Nettlebed

For the New Zealand cave network, see Nettlebed Cave. For the fictional character, see Reborn (comics) § Characters .

Nettlebed
Pottery kiln, possibly 17th-century
Nettlebed Location within Oxfordshire
Area	6.13 km2 (2.37 sq mi)
Population	727 (2011 Census)
•  Density	119/km2 (310/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU7086
Civil parish	Nettlebed
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Henley-on-Thames
Postcode district	RG9
Dialling code	01491
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Henley and Thame
Website	Nettlebed Community
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°34′41″N0°59′24″W / 51.578°N 0.990°W / 51.578; -0.990

Nettlebed smock mill (postcard, circa 1910)

Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) north-west of Henley-on-Thames and 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about 1⁄2 mile (800 m) east of the village. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 727. ^[1]

Archaeology

It is claimed that in the 17th century a "Palæolithic floor" was found in Nettlebed Common. ^[2] Mesolithic flint microliths and cores have been found in the parish. ^[3]

History

The earliest known records of the name "Nettlebed" are from the 13th century. The Inquisitiones post mortem record it as Netelbedde in 1252 and 1276. The name does mean a nettlebed: a place overgrown with nettles. ^[4] Nettlebed village is on an ancient route through the Chiltern Hills between Henley-on-Thames and Wallingford, which for centuries was part of a trunk route between London and Oxford. The road between Henley and Wallingford was made into a turnpike in 1736 and ceased to be a turnpike in 1873. ^[5] It is now classified as the A4130. Nettlebed's strategic position led to its having several pubs, inns and coaching inns. They included the White Hart, which is 17th-century, ^[6] and the Bull Inn ^[7] and Sun Inn, ^[8] which are 18th-century. Only the White Hart in the High Street is still trading. ^{[9] [10]}

Nettlebed had a sub-post office and general store in Watlington Street. It has now ceased trading and is a private house. In 2012 Thierry Kelaart and Patrick Heathcote-Amory, son of Sir Ian Heathcote-Amory were married at St Bartholomew's parish church. Michael Middleton acted as father of the bride and guests included the Duchess of Cambridge. ^[11] The Old Priest House, on the High Street, is a Grade II listed building. ^[12]

Parish church

The Church of England parish of Saint Bartholomew was originally a chapelry of the adjacent parish of Benson. There is a record of the Empress Matilda giving the benefice of Benson, including chapels at Nettlebed and Warborough, to the Augustinian Abbey at nearby Dorchester, Oxfordshire in about 1140. ^[13] The Medieval church building was replaced in 1845–46 by the present Gothic Revival brick building, designed by a member of the Hakewill family of architects. ^[14] The only surviving part of the previous church is the lower stages of the brick west tower, which seems to be 18th-century. ^[15]

The church has some 20th-century stained glass windows, including two made in 1970 by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens. One is the chancel east window, in which a central tree of life is flanked by fish on one side and butterflies on the other. ^[16] The other is the baptistery south window in the south aisle. This shows a tree of life with birds perching in it including an owl, a hawk and a pheasant. ^[17] The tower has a ring of six bells, all cast by Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1846. ^[18]

Joyce Grove

The Scottish banker Robert Fleming bought Joyce Grove in 1903, along with its 2,000-acre (810 ha) estate. A new house was commissioned from the architect C.E. Mallows in 1908. After Robert Fleming's death in 1938 the house and its grounds were given to St Mary's Hospital, London. Joyce Grove was used as a convalescent home during the war, and more recently became a Sue Ryder Care Home. ^[19]

Pottery

Bricks, tiