Godington
Godington | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Bicester | |
Postcode district | OX27 | |
Dialling code | 01869 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Godington is a village and
Manor
The village was first settled by the Saxons. Its toponym is derived from Old English: either Gōdan dūn (the hill of Goda) or Gōdinga dūn (Goda's people).[3]
Before the
By the middle of the 12th century the manor of Godington was held by Richard de Camville, who gave Poodle Farm in the parish to the Augustinian Missenden Abbey in Buckinghamshire.[3] The Abbey retained Poodle Farm until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.[3] By 1541 William Fermor of Somerton had bought the farm. By the time of his death in 1552 Fermor also held Godington Manor, thus reuniting Poodle with the other former de Camville lands.[3] Godington remained with the Fermors until the last direct heir, another William Fermor, died without a direct successor in 1828.[3]
There is a rectangular mediaeval moat next to the parish church.[3] The present Moat Farm house inside the moated area is dated 1672.[4]
By 1535
Church and chapel
The earliest written record of the parish church is from 1221, when the Abbess of the
The Fermors were
By 1790 the mediaeval Church of England parish church of the Holy Trinity was in disrepair and in danger of collapse, and in 1792 William Fermor employed a fellow-Roman Catholic to rebuild it.[3] In 1852 the church was restored and rectangular Georgian windows were converted to lancets, and in 1905 the building was restored again.[5] The mediaeval font survives[3] and some mediaeval masonry remains in the bell tower.[5] The tower used to have three bells, but in 1792 two of them were sold to pay for rebuilding the church.[3] The surviving bell was cast in 1717, and there is also a Sanctus bell cast in 1793.[3]
By 1665 the
Railways
Between 1895 and 1899 the Great Central Main Line extended its main line from the Midlands to London. It passes through the east of Godington parish on an embankment, crossing in and out of the parish (and county) on bridges over the Birne. Godington was too small to have its own railway station, and the nearest Great Central ones were Finmere and Calvert, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the village in either direction. British Railways closed Finmere in 1963, Calvert in 1964 and the main line between Calvert and Rugby in 1966.
Godington was nearer to Marsh Gibbon and Poundon station, about 2 miles (3 km) to the south on the Varsity Line. The London and North Western Railway opened this station in 1880 and BR closed it in 1968.
Modern economy
The parish has been associated with equestrianism. In the 1950s its coverts were favoured by the Bicester Hunt.[3] Since the 1980s Godington Stud has bred Trakehner warmblood horses for sports.[7]
References
- ^ "Area selected: Cherwell (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ See the associated map when Output Area E00145137 is displayed via a search on http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Archived 11 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine - Office for National Statistics. A search for the parish states that falling below either 100 people or 40 households means for reasons of confidentiality the parish data cannot be displayed.
- ^ 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 Lobel, 1959, pages 146–152
- ^ Historic England. "Moat Farmhouse, Main Street (1286457)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ a b c d Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 613.
- ^ "Shelswell Group of Parishes: Holy Trinity Church, Godington". Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ Godington Stud
Sources
- Lobel, Mary D., ed. (1959). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6. Victoria County History. pp. 146–152.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
Media related to Godington at Wikimedia Commons