Oliver Cromwell and Wheatley Manor Cromwell reputedly stayed at Wheatley Manor House in 1646 when his daughter married at Holton Manor House, a mile away. Manor houses were preferred billets for senior officers. (Milton’s mother-in-law was also a child of this house.) Running skirmishes were fought outside, on the High Street, 1643-4. An artillery round was found in the garden. Wheatley Bridge was a national frontier post between King and Parliament (Oxford and London) 1642-6. Cromwell wrote of interrogating travellers there on market day and of taking 2000 heavy cavalry along London Rd. Many Civil War traditions hang over Wheatley and Holton. ‘Cromwell’s Cup’ was given to the royalist lady of Holton House to mark the wartime wedding under her roof. His portrait, now in the Bodleian, supposedly came with it. The Whorwoods of Holton were staunch royalists. Lady Whorwood even refused the Commonwealth service for her funeral in 1654. Her daughter-in-law, Jane Whorwood, (nee Ryder), tall, red haired and the confident daughter of a Stuart courtier, spent the period 1646-8 trying to ‘spring’ Charles I from various prisons. The lonely, frightened little King fell in love with her. She came from the crowd and hugged him just before his execution. Fascinating account - few people know the key role of Wheatley and Holton in the siege of Oxford and The Civil War - an intriguing insight into garrison and outpost life The Oxford Times, May 2004 .