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Oxlade Family History

"Dwellers in the Valley of the Oaks"

Gazetteer



Dates - Pre-1752 dates of Jan 1st - Mar 24th. The change in New Year's Day back to Jan 1st took place in 1752 in Britain and the Colonies when the 11 day cumulative error due to slight inaccuracies in allocating leap years was dealt with. Other countries changed at various times. Julius Caesar sorted out the calendar in 45 BC when Jan 1st became NewYear's Day. When the BC/AD system was introduced in 531 New Year's Day was made to coincide with the start of Spring at the vernal equinox. This is now Mar 21st but in the preceding 576 years of the Julian calendar the leap year error was 4 days hence Mar 25 was then NYD. The Church added 9 months o fix Christmas Day at Dec 25th. Pre-1752 dates of Jan 1st - Mar 24th on the IGI are uncorrected but Bucks FHS are correct. Some sources say Mar 4th 1664/5 or 1665 NS (new style)



Ackhampstead – Later called Lane End or Moor End. The Chapel (1241 – 1849) was dismantled and re-erected at Cadmore End.



Aston Rowant – About 16 miles east of Oxford City. The ancient parish of Aston Rowant was exceptionally large for an Oxfordshire parish: it included most of the modern parish of Stokenchurch and must have covered an area of about 7,298 acres. (fn. 1) It stretched for about 6 miles from the northern end of Lewknor hundred to the hundred's southern boundary with Buckinghamshire, and contained the hamlets of Aston Uphill and Warren, Copcourt, Chalford, and Kingston Stert in the north; Aston Rowant itself and the large village of Kingston Blount in the centre; and the hill village of Stokenchurch (until 1703) and its hamlets at Beacon's or Bacon's Bottom and Water End in the south. (fn. 2) In 1895 Stokenchurch, which was a separate civil parish by this time, was transferred to Buckinghamshire. (fn. 3) Thus Aston Rowant's southern boundary, although still the county boundary, now runs to the north of Stokenchurch, and its area has been reduced to 2,924 acres. (fn. 4) Its only natural boundaries are the small streams in the north and east, whose courses are followed as they flow northwards to the Thame. One of these is the Holbrook which is frequently referred to in 16th- and 17th-century deeds, and in which the lords of Aston manor had fishing rights. (fn. 5)

*Bledlow- Quite a number of the papermakers from Bledlow moved to Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, when the mill in Bledlow closed - and then came back to Bucks later on. The Pearces (Piercey/Pace ?) were prevalent in the Chiltern hills, from the Risborougharea across to Missenden and down to Wycombe. Some of them were important Baptists.

Cadmore End– In 1698 Legal Document shown as in the Parish of Lewknor. Also at one time in the Parish of Stokenchurch.

Ditchfield- Is 1.5m from Wheeler End. Just South of Bolters End.

*Downley-Downley was formerly in the parish of West Wycombe and was then a small community perched on the small flattish top of a steep hill (Plomer Hill) north of the main Oxford Road (A40) (and nearly two miles west from the centre of  High Wycombe). The road carried on to West W. and on over the hills to Oxford. Such rolling hills are called Downs -whereas they are distinctly Ups, from most angles. Later, High Wycombe grew and incorporated the hamlet of Downley, and filled it with houses, perched awkwardly on every scrap of land on the hillside. The houses stop abruptly (at the moment) where the land falls away again sharply on the other side of the hill, to the north.) It used to be a favourite place for chapels etc to take the children on a cart ride out from the town, since you could picnic on the hillside.  There was a booklet of pictures produced about 10 years ago, and at one time,I had a duplicate.  Emigration have noticed cross references between the counties. But what I've noticedis that landowners who had large estates in Bucks often had land ( and very productive stuff) in Lincs (they also hunted there.

*The main houses in Bucks were often on poor land. Typical examples are the Tyrrwhit-Drakes of Amersham who owned vast acres inthe area of Potter Hanworth (and dished out charity money in Brant Broughton) and the Dashwoods of West Wycombe who owned masses of land in Lincs.Some estate owners would, I understand, have offered favourable tenancies to good tenants from other parts of their holdings and this might account forsome of the migration. Marion

Horsley's Green is a hamlet about 1 3/4miles south-east of the village of Stokenchurch and just south of the London Road).



Kingston Blount - Kingston Blount has for many centuries been a more populous village than the mother village of Aston. (fn. 58) The name means the king's 'tun' or vill, and no doubt derives from a period before the Conquest when it was probably a royal vill. (fn. 59) It acquired its second name of Blount from the family name of the lords of the manor from 1237 until the early 15th century. Later it was sometimes called Kingston Yorke or Kingston Hungerford after families holding the manor in the 15th and 16th centuries. (fn. 60) It stands near the eastern boundary of the parish between the ancient trackways called the Icknield Way and the Lower Icknield Way, and is one of the string of villages that sprang up on the spring line below the Chiltern hills. (fn. 61) It probably once had a large green, but Kingston Green now consists only of a small piece of rough grass on the west side of the village. This was the common land that was left uninclosed by the inclosure award of 1835. (fn. 62) The village is built round a square of which the LewknorChinnor and the Sydenham-Stokenchurch roads form two sides. The 'Red Lion' recorded in 1833 once stood at the junction of these two roads. (fn. 63) The village expanded considerably in the 18th and 19th centuries and in 1852 was described in Gardner's Directory as 'large and respectable'. (fn. 64) In 1958 it had three shops, a post office, three public houses—the 'Royal Oak', the 'Cherry Tree', and the 'Shoulder of Mutton'—a youth club, and a sports field.

Many of the old timber-framed houses with tiled or thatched roofs survive. There must have been at least two manor-houses in Kingston, but their site is not known. The manor-house of Narnett's fee is mentioned in 1631, when Robert Chapman, gent., was living there. (fn. 65) He sold it to Andrew Crooke, and it was for this house presumably that Andrew Crooke returned four hearths for the tax of 1665. (fn. 66) There are two records of the Blounts' medieval manorhouse. In 1300 Hugh le Blount impleaded the tenant, William, Bishop of Wells, for pulling down a chapel, worth 8 marks, a kitchen and bakehouse, each worth 100s., (fn. 67) and in 1317 he and his wife Nicola were living there when they undertook a journey to London at the expense of John de Stonor ****with whom they had legal business to transact. (fn. 68) It is possible that 'Moat Manor' represents one of the manor-houses. It is a timber-framed building with brick and flint filling; is L-shaped and has an overhanging upper story on the north side; the west gable-end has herring-bone brick filling and consists of three stories, whereas the rest of the house is of two stories. In the 19th century the house was divided into three cottages. Another 16th-century house is 'Old Croft' near Pleck Lane. It is a timberframed structure with brick filling, some of the bricks being arranged in herring-bone pattern, and with shingled tiles covering part of the front. The house has a central chimney-stack with a group of four brick shafts. In the High Street there are several 16th- and 17th-century cottages: some are built of brick and flint, others are timber-framed with brick filling, and many have fine box hedges which add to their attractive appearance. 'Lavengro', a twostoried house, once two cottages and used in the 1940's as a butcher's house and shop, is an interesting example. Its centre block consists of 17th-century timber-framing with filling of colour-washed brick; its 16th-century east wing is also timber-framed, but is filled with herring-bone brick and is lower in height; and its 18th-century west end is constructed of chequer brick. Until just recently the east wing had contemporary leaded casement windows and panelled shutters; it retains stone fireplaces on both floors. There is a central chimneystack with a group of square shafts.



