Besselsleigh
Besselsleigh | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Abingdon | |
Postcode district | OX13 | |
Dialling code | 01865 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Besselsleigh or Bessels Leigh is an English village and
Manor
Domesday Book
Besselsleigh is almost certainly the "Lea" or "Leigh" owned by a Saxon named Earmund in the 7th century. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it was recorded (as "Leie") as having been held before the Norman Conquest by Northmann of Mereworth of Abingdon Abbey and to have passed under the same overall ownership to the minor feudal lord William the Chamberlain.[3]
Bessels
The manor of Leigh was acquired by the family of Bessels (or Besils, Bessiles, etc.) in the mid-14th century, possibly by Thomas Bessels, and by the next century[4] had become known as "Bessels Leigh" to distinguish it from the many other places in England called "Leigh". According to the antiquary John Leland, the Bessels family had been settled at Besil's Leigh in Berkshire since the reign of Edward I,[5] but originated in Provence in France and were "men of activitye in feates of arms as it appearith in monuments at Legh; how he faught in listes with a straunge knyghte that challengyd hym, at the whitche deade the kynge and quene at that time of England were present."[6]
Fettiplace
Richard Fettiplace (c.1456–1511) married Elizabeth Besil, the only daughter and heiress of William Besil of Besil's-Leigh, which he made his chief seat.
In February 1529, Edward Fettiplace wrote again to Cromwell desiring his interest that he might be assured of more years in the farm of Poughley. From this letter it is evident that Cromwell had been recently visiting the dismantled priory, as Fettiplace records a visit to Poughley, on "the Thursday after our departing," of one John Edden who came with a cart to carry off such stuff as was appointed to go to Wolsey's College at Oxford; the bedding was in Fettiplace's chamber, which was locked, but Edden "with great oaths and with levers brak up the doors." The great-grandson of Richard Fettiplace (d.1511) and Elizabeth Besil was Besil Fettiplace,
Lenthall
The estate of Besils Leigh was sold, early in the 17th century, by the Fettiplace family to William Lenthall (1591–1662), Speaker of the House of Commons. "The old manor house, surrounding a quadrangular court, and containing a place of concealment, access to which was obtained in a most difficult and unusual manner, was a magnificent structure where it is said, Cromwell and other leading men of his day were frequently entertained".[12] The house is now demolished.
Parish church
The
World War II air crash
On 14 March 1944 an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V bomber aircraft, T4337 from No. 10 Operational Training Unit RAF at Abingdon, was on circuits and landings practice when its Royal Canadian Air Force pilot lost control while changing from flare path to instruments. The aircraft crashed onto what was then a military firing range at Great Park Farm, Besselsleigh, and almost immediately burst into flames. All three members of its crew were killed.[15]
At the time United States Army soldiers were billeted at Besselsleigh Park. They and a local man, Ron Amey, tried without success to rescue the crew. The pilot, Sgt DC Adamson, is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission section of Botley Cemetery, on the outskirts of Oxford.[15] Ron Amey went on to succeed his father William Amey as head of the Amey quarrying and construction company.
Economy and amenities
Besselsleigh has a
See also
- Marcham, where an RAF Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft crashed on a training flight in 1942
References
- Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics; Note in 2011 ONS raw data was 'too small to publish all data for reasons of confidentiality of living people' so was incorporated in the parish data for part of St. Helen Without (its output area 'E00146433') so more demographic statistics may become available in a few decades from 2011. Archived from the originalon 22 June 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ A Vision of Britain – Area in Acres of Civil Parish History of Parliament Trust, University of Portsmouth and Others. Retrieved 7 May 2016
- ^ Open Domesday Retrieved 7 May 2016
- ^ a b c d Page & Ditchfield 1924, pp. 393–398
- ^ a b Leland, quoted by Tudor Place
- ^ Leland, quoted by Tudor Place
- ^ Guillim, John, The banner display'd: or, An abridgment, Volume 1, p.141 [1]
- ^ Houses of Austin canons: The Priory of Poughley' in: A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 2 (1907), pp. 85–86 [2]
- 26 Eliz.(i.e.1583) (Guillim)
- ^ Guillim
- ^ Cobby, A. "Finds record for: BUC-BE0629". The Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ "Berkshire History: The Fettiplace Family".
- ^ a b c Pevsner 1966, p. 86.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Church of St Lawrence (Grade II*) (1048397)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
- ^ a b Minns, Pat. "Local crashes". RAF Abingdon 10 OTU. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ The Greyhound Besselsleigh
- ^ Action for Children: Parklands Campus Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Sources
- Page, WH; Ditchfield, PH, eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. assisted by John Hautenville Cope. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 393–398.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 86.
Media related to Besselsleigh at Wikimedia Commons