Deddington
Deddington | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Banbury | |
Postcode district | OX15 | |
Dialling code | 01869 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Website | Deddington Online | |
Deddington is a town and
Geography
The parish is about 3 miles (5 km) wide east–west, about 2 miles (3 km) wide north–south and has an area of about 4,246 acres (1,718 ha).[2] Watercourses bound it on three sides: The River Cherwell to the east, its tributary the River Swere to the north and the Sowbrook (i.e. "South Brook") to the south.[2] Here the Cherwell also forms the county boundary with Northamptonshire. To the west the parish is bounded by field boundaries. In the southwest of the parish, about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Hempton, is Ilbury Iron Age hill fort, atop a hill 433 feet (132 m) high. Near the fort is the site of a deserted medieval village, also called Ilbury. In 1980 the village site was rediscovered and Medieval pottery from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries was found.[2]
Clifton, Deddington and Hempton stand on a ridge of Jurassic ferruginous marlstone hills between the three watercourses. Clifton is about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) east of Deddington, at the eastern end of the ridge where it slopes down to the Cherwell. The ridges rises westward. Deddington is about 430 feet (130 m) above sea level. Hempton is about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Deddington and about 489 feet (149 m) above sea level. The highest point of the ridge is on the western boundary of the parish, more than 490 feet (150 m) above sea level. The parish's topography is alluded to in a local rhyme:
Aynho on the Hill
Clifton in the Clay
Dirty, drunken Deddington
And Hempton high way —[2][5]
Toponym, manor and castle
The
On 9 June 1312 the
Agricultural history
In 1591 a survey of Deddington reported that "the soyle... is verye firtile yeldinge greate store of corne and pasture".[12] After the Black Death the town seems to have grown wealthy. The more successful peasant farmers increased their lands and in 1445 formed a Guild of the Holy Trinity. The guild had a Warden or Master, and owned a hall and property somewhere in the town.[13] In 1523–24 Deddington residents paid £62 8s 10d in tax on personal estate (land, goods or wages). This was far more than Banbury (£38 15s), Adderbury (£25 1s) or Bloxham (£23 19s 10d).[14]
From the Saxon era onwards most of the land was farmed under an open-field system. The earliest and simplest such system had two arable common fields and left one fallow each year. This seems to have been Deddington's system until at least the 14th century, from which time there are several references to North and South fields. But there are also occasional Medieval references to East and West fields, and no plan of the fields is known to survive.[12] In the 13th and 14th centuries Clifton and Hempton each had a two-field system separate from Deddington's. One of the Hundred Rolls from 1279–80 records that Ilbury did too.[15]
By the 16th century Deddington's land management was evolving. A record from 1574 states that for at least the last 50 years a field called the Crofts was part of the common field system for three years out of four, but it and "the feyldes thereunto adiogning" were "hened" (i.e. withdrawn) from
In 1807 a land surveyor reported to the Dean and Canons of
Commercial and social history
When Deddington became a market town is not known, but may have been in the 12th century. By 1393 it was chartered to hold two annual three-day fairs: one starting on 15 July and the other on Martinmas (11 November). By 1591 the July fair had been replaced by one on St Lawrence's day (10 August). In 1780 a third annual fair was introduced on 11 October.[2][18] The Martinmas fair was the most important, and came to be called the "pudding-pie fair" after a type of plum pudding in hard-crust pastry that was baked in great numbers for the occasion. By the early 19th century the fair had been moved from Martinmas to 22 November. By 1863 the November fair was the only one to have survived. It continued until the 1930s.[2][19]
Deddington is where two old main roads cross: the Banbury – Oxford road running north – south and the
Construction of the Oxford Canal started in Warwickshire in 1769,[20] reached Banbury in 1778[21] and Aynho in Northamptonshire in 1787.[22] Aynho Wharf is about 2 miles (3 km) east of Deddington, between Aynho and Clifton. The canal brought Warwickshire coal to the area, immediately reducing the local price of fuel. 4,106 tons of coal were unloaded at Aynho Wharf in 1793.[23] In 1850 the Oxford and Rugby Railway opened between Oxford and Banbury. Its nearest station was next to Aynho Wharf. It was originally named "Aynho" but was later renamed Aynho for Deddington. The railway remains open, but British Railways closed the station in 1964. The architectural historian Sir Howard Colvin (1919–2007) spent much of his later life in Deddington. He wrote A History of Deddington, Oxfordshire, which the SPCK published in 1963.[3] He contributed to Volume XI of the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, which includes Deddington and was published in 1983.
Clockmakers
In the 18th century Deddington had a succession of clockmakers, all from the
Thomas Fardon (1787–1838) made various timepieces including an Act of Parliament clock,[25] longcase clocks[28] and verge watches.[28] He also installed the turret clocks at the parish churches of St Mary the Virgin, Kidlington in 1805 and Saints Peter and Paul, Deddington in 1833.[28] John Fardon (III) (1782–1865)[27] was a watchmaker who was known to have carried out repairs between 1801 and 1830.[25] He moved his business to Woodstock in 1838 and maintained the clock at St Mary the Virgin, Kidlington from 1839 until 1862.[27] Joshua Gibbs was either apprenticed to or employed by the Fardons.[29] He traded first at Souldern and then succeeded the Fardons at Deddington,[29] perhaps when John Fardon (III) moved to Woodstock in 1838. Gibbs' dates of birth and death are not known but he was trading from 1805 until 1855.[29]
Poor relief
By 1611 Deddington had a charity for the poor of its parish. In 1818 new feoffees were appointed to the charity and had a row of four almshouses built in Church Street.[2][30] But in 1850–51 local residents complained that the charity was being administered improperly, so in 1851 the Charity Commissioners referred the matter to the Attorney General.[2][31] In 1856 the Court of Chancery drew up a new scheme for the charity. It replaced the old feoffees with new trustees, and decreed that the charity's surplus income be divided equally between buying coal for the poor of the parish and supporting Deddington's new National School,[31] whose new building had been completed in 1854.[2]
By 1736–37 Deddington had a parish workhouse.[2] Clifton and Hempton each had a separate overseer of the poor and levied its own poor rate, but paid toward the upkeep of the Deddington workhouse.[32] In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the financial costs of the American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary Wars damaged the British economy. In Deddington the cost of poor relief rose from £243 in 1776 to £1,125 in 1803, and the Vestry raised the poor rate to 10 shillings in the pound – i.e. 50%.[33] The Napoleonic Wars continued the pressure on the economy. The Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, but Deddington continued to struggle with widespread poverty. By 1828 the parish was subsidising farmers to employ people. In the 1820s[2] or early 1830s the parish adopted the Cropredy Plan, which was a formula for calculating what poor rate to set, and how much to subsidise farmers for each labourer they employed.[34]
Parliament reformed poor relief with the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. Its provisions included replacing the workhouses of individual parishes with new, more punitive ones each covering a group of parishes. Deddington sought to be the centre of a poor law union, but too few neighbouring parishes were willing to join with it for the purpose.[35] Therefore, Deddington joined the new Woodstock Union and sold off its parish workhouse. Thereafter anyone from Clifton, Deddington or Hempton who needed to claim relief would have to walk 10 miles (16 km) to Woodstock to appear before the board of guardians to request "outdoor relief" or an opportunity to live at the Hensington Lane, Bladon workhouse.[36][34]
Churches
Church of England
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Paul are early 13th-century. The chancel was lengthened in the late 13th century, when its Decorated Gothic piscina and sedilia were made.[37] Until the Reformation the church had several chapels and altars. The guild founded in 1445 (see above) established a Chapel of the Holy Trinity, probably in the north aisle. By early in the 16th century there was also an All Hallows Chapel, and there were altars to Our Lady, St Katherine and St Margaret.[38] In 1548 the Reformation removed all chapels and altars and dissolved the guild.[39]
The church once had a tall spire but it collapsed onto the nave in 1634. Rebuilding was begun but was interrupted by the English Civil War. The font was made in 1664 and the tower was finally rebuilt in 1683–85. Its rebuilding is an example of Gothic survival architecture, as is the 17th-century south porch.[37] The north porch has an unusual ceiling called a "saucer vault". This is not a true vault but a flat, circular tracery pattern. It may be 17th-century,[40][41] in which case it would be another example of Gothic Survival architecture. The church was restored in 1858–68 under the direction of the Gothic revival architect GE Street.[41]
In 1643, during the
Wesleyan Reform
Deddington Wesleyan Reform Church in Chapel Square was built in 1851[44] and was a member of the Wesleyan Reform Union.[46] The Church closed in 2016 and was converted into a private dwelling.[47]
Notable houses
Many of Deddington's buildings are built of local Jurassic
Parts of Maunds Farmhouse in High Street are 12th-century. The house has been modified over the years. It has been a Grade II* listed building since June 1987. The description states: "Farmhouse incorporating parts of a manor house, now house, probably rebuilt early C17, incorporating late-C12 and possibly later medieval features, and altered C18/earIy C19".[50] Castle House next to the parish church was originally a 13th-century farmhouse, complete with its own small chapel. It may have been the house where the Earl of Pembroke brought Piers Gaveston in 1312. It used to be the rectory, and from 1353 was held by the Dean and Canons of Windsor Castle. It was repaired and altered in the 15th century.[51]
King Charles I stayed here in 1644 during the First English Civil War. In 1654 a Parliamentarian, Thomas Appletree, acquired the house and had it extended.[52] Appletree was the grandson of a "husbandman", but when he died in 1666 his wealth included a pipe organ and virginals in his parlour, oil paintings, plate worth £112, a horse-drawn coach, and an income from rents of £612 a year.[53] In the 18th and early 19th centuries a succession of tenant farmers lived at Castle House and the building declined. In 1894 a local builder bought it and had it restored to designs by the architect Thomas Garner. In 1925 it suffered a fire, whereafter its east front was rebuilt in its present form.[54]
A published local history states that at one time, Castle House was called the Old Parsonage and the Great House, the latter "because of its long association with the Castle estate of which it was at times effectively the manor house". An 1808 map does depict the building as "The Great House" while a 1983 publication states that "on the north-east side of the Market Place stands the church, with its dominating 17th century tower, and beside it on the north the rectorial mansion, Castle House. (fn. 102)".[10] The local report states that the "east front was reconstructed in 1925 after a fire".[55] Castle House has been Grade II listed since December 1955. The historic listing confirms that it was a rectorial manor house, from the 13th century "rebuilt probably c.1654 for Thomas Appletree; restored 1894 by Thomas Garner for H.R. Franklin; extended early C20".[56] Another source states that an extension was added "a few years" after the 1894 restoration. Today, the house includes a castellated tower, seven bedrooms and the consecrated chapel.[57]
Plough House in New Street used to be the Plough Inn. It has a 15th- or late 14th-century vaulted cellar, but above ground it was rebuilt in the 17th century.[48] The house has been Grade II* listed since 1955. The listing states that the building, it was used as an inn by 1774 and consisted of two dwellings as of 1955.[58] A local history refers to a 1977 article which stated that the inn closed in 1927 "and was re-opened as a butchers and poulterers in 1931"; the publication includes a photo of the inn, circa 1900 to 1910.[59] Castle End and Monks Court in Castle Street were originally one house. The oldest part of the building is 16th-century or earlier. A datestone records that the house was rebuilt in 1647.[60] It was extended again the 18th century. It has been Grade II* listed since December 1955, and the data was amended in May 1988. The listing states: "large farmhouse, now 2 dwellings. Early C16 and 1647 (on datestone), altered and extended late C18".[61]
Most of Deddington's older houses are local
Public buildings and administration
Deddington Town Hall was built in Market Place early in the 17th century, possibly in 1611. It was rebuilt in 1806, possibly incorporating some of the original building. The ground floor is largely open, with arcades of brick jack arches carrying the first floor. The Town Hall's first floor room was used both for vestry meetings and as a court house. Three butchers each ran a stall there, and paid rent which was added to the town's charity for the poor.[66] In 1858 the first floor was converted into a public library and reading room, and the ground floor arches were bricked up to form a station in which to keep the parish fire engine, which until then had been kept in the parish church.[66]
In 1854 a house at the junction of High Street and Horse Fair was converted into a prison designed by the architect JC Buckler.[67] In 1874 a magistrates' room was added, designed by the architect William Wilkinson.[67] The building is still called the Old Court House, but is now the local public library.[68] At one time The Old Court House was the Town Hall and until 1952 the library was located in Forester's Hall, moving to this building in 1956. A local history report states that the "barred window of the lock-up still exists".[69]
In 1883 a volunteer fire brigade was formed to run the parish fire engine.
Schools
In 1446 the Guild of the Holy Trinity founded a school. In 1548 the teacher was the chantry priest, William Burton, whom the Chantry Commissioners found was "a good scole master and bryngyth up yought very well in learnyng". But the dissolution of the chantry in the reformation brought the school to an end.[73] On 15 February 1672, a new charity school was opened "in a corner of the church".[73][2] It is not clear whether the school operated continuously thereafter, but in 1727 it was reported that Deddington had "a school for sixteen boys, and as many girls", and in 1738 it had 20 boys.[73] By 1808, there were 35 pupils.[74]
In 1814 a Deddington National School Society was founded to create separate boys' and girls' to succeed the charity school.[2] By 1816 the two schools were teaching 35 children between them, including about 20 from neighbouring parishes.[2] By 1832 the school was housed in converted buildings, including a barn, attached to Appletree Farm in Hopcraft Lane.[2] Support for Deddington's National Schools declined until in 1848 they had only 80 pupils between them.[2] Purpose-built boys' and girls' school buildings were designed by William Hambley of London and completed in 1854 on a new site in Banbury Road.[75] The two schools were an immediate success and pupil numbers recovered to 180 by 1856.[2] But school attendance varied with the seasons, as in the summer farm-workers' children tended to help more on the farm. In 1868, 247 children attended the school in winter but only 191 in summer.[2] Boys and girls remained in separate schools on the same site until 1908, when the girls' school became the infants' school and the boys' school became a mixed school for the older children.[2]
In 1951 the Windmill
Transport
Deddington is on the Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Gold route S4 between Oxford and Banbury.[79] On weekdays and Saturdays buses run hourly to Kidlington and Oxford, and twice an hour to Adderbury and Banbury. On Sundays there are four buses a day in each direction.[80]
Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. television signals are received from the Oxford TV transmitter. [81] Local radio stations are BBC Radio Oxford on 95.2 FM, Heart South on 97.4 FM, Capital Mid-Counties on 107.6 FM and Deddington OnAir, a community based radio station which broadcast on DAB. [82] The town is served by local newspaper, Banbury Guardian. [83]
Amenities
Deddington has a regular farmers' market, several local shops, hotels and restaurants and four pubs:
- The Crown and Tuns (controlled by Hook Norton Brewery)[84]
- The Deddington Arms Hotel[85] (formerly the King's Arms)
- The Unicorn Inn[86]
- The Red Lion
References
- Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the originalon 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Baggs et al. 1983, pp. 81–120.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963.
- ^ Deddington Town FC
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 1.
- ^ Ekwall 1960, Deddington.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 13.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 14.
- ^ Dedington Castle and Grounds
- ^ a b Parishes: Deddington, 1983
- ^ Rose 2003, p. 190.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 86.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 96.
- ^ Colvin 1963, pp. 85–86.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 87.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 88.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 90.
- ^ Colvin 1963, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 59.
- ^ Compton 1976, p. 14.
- ^ Compton 1976, p. 25.
- ^ Compton 1976, p. 37.
- ^ Compton 1976, p. 46.
- ^ Beeson 1989, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d e Beeson 1989, p. 97.
- ^ a b Beeson 1989, p. 110.
- ^ a b c Beeson 1989, p. 179.
- ^ a b c Beeson 1989, p. 98.
- ^ a b c Beeson 1989, p. 100.
- ^ Historic England. "Almshouses (Grade II) (1046348)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 114.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 74.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 75.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 76.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 73.
- ^ "Bladon Workhouse Inhabitants - 1881". Deddington History. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ a b c Historic England. "Church of St Peter and St Paul (Grade II*) (1365859)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 106.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 97.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 104.
- ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 568.
- ^ a b Beeson 1989, p. 37.
- ^ Hedgecock, James (6 January 2007). "Deddington SS Peter & Paul". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 570.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 108.
- ^ "Deddington Church". Circuits and Churches. Wesleyan Reform Union. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ "Mission Hall, Former Chapel in Church Street". Deddington History. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 5.
- ^ Historic England (5 May 1988). "THE LEADENPORCH HOUSE (1300760)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Historic England (19 June 1987). "MAUNDS FARMHOUSE (1046314)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Colvin 1963, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 8.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 85.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 9.
- ^ "A Walk round the Village". Deddington History. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Historic England (11 July 2007). "Castle House Dedington (1300851)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ "A 17th century castle that offers life in the heart of a lovely Cotswolds village". Country Life. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Historic England. "PLOUGH HOUSE THE STEPS (1046329)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ "The Plough". Deddington History. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 11.
- ^ "Castle End and Monks Court Formerly listed as Castle End". British Listed Buildings. 5 May 1988. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 10.
- ^ Historic England. "The Hermitage (Grade II*) (1046323)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- ^ The Corner House
- ^ Coniston House
- ^ a b Colvin 1963, p. 7.
- ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 572.
- ^ "Deddington Library". Libraries. Oxfordshire County Council. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ "Library". Dedington History. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 79.
- ^ "Fire Service". Dedington History. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ "Fire Service". Deddington OnLine. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ a b c Colvin 1963, p. 111.
- ^ "Parishes Dedington, Schools". British History. 1 January 1983. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Baggs et al. 1983, pp. 21–44.
- ^ a b "Transformation of School at Deddington". Oxford Mail. 9 April 1958.
- ^ "Deddington Village Nursery and PFSU". Deddington OnLine. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ Deddington C of E Primary School
- ^ "S4 Gold". Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ "Service S4" (PDF). Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ "Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "Deddington OnAir". Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "Banbury Guardian". British Papers. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "The Crown and Tuns in Deddington". Hook Norton Brewery. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ Deddington Arms Hotel
- ^ The Unicorn Inn Deddington
Sources and further reading
- Allbrook, Michael; Forsyth, Robert (2011). A Parish at War; A military record of three Oxfordshire villages; Deddington — Clifton — Hempton. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-870677-04-2.
- Allbrook, Michael; Forsyth, Robert (2012). A Parish at War; A military record of three Oxfordshire villages; Deddington — Clifton — Hempton; The Supplement. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Ltd.
- ISBN 0-903364-06-9.
- Colvin, HM (1963). A History of Deddington, Oxfordshire. London: SPCK.
- Compton, Hugh J (1976). The Oxford Canal. Newton Abbot: ISBN 0-7153-7238-6.
- Baggs, AP; Colvin, Christina; ISBN 978-0-19722-758-9.
- ISBN 0198691033.
- Ivens, RJ (1984). "Deddington Castle, Oxfordshire, and the English Honour of Odo of Bayeux" (PDF). Oxoniensia. XLIX. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society: 101–120.
- Risley, William Cotton (2007). Smedley-Stevenson, Geoffrey (ed.). Early Victorian Squarson – The Diaries Of Willam Cotton Risley, Vicar Of Deddington Oxfordshire. Vol. Part One 1835–1848. Witney: ISBN 978-0-900129-27-8.
- Risley, William Cotton (2012). Smedley-Stevenson, Geoffrey (ed.). Early Victorian Squarson – The Diaries Of Willam Cotton Risley, Vicar Of Deddington Oxfordshire. Vol. Part Two 1849–1869. Witney: ISBN 978-0-900129-30-8.
- Rose, Alexander (2003) [2002]. Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History. ISBN 1-84212-485-4.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
- Deddington OnLine
- "Deddington News". Deddington OnLine.