Hugh Champernowne, the FitzAlan heir mentioned in 1428, served the king in Devon, like his predecessors, as commissioner in 1456 and 1458. (fn. 127) He was dead by 1462 when his wife Joan also died. (fn. 128) He was succeeded by his son William, who died in 1464, and his grandson John, born in 1458. (fn. 129) John Champernowne settled Aston Rowant on his son Philip and Philip's wife Katherine Carew and they were seised of the manor, worth £32, before his death in 1503. (fn. 130) In 1505 John's widow Margaret, daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay, and her second husband John West sued for dower of 1/6th of the manor, and lands in Aston, Chalford, Copcourt, and Stokenchurch. (fn. 131) The Champernownes were obviously more attached to their Devonshire estates than to those in Oxfordshire and in 1528 Philip Champernowne, who had been Sheriff of Devon in the preceding year, conveyed Aston with appurtenances in Stokenchurch, Chalford, Copcourt, and 'Oxlades' ******to Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon and Marquess of Exeter, his mother's brother-in-law. (fn. 132) Courtenay immediately exchanged it with Sir Thomas Unton of Wadley (Berks.) for land in Surrey.

~Lacey Green- is a small but picturesque hilltop village in the Chiltern Hills between High Wycombe and Princes Risborough. In fact it's much nearer to Risborough than it is to Wycombe. It still has two good pubsin the 'Pink and Lily' and the 'Whip'. Nowadays, like much of Bucks,it's commuting country, but in the 1930s I imagine it was a typical rural village. The Local Studies Library in Aylesbury will almostcertainly have photographs of the village from that time.

*Lane End- The village is 650 feet above sea level in the Chilterns, set in beautiful, rolling hills of farmland, beech woods and footpaths, once a tiny hamlet at the end of a Lane meandering across the hills near West Wycombe going roughly towards Marlow. The vast majority of Lane End was always in Bucks - but it covers a sort of armophous area on the border, which has shifted over the years. tiny bits of Lane End did count as Oxford at one stage, and - to an extent - it depended where you came in from, since there was not a great frontier post, just one bit of scrubland with a few cottages being succeeded by another bit of scrubland with a few cottages. Moving a few yards or being in different years would change the technical concept of county.It occupies an area of 1270 acres and stands on high ground overlooking the Thames valley and Marlow to the south. In addition to working the land to provide wheat and barley to the breweries in Marlow and Henley, the inhabitants traditionally manufactured chairs or worked in a local iron foundry. Lane End developed with the chairmaking industry, with a larger and larger cluster of houses round a green.  It was originally part of West Wycombe parish, but grew large enough by 1832 to justify a church and parish of its own. In 1867 Lane End was carved out of the Ancient Parishes of Fingest, Great Marlow, Hambleden & WestWycombe. It is quite a smart and well-preserved little village now, largly commuter. <There are quite a number of recordings in the Great Marlow Parish Records of people living in Lane End. There is the church of the Holy Trinity on Ditchfield Common, a Wesleyan chapel built in 1865, a Gospel mission hall dating from 1888 at Moor End, and the newest church - the Elim Centre in the centre of the village near the large estate area. The village has a handful of old English pubs: Grouse and Ale (previously known as the Clayton Arms), Osborne Arms and the Old Sun. It also has a collection of village ponds, and two butchers in the High Street. Lane End is a starting spot for ramblers who journey down the Hambleden valley on the lookout for red kite, the windmill at Turville and amazing countryside.The name derives from "the end of the lane from Marlow" (although there are similar stories about it being at the end of the lane from Wycombe).


