An Oxfordshire village will enjoy a brush with history when the descendants of families which lived there in 1750 return to their ancestral patch.

The idea is the brainchild of Ron Crowdy, of Rainham, Kent, whose family tree has its roots at Aston Rowant, near Thame.

He is delving into his own family history and went to the village last year.

He said: "I sat in the village church and then, for reasons I cannot truly explain, I went and knelt at the altar rail. I had this overwhelming feeling that my ancestors for centuries had done just the same thing.

"And I thought of the other families who had been around when my own people had been here.

"So it seemed a natural thing to do to see if we could get their descendants back into the village for a day."

Ron also met Di Eaton and Jan Gooders, who recently wrote a history of Aston Rowant and its neighbouring communities of Crowell and Kingston Blount.

They will be at the gathering on April 7 with their book, and all the material from parish records which they used for it, and the village's Millennium exhibition.

The Crowdys are mentioned in the book as among the poor of the parish.

Through the records Ron has contacted people from the other families named and they will take details of their own family trees to the meeting.

The Rector, the Rev Charles Draper, will take a small service in the parish church.