Launton is a village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of Bicester, Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,204. King Edward the Confessor granted the manor of Launton to Westminster Abbey in 1065. The abbey surrendered the manor to the Crown when it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries …
Launton is a village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of Bicester, Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,204. King Edward the Confessor granted the manor of Launton to Westminster Abbey in 1065. The abbey surrendered the manor to the Crown when it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, but in 1542 the Crown granted Launton to the abbey's Dean and Chapter. Mary I restored the Roman Catholic church in England so in 1556 Launton was surrendered to the Crown, who restored it to the reinstated abbott and convent of Westminster. Elizabeth I restored the English Reformation so in 1560 Launton was surrendered to the Crown for a third time, who again granted it to the Dean and Chapter. In 1649 the Commonwealth of England assigned Launton to Westminster School. In 1860 the lands of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.