*Hughenden- Hughenden was then a small parish about two miles up the road from HighWycombe. In those days, it was sometimes difficult for people who were notChurch of England to marry - if they wed in their chapels, this was not really legal. If they wed in the parish church of the place where they lived, the vicar might force them to be baptised first into a religionthey did not accept. Hughenden was a tiny parish, tiny income for the clergyman - how tomake money? Well, one way was providing a service not available elsewhere, and this succeeding vicars did, by operating a very liberal marriage policy - as long as you had the money, you could be wed, no questions asked - very much a 'two chairs, no waiting' policy. Hughenden had the great advantage of being very close to the coach road from London to Oxford, so couples from London and all over the place travelled down, presumably got horses or a chaise from Wycombe to the little church, and then went back to Wycombe for a feast before going home again.From their names, I suspect the families were Huguenot, and could This casual attitude to marriage was given a severe jolt in 1754, by the Hardwicke Marriage Act. Hughenden's number of marriages per year declined sharply, though there were still some hardy souls who managed to work round the system.

Lewknor- Lewknor is on the Chinnor-Waltlington Rd.

About 16 miles East of Oxford City. The parish lies in the south-west of the hundred which bears its name. Like other parishes that run up into the Chilterns, Lewknor forms a long narrow strip, 2 miles broad at its widest and 5 miles in length from north-west to south-east. In 1959 it contained two divisions or townships, covering 2,692 acres and named respectively Lewknor and Postcombe. (fn. 1) The second of these was a hamlet called 'Postelcumbe' in 1279. (fn. 2) Up in the Chilterns some 2,000 acres once formed three detached portions of Lewknor parish and together constituted the division of Lewknor Uphill, but in 1844 they were relinquished to Buckinghamshire. (fn. 3) They now belong to other parishes: Studdridge, with a portion of Wormsley, has been joined to Stokenchurch; Cadmore End was made in 1852 into a separate parish; and Moor End or Ackhampstead, which was once an outlying chapelry, was added in 1885 to Great Marlow. (fn. 4)

The ancient Lewknor parish was quite 10 miles long and was said to be at least 40 miles in circumference. In 1733 the vicar, Thomas Skeeler, reported to the lord of the manor that after 'much persuasion and a sermon' he had prevailed at last upon the parishioners to make the perambulation of the circuit of the parish 'nowadays called possessioning. . . . It is betwixt 40 and 50 years since we have had anything of this kind.' (fn. 5)

Part of the land is on the flintcovered chalk hills from which Lewknor has derived its name, 'Leofecanora' or Leofeca's slope, for that was the form of the name about the year 990. (fn. 7) The highest point (837 ft.) is on the summit of Beacon Hill (a name that perpetuates the memory of Elizabethan watch and ward), (fn. 8) and the land then drops down again for some 250 feet through beechwoods towards Stokenchurch.

At least two pre-Roman roads cross the parish from north-east to south-west. The Chiltern ridgeway keeps to the top of the ridge and is still in use in this part of its course. (fn. 9) The Icknield Way runs along the foot of the steep escarpment, keeping approximately to the 500-foot contour, and formed, in early times, an alternative to the ridgeway for use in summer. Roads that connect Lewknor with Aston Rowant and Chinnor to the north-east, and with Shirburn and Watlington to the south-west, keep close to the 400-foot contour and in medieval times were known respectively as Aston Way and Watlington Way. (fn. 10) Beyond them to the north-west a road leads from the present London and Oxford road to Moor Court Farm and once continued beyond it towards Shirburn. It is now called Nethercote Lane and was earlier known as the Lower Icknield Way, and earlier still and more correctly as Hackman Way. (fn. 11)

In the mid-19th century the parish was considerably reduced in size. First Ackhampstead chapelry was detached. The chapel, which lay several miles from the parish church, had been in existence since at least 1241. (fn. 346) It was dedicated to St. Mary de More (fn. 347) and was known as 'Morechapel'. (fn. 348) Although dependent on Lewknor church, it had some inpendence, having its own churchwardens (or chapelwardens) by at least 1686 and being licensed for all sacraments. (fn. 349) In the 13th century Mass was said there every Sunday, (fn. 350) but in the 18th century only afternoon services were held: once a month in winter and once a fortnight (at the end of the century once a month) in summer. (fn. 351) In 1849 the chapel was taken down and the district united to the parish of Hambleden (Bucks.). (fn. 352)

In 1851 the district church of St. Mary-le-Moor, 2 miles from the old chapel, was built in Cadmore End, (fn. 353) and the next year Lewknor Uphill, with part of Fingest (Bucks.) and Stokenchurch was formed into a consolidated chapelry. (fn. 354) In 1853 this area was made into a new ecclesiastical parish, (fn. 355) which in 1896 was transferred to Buckinghamshire. (fn. 356) The living is a perpetual curacy (although called a vicarage) in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford.

