great Shefford and close to M4 junction 14.
The toponym of both Sheffords is derived from the Old English for "sheep ford". Great Shefford village has a public house, school, shop and petrol station, and 896 inhabitants (880 listed on the Millennium Stone opposite the petrol station).
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is one of two existing round-tower churches in Berkshire. The other one is at St Gregory's parish church at nearby Welford. Unlike the three round-towered churches in Sussex, where the towers are plain flint cylinders with few openings, the tower at Great Shefford is built up of sections with ample fenestration, more like the East Anglian type. The base of the tower at least seems to date from the 13th century, and it joins the west wall of the nave in such a way that suggests it was constructed at the same time as the nave, which shows early gothic features.
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