Iffley stands on the Thames, two miles downstream from Oxford. It was once an agricultural village separated from the city by open fields and much visited by citizens and scholars who admired its rustic prettiness. It is now a suburb, and some of those fields have sprouted housing estates. The old village, however, is still a favourite destination for weekend walks; standing above its lock, on a stretch of the river well-known to Oxford oarsmen, it has a famous and majestic Norman church and some fine old houses. A remarkable acreage of open meadows also survives. The village has long attracted distinguished people to come and live in it. The social history of its working population is just as interesting.