Nonconformity.

The recusant returns of the early 17th century give the names of Robert Bethom and William Chawford, both gentlemen, and of two others, one a yeoman. (fn. 387) At the beginning of the 18th century a labourer and a brickmaker are listed. (fn. 388) In 1717 two Roman Catholics owned land in the parish, John Brinkhurst of Great Marlow (Bucks.), and Maurice Belson of Brill. (fn. 389) The Scoles, a prominent Roman Catholic family of Shirburn, may have descended from the Scoles of Lewknor, but they are not known to have been recusants in Lewknor. (fn. 390)

Protestant nonconformity evidently developed during the Interregnum. In 1652 the Berkshire Baptist Association was founded at Wormsley House, the home of the regicide Adrian Scrope. (fn. 391) In 1669 there were reported to be meetings in the houses of Thomas Stevens, William North, Christopher North, and a Mr. Huish, and especially at Wormsley House. The congregation of about 30 were Anabaptists and were taught by a Mr. Collins. (fn. 392) The Compton Census in 1676, however, gives only eight nonconformists, probably as a result of the activities of the vicar, John Bushell, who was active in suppressing them. (fn. 393) In about 1685 the numbers had fallen to four. (fn. 394)

Except for one Anabaptist, a farmer's wife, recorded in 1738, (fn. 395) there was apparently no 18thcentury dissent, but during the first half of the 19th century dissent made some progress. In 1818, 1825, 1832, 1834, 1840, and 1849 meeting-houses for unspecified denominations were licensed in Lewknor and Postcombe, (fn. 396) and in the census of 1851 a Wesleyan meeting-place with an average attendance of 25 was returned. (fn. 397) In the same year a cottage was licensed by the Independents, (fn. 398) but by 1857 there was only one meeting and the vicar said there were very few professed dissenters. (fn. 399)

x Marylebone– Had both an LDS Branch with records 1842-1848 as well as numerous Nonconformist Churches of various persuasions. Using the invaluable Parish Locator, the earliest appears to be Scots Presbyterian with records from 1753-1874.

* Missenden Great- Village and Wycombe Heath were adjacent and the parish covered both. Wycombe Heath was the once unpopulated hillarea outside and north of High Wycombe; gradually, because of the increased number of people chairmaking up in the hills, there grew up a number of tiny hamlets or outcrops of one or two houses, then half a dozen, then a dozen houses, loosely attached to either Hughenden or gt Missenden or even Wycombe,according to which way you were looking and whereabouts in the hinterland you lived. Later, the parish of Hazlemere was carved out of the eastern group of hamlets, and other churches were created at Tylers Green and so on. So when he was born, it was in Missenden though not in the village itself.

Rickmansworth– See Bledlow note. It had LDS records from 1847-1851. The U.K. Membership outstripped the U.S.A. in the early days of the organization. It is possible that some of the Oakleys around this area were originally Oxlades.

*Stokenchurch- is the adjacent village to Lewknor (at the top of the hill). Before 1707 its BMD records are in Aston Rowant which apparently did not always identify people as " of Stokenchurch". Though it was a chapelry of Aston Rowant until 1844 and appears to have separate records from 1707 it would be worthwhile checking Aston Rowant and nearby Parishes. They are : Radnage 1.39m Ibstone1.97m Crowell 2.24m Chinnor 2.56m Cadmore End 2.78m Fingest & Lewknor 3.17m Lane End 3.52m Saunderton 3.63m Bledlow 3.78m Bradenham 3.78m Shirburn 4.39m. There is no mention of Stokenchurch in the Survey of 1086, but its later history points to its inclusion under the 20 hides held by Miles Crispin in Aston Rowant (Estone) in Oxfordshire. (fn. 8) In the middle 13th century Aston Rowant Manor was held of the honour of Wallingford as half a fee, (fn. 9) specified in 1279 as including the hamlet of Stokenchurch. (fn. 10) It continued under the honour of Wallingford (fn. 11) and afterwards under that of Ewelme, (fn. 12) and this overlordship is last mentioned in 1661. (fn. 13)

The chapelry of Stokenchurch was severed from Aston Rowant in 1844 and made a perpetual curacy. (fn. 124)

Studderidge - Studdridge, with a portion of Wormsley, has been joined to Stokenchurch; Cadmore End was made in 1852 into a separate parish; and Moor End or Ackhampstead, which was once an outlying chapelry, was added in 1885 to Great Marlow. (fn. 4)

* Uxbridge - There was a great deal of movement into nearby Middlesex, by way of hirings at Uxbridge Statute Fair.  The Settlements booklet shows a great deal of history of this, when people are explaining where they might have a settlement (or not) and they may well be buried acorss the border too.

Waterend - Waterend, Stokenchurch in the Parish of Aston Rowant. Dashwood document of 1 Nov 1762 refers to above (mentions William Dutton Lab previously of former now of Great Kimble). Early Oxlades owned or had copyhold on land at Waterend. (See Wills) The hamlet of Water End lies over a mile to the southeast of tStokenchurch parish church to the east of Saunder's Wood. Further on in the same direction is Beacon's or Bacon's Bottom with a school and Methodist chapel. Chequers Farm and plantation are situated in the south of the parish to the south of the main road from Marlow to Oxford. For the purposes of local government Stokenchurch was transferred from Oxfordshire to Buckinghamshire in 1896. The following place-names occur: Pillisdisch (fn. 5) (xv cent.); Sladys (fn. 6) (xvi cent.); Sowers and Stockfield (fn. 7) (xvii cent.); Pophley's Wood and Farm (xx cent.). In the middle of the 16th century WATER END or WATERS MANOR was in the possession of Bartholomew Tipping. (fn. 100) It was afterwards acquired by the Belsons, one of the Roman Catholic families of Oxfordshire, (fn. 101) ***and conveyed in 1585 by Augustine Belson and his son Robert to John Bowyer, (fn. 102) who transferred his rights in the manor in 1590 to Robert Bowyer. (fn. 103) In 1616 Augustine Belson, Robert's son, (fn. 104) died seised of seven messuages and other property in Stokenchurch, (fn. 105) probably the whole or part of this estate. His son Augustine was then a minor. (fn. 106) The later descent is not known.

*** Joan Oxlade (perhaps Jane wife of Richard) stood Sponsor at the Christening of Eleanor Belson at Aston Rowant in 1559. Between 1558 and 1564 Henry Oxlade who was Steward to Adrian Foskewe, knight, attainted, (a Catholic) and other Parishoners took legal action against Nicholas Asteley vicar of Aston Usury and illegal trade in grain with the money of of Sir Adrian Foskew (Fortesque). Prior to this Richard Oxlade and his mother were mentioned in the Stonor documents. The Stoors have remained Catholics.

Wellground- Is in Lewknor a village to the East of Oxford.



Sources:

~ Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake . Chairman BGS .http://www.bucksgs.org.uk/index.htm

*Eve McLaughlin - Author of the McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians. Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society http://www.bucksgs.org.uk/~ Bucks-L

x http://web.onetel.net.uk/~gdlawson/parfind. Htm

< S.M.R. - oxlade_f_h@yahoo.com



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Last changed: 19/03/2008, 12:14:56