Oakley, Buckinghamshire
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2010) |
| Oakley | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Parish Church, Oakley | |
  Oakley Location within Buckinghamshire | |
| Population | 1,007 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP6312 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AYLESBURY |
| Postcode district | HP18 |
| Dialling code | 01844 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Oakley Social Centre (Village Hall) |
Oakley is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It has an area of 2,206 acres (893 ha) and includes about 400 households. The 2011 Census recorded the population as 1,007.[1]
At one time it was thought Oakley held a rare (and possibly unique) double distinction, in that a Victoria Cross recipient, Edward Brooks, and a Medal of Honor recipient, James J. Pym, were both born in the village. However, the latter, a namesake of a contemporary James Pym from Oakley, has been found to be from Garsington, a village 10 miles (16 km) away in Oxfordshire.
In 1963 Oakley was centre of national and international news, when Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, was used as a hideout by the criminal gang involved in the Great Train Robbery.
Geography
The parish is in the west of Buckinghamshire, adjoining the boundary with
The village proper is about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-west of Long Crendon and 1-mile (1.6 km) south of Brill, mainly to the south of the B4011 road, midway between
Etymology
Oakley's toponym is derived from Old English meaning "Oak-lea", a clearing within the oaks. Originally, the village was probably a collection of small huts around the stream, at the church end of the village, although the parish church as it is known today had not been built. The village would have been in Bernwood Forest. The Forest was not oak trees from horizon to horizon. In the Early Middle Ages a forest was a legally defined hunting area, with some densely wooded areas, shrub land, parks of pastureland and areas of cultivation.
Oakley's name has been variously spelt through the ages (parenthesised dates denote earliest occurrence): Achelei (1086);[2] Akeley (12th century),[2] Aclei,[2] Acle,[2] Ocle (13th century);[2] Ocle iuxta Brehull (14th century);[2] and Whokeley (16th century).[2]
History
11th to 13th centuries
Before the Norman Conquest two hides of land in Oakley belonged to Alwid (or Ælfgeth) the maid, and another half a
Oakley, like many English settlements, has its first written mention in the
The earliest parts, the nave and some pillars, of the present church date from around 1100. In 1142
14th to 16th centuries
1327 John de
In 1522 Oakley's population of men eligible for military service (ages 16–60) was estimated at 140.[3] The oldest existing houses in the village date from around this time. In 1570 coppicing enclosures drew complaints from Richard Leigh of Oakley (lord of Oakley). In 1586 Oakley had about 248 inhabitants in 56 households (22 landholders and 58 with small cottages within the Forest). These figures were drawn up by Hugh Cope of Oakley in his Court of the Exchequer return.[4]
In 1589
17th century
In 1603 the Return of Communicants gave Oakley's population as 238. In the period 1622 to 1635
The process of
The Cottrell-Dormer enumeration of cottages recorded Oakley's population as 122 in 1622. In 1626 nine men were summoned to Aylesbury to resolve disafforestation issues. Two,
The effect of the English Civil War of 1642–46 on Oakley is unrecorded. It was near the front line between the Parliamentarian and Royalist sides. It was at this time the church font was smashed, according to local tradition, by Parliamentarian troops. Foraging by soldiers from both sides would have made caused even more problems to local villagers exacerbating problems due to disafforestation. In 1662, according to Hearth tax returns the population was 238. The Compton Census returned a population of 258 for Oakley in 1676.
18th century
The index of the Poll for Knights of the Shire for the County of Bucks in April 1784, listed 11 knights in Oakley: Edward Batt, Thomas Dorrington, Isaac Fennimore, Thomas Hawes, Francis Kirby, Leonard Paulin, Robert Piers, Thomas Needham Rees, John Stevens, Reverend Robert Twicross and Thomas Wyatt.
In 1790 Mark Ing was recorded as being a member of the Oakley
19th century
The United Kingdom Census of 1801 recorded 257 inhabitants in 65 families living in 34 houses recorded in Oakley. The 1811 census recorded 325 people in Oakley. The first attempt to enclose Oakley was in 1818 and was unsuccessful.
382 people were recorded in the 1821 census. In the same year, the enclosure of common land was opposed by a mob that tried to prevent the attorney attaching notice of it to the church door. Villagers were outraged because large areas of land were granted to local landowners and 155 acres (63 ha) were sold to cover the cost of the enclosure. Only 25 acres (10 ha) were awarded to smallholders and only 4 acres (1.6 ha) were set aside for the poor. The poor in Oakley would have to survive on what was left of Poor Folk's Pasture in Boarstall parish, itself subject to stringent eligibility rules. The enclosure listed every landowner in the village. The 1831 census gave Oakley's population as 413. In 1833 a turnpike was approved between Bicester and Thame, passing through the centre of Oakley. This is now the B4011 and bypasses the village.
The first four censuses were merely a head count, but the
On 20 October 1844, the hamlet of Studley, which had been part of Oakley parish, was transferred to Horton-cum-Studley in Oxfordshire, as a result of Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844[6]
The 1851 census noted that houses had been demolished in Oakley as villagers left (for English cities and emigration to the Americas). The population was 425.
Oakley School was first recorded in use in 1853, in what is now School Lane. The first headmaster was Henry Fenemore.
In the 1860s
In 1889 a new local magazine was first printed, Waddesdon Deanery News. There was no mention of any Oakley people in the page of Oakley news in issue 1. However, in issue Number 2 in February 1889 carried the story about a pantomime and concert at the school – a complete success that befittingly crowned the exertions and careful organisations of its promoter, Miss Boys. A full-dress rehearsal of the piece was given on the previous evening to the Sunday School. Children were not invited in vain, a tea feast (generously given by Mrs. Kirby) winding up an extra-special treat, which coming as a surprise was all the more thoroughly enjoyed.
