Crowmarsh Gifford Norman. A north transept with a pointed arch was added in about 1200. The building was restored in 1836 and 1868. In 1139 King Stephen built a wooden fort in Crowmarsh, the first of a series built in opposition to Wallingford Castle, which supported his cousin Matilda during the civil war known as The Anarchy. The forts were probably dismantled as a result of the Treaty of Wallingford of 1153. The castle at Crowmarsh consisted of a wide ditch surrounding an enclosure measuring . In 1701 agriculturist Jethro Tull invented his revolutionary seed drill here. In 1770 nearby Mongewell Park
Seed drill mechanically into an air stream created by a hydraulically powered onboard fan and conveyed initially to a distribution head which sub-divides the seed into the pipes taking the seed to the individual colters. The seed drill allows farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths at a specific seed rate; each tube creates a hole of a specific depth, drops in one or more seeds, and covers it over. This invention gives farmers much greater control over the depth that the seed is planted and the ability to cover the seeds without back-tracking. The result is an increased