Wormleighton

Coordinates: 52°11′N 1°21′W / 52.183°N 1.350°W / 52.183; -1.350
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wormleighton is a village in

2011 census was 183.[1]

St Peters Church, Wormleighton by Kevin Flude
St Peter's Church, Wormleighton

The original village was by the banks of the Cherwell and can still be seen as a series of humps and hollows on the East bank of the Oxford Canal.

Humps and depressions that are all that remains of the original Wormleighton Village
Humps and depressions that are all that remains of the original Wormeleighton Village

The present village sits on the crest of the hill. At one end is St Peter's Church, which has a Norman tower and nave, made of local ironstone, with small added Gothic aisles. It has a graveyard around it, accessible to local sheep, and hints of a circular enclosure. A path from the church takes the visitor directly to the remains of the old 16th-century Manor house, of which the first view is a fine old chimney, then the great hall can be seen, part made of stone, part of brick. The gatehouse is Jacobean, and has a date of 1613 upon it.

Photograph of the Chimney of Wormleighton Hall.
Photograph of the stone chimney of Wormleighton Manor
Wormleighton Hall Gatehouse
Wormleighton Manor gatehouse

The manor house was slighted by the Parliamentarians as it was a Royalist stronghold. The village was abandoned after the

Arts and Crafts
group of buildings, as well as a number of thatched cottages.

The first mention of a

Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton, Warwickshire, who bought Althorp in 1508 with the huge profits from his sheep-rearing business. In 1498 an inquest jury[3] recorded that 60 villagers had been evicted from the Wormleighton Estate "weeping, to wander in idleness ... perished of hunger".[4]

Wormleighton Manor

The Church has remaining box pews, a Norman font, and an interesting tomb to Robert Spencer which gives his death date in 1610 (he died in France) both in the new Gregorian calendar (used in France from 1582) and in the old Julian calendar which was still used in Britain until 1752.

Tomb of John Spencer Esq. in Wormleighton Church
Tomb of John Spencer Esq. in St Peter's Church, Wormleighton

Notable people from Wormleighton

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  2. ISBN 0-9513311-3-2
    .
  3. ^ Public Records Office, C43/28 File 14.
  4. ISBN 0-521-78954-0

External links

Media related to Wormleighton at Wikimedia Commons

52°11′N 1°21′W / 52.183°N 1.350°W / 52.183; -1.350

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