Lew was once a hamlet in the parish of Bampton. In the 1840s, Bampton was split into the three separate parishes of Bampton Aston, Bampton Proper (centred on Bampton itself), and Bampton Lew, centred on Lew, where a church had been newly built. The introduction to PAR16 (records of Bampton parish) gives more details on the history of this parish. In 1917, Bampton Lew was reunited with Bampton proper, and since 1976, they have been joined by Bampton Aston and Clanfield.
All the following records of Bampton Lew were deposited with Oxfordshire Archives in 1995, and assigned the Accession Number 4001, except for PAR18/1/R2/1, which was deposited here in 1996, as Accession No. 4096. PAR18/1/R5/1, and PAR18/1/R6/2-6 were deposited in 1999, as Accession 4678.
Catalogued by Robin Darwall-Smith in May 1996, with additions and revisions by Jenny Childs in April 2002.