The first
20th century
Oakley Public Library (in the Lady Verney Reading Room) was opened on 17 February 1911 and closed in 1936.
On 1 August 1910 the British painter etcher and engraver James Henry Govier was born at Oakley to Henry and Mary Ann (née Measey) Govier. In 1914 the family moved to Gorseinon in Glamorgan.
During the
Victoria Cross recipient Edward Brooks was born in Oakley, winning his medal at Fayet, near St Quentin, France on 28 April 1917. While taking part in a raid on the enemy's trenches, he saw that the front wave was being checked by an enemy machine gun. On his own initiative he rushed forward from the second wave, killed one of the gunners with his revolver and bayoneted another. The remainder of the gun crew then made off, leaving the gun, whereupon the company sergeant-major turned it on the retreating enemy, after which he carried it back to Allied lines. His courageous action undoubtedly prevented many casualties and greatly added to the success of the operation.[7]
The alehouse called The Foresters on the Bicester Road closed in about 1919. An alehouse was an ordinary domestic house in which people were allowed to come into the kitchen or front room to drink beer, but not spirits.
In 1934, by Bucks Review Order, Little London, then part of Brill, was added to Oakley.
On 27 May 1942
Two men from Oakley died in the war and are commemorated on the Oakley Roll of Honour.
Halls Brewery gave the playing fields to Oakley Village in 1948.
In 1957 Oakley Village Hall was completed having been built and financed by the village. In 1959 the original Oakley School in Bicester Road was closed and Oakley Combined School in Worminghall Road was opened, the first new post-war school to be built in Aylesbury Vale. The Sun Inn, an alehouse rather than a public house, closed in about 1961.
In 1963 Oakley was centre of national and international news, when Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, was used as a hideout by the criminal gang involved in the Great Train Robbery. John Maris, a local farm worker, alerted police to the hideout at the farm. John Wooley, a local policeman from Brill, was the first officer to go to the hideout.
On 16 January 1991 Malcolm Rifkind opened the section of the M40 motorway: the 11.4-mile (18.3 km) stretch between Waterstock and Wendlebury, passing through Oakley parish. In 1997 the Oakley Village Appraisal / ACORN report reviewed what villagers thought about the village and what changes they would like to see. It was the most successful village appraisal in Buckinghamshire for a village of Oakley's size, with over 70% response.
21st century
In 2003 Oakley featured in national and international news again through an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery. The guest speakers included the mastermind behind the robbery and ex-gang-leader
On 28 April 2017, a paving stone will be laid at the foot of the war memorial to commemorate 100 years since the winning of a Victoria Cross by Edward Brooks in Fayet, France on 28 April 1917 (only two such stones will be laid in Buckinghamshire).
On 30 September 2021, Oakley Parish Council bought the Chandos Arms. from
St. Mary's parish is now part of the Church of England Benefice of Worminghall with Ickford, Oakley and Shabbington.[9]
Oakley Church of England Combined School is a mixed,
The village had a football club, Oakley United, which was successful in the Oxford Senior League and Oving Cup during the 2010s.
Other local information
- Addingrove was a hamlet with a chapel of ease, no longer in existence, southeast of Oakley.
- Little London is a hamlet north of the B4011. It is now attached to Oakley but until 1934 it was part of the parish of Brill.
- Oakley featured obliquely in J.R.R. Tolkien's comic novella Farmer Giles of Ham, in which Oakley is the first village ravaged (and its parson eaten) by the dragon Chrysophylax Dives. ("Ham" is Thame, Oxfordshire, 6 miles (10 km) away).
Notable residents
- Edward Brooks (1883–1944), recipient of the Victoria Cross, was born in Oakley.
- James Henry Govier (1910–74), British artist, was born in the village.
- Colin (born 1969) and Jonny Greenwood (born 1971) of the pop group Radiohead lived in the village when young.
- Max Mosley (1940–2021), president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.
- Elizabeth Tyrrell (1619–83), daughter of churchman Dr. James Ussherand wife of Sir Timothy Tyrrell (below).
- Privy Sealfrom 1697
- John Tyrrell (1646–92), Second Admiral of the East Indies.
- Sir Timothy Tyrrell (1617–1701), army officer, Master of the Buckhounds to Charles I.
- Stan Woodell (1928–2004), botanist, lived in the village from the 1960s until his death.
References
- ^ Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Page 1927, pp. 80–85.
- ^ Chibnall, A.C., ed. (1973). The certificate of Musters for Buckinghamshire in 1522. Vol. 17. Aylesbury: Buckinghamshire Records Society. pp. 139–140 & 151–154.
- ^ Public Record Office, E124/Eliz./27 Trin. 3, Walter Roberts, Edward Belson, Hugh Cope.
- ISBN 0-9507431-4-3. Archived from the originalon 23 July 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
- ^ Listed in Schedule M of the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, 2&3 Will.4 c.64
- ^ "No. 30154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 June 1917. p. 6381.
- ^ "Save the Chandos Arms".
- A Church Near You. Church of England. Archived from the originalon 28 September 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
Further reading
- Page, W.H., ed. (1927). A History of the County of Buckingham. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 80–85.
- ISBN 0-14-071019-1.
- Reed, Michael (1979). ISBN 0-340-19044-2.
- RCHME, ed. (1912). An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Buckinghamshire. Vol. 1, South. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 263–266.
External links
- Oakley Parish Council
- Lipscomb, George (1847). "Rectors & Vicars of the Parish Church of St Mary, Oakley". The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham. GENUKI. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2006.
- "Talk marks Great Train Robbery". News. BBC. 8 August 2003.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
