Denton is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in the civil parish of Cuddesdon and Denton

Cuddesdon and Denton

Cuddesdon and Denton is a civil parish in the county of Oxfordshire, England.Forming part of South Oxfordshire district its main settlements are Cuddesdon and Denton.-External links:*...

 in Oxfordshire. Its toponym

Toponymy

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...

 is derived from the Old English den-tun meaning "valley farmstead". Denton is in a fold of the landscape, between the two hills on which Cuddesdon

Cuddesdon

Cuddesdon is an east Oxfordshire village about east of Oxford. It is notable as the location of Ripon College Cuddesdon....

 and Garsington

Garsington

Garsington is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.-Notable Garsington buildings:The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is the Norman tower, built towards the end of the 12th century. The Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke restored...

 stand.

Denton is an ancient manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

and had its own civil parish, but in the twentieth century it was merged with neighbouring Cuddesdon.