The name comes from Pereium, probably  meaning ‘pear orchard Waterperry is on the Buckinghamshire border, with the  river Thame for its southern boundary and the Holton brook for its western  boundary. The ground is low lying, generally about 200 ft above sea level,  rising to 234 ft to the north. The soil is rich loam with a subsoil of gravel  and clay, and it provides excellent meadow land and pasture. Bernwood Forest is north-west of the  parish, where rare butterflies can sometimes be found during the  summer. Waterperry has one street, with a  mixture of new council houses and ancient cottages which are mostly of the  17th and 18th century. They are built of coarse rubble or  brick and some are timber-framed. Waterperry House owes its graceful  Queen Anne frontage to Sir John Curson, who had it rebuilt in 1713. The Henley  family bought the estate in 1830 and it was sold to Magdalen College in 1925.  Seven years later Waterperry Horticultural School was opened by Beatrix  Havergal, the principal, as a residential horticultural college for women. Miss  Havergal was known as the ‘Strawberry Queen’ at Chelsea Flower Show, where for  many years she won the gold medal prize for her exhibit of Royal Sovereign  strawberries. She retired in 1971. The house was then taken over by the  Fellowship of the School of Economic Science. It is now run as a horticultural  and garden centre. The school organises the annual Art in Action festival in  July, where craftsmen and women from all over the world exhibit their  skills. The church of St Mary was built in the  pre-Conquest period. It comprises a nave of three bays, chancel, south aisle and  south porch. The west tower with its weather boarded bellcote is of wood,  supported on oak pillars within the church. In the nave there are some  high-backed pews on which the candlesticks remain and with the original hinges  on the doors. Most interesting are the early 14th century windows  with excellent tracery on the north wall. The ghost of Waterperry is the Grey  Lady, who walks the footpath from Holton to Waterperry House. A number of people  living in both villages have encountered here while walking the footpath in the  last 20 years. Waterperry is now within sight of the  M40 motorway from London to Birmingham and village life is bound to alter from  the sleepy village it has been to a commuting village of the  future.

The above article was based on one that  appears in "The New Oxfordshire Village Book" written by the local village WIs  and compiled by the Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes.