Hethe
| Hethe | ||
|---|---|---|
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 | ||
Hethe is a village and
Manor
The village's toponym comes from the Old English hæð meaning "heath, uncultivated ground".[2]
Before and after the
Somewhen after 1167 St Bartholomew's Hospital in London was given a hide of land at Hethe.[2] In 1537 the hospital was dissolved under the dissolution of the monasteries and the Crown seized all its lands, but in 1547 the hospital was refounded.[2] The hospital retained its holding at Hethe at least as late as 1682.[2]
Hethe House was built in the 18th century.[2] It used to be a dower house for Shelswell.[2]
The parish was farmed under an
Churches
Church of England
The Church of England parish church of Saint Edmund and Saint George is known to have existed by 1154, when it was given to the Augustinian Priory at Kenilworth, later Kenilworth Abbey.[2] Both the west wall of the nave and the south wall of the chancel survive from this time, each retaining a Norman lancet window and the latter a priest's doorway from the same period.[3] The east end of the chancel was rebuilt early in the 13th century[3] when a Decorated Gothic east window was inserted.[4] In the 15th century a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave.[2] When the Abbey was dissolved in 1538 the advowson of Hethe passed to the Crown, which has retained it ever since.[2]
In 1854 Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford complained that the St. Edmund and St. George was "in most miserable order" and "utterly too small for the population".[2] In 1859 the Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street restored the building, widened the chancel arch, and added the bell-turret and the north aisle.[3] Street moved the Decorated Style east window from the chancel to the north aisle, and inserted a new east window in the chancel in its place.[4] In 1924 the living was combined with that of Fringford. The parish is now part of the benefice of Stratton Audley with Godington, Fringford with Hethe and Stoke Lyne. The benefice is part of the Shelswell group of parishes.[5]
The Old Rectory was in existence by 1679.[2] In 1928 it was refitted after being burnt out.[2]
Roman Catholic
No
At some time the Fermors acquired land at Hethe, and in 1676 ten Catholics working for the Fermors were living there.[2] A Roman Catholic population numbering less than ten survived in Hethe survived throughout the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries, some but not all of them working for the Fermors.[2] They attended Mass at the chapel in Tusmore[2] until the Fermors closed it for refurbishment in 1768.[7] Thereafter they attended Mass at a chapel in Hardwick[2] created in the attic of the manor house,[6] but the Fermors sold the manor in 1828 and the new owner closed the chapel in 1830.[6]
In 1832 the priest from Hardwick had Holy Trinity church built at Hethe to serve the Roman Catholic population there and in surrounding villages.[2] It is a Gothic Revival building but the name of its architect is not recorded.[4]
Methodist
By 1794 Hethe had a small Methodist congregation.[2] It built its first chapel in 1854 and replaced this with a second chapel in 1876.[2] The latter was still being used as a chapel in 1955[2] but is now a private house.[10]
Social and economic history
Hethe has a
A National School was built in 1852 and enlarged in 1874.[2] In 1924 it was reorganised as a junior school and in 1948 it was reorganised again as an infants' school.[2] In 1954 it was still open as a Church of England school,[2] but it is now closed. In 1831 land was bought to build a Roman Catholic school.[2] Building was begun then, but not completed until 1870 when it opened as St. Philip's School.[2] By 1920 it was an infants' school and in 1924 it was closed.[2]
In 2020 the village football pitch next to the village hall started hosting the home matches of
References
- ^ "Area: Hethe CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ 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 z aa ab ac ad ae af Lobel, 1959, pages 174-181
- ^ a b c Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 645
- ^ a b c Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 646
- ^ "Shelswell group of Parishes: St Edmunds & St George Church, Hethe". Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
- ^ a b c d Lobel, 1959, pages 168-173
- ^ a b c Lobel, 1959, pages 333-338
- ^ a b Lobel, 1959, pages 290-301
- ^ Lobel, 1959, pages 146-152
- ^ "Oxfordshire Churches and Chapels: Hethe". Archived from the original on 1 December 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ "Whitmore Arms Public House, Hethe". British Listed Buildings Online. British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ^ "Ashton Folly FC". Retrieved 24 April 2021.
Sources and further reading
- Blomfield, James Charles (c. 1890). Part V: History of Fringford, Hethe, Mixbury, Newton Purcell, and Shelswell. Deanery of Bicester. Elliot Stock & Co: London.
- Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1959). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6. Victoria County History. pp. 174–181.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
Media related to Hethe at Wikimedia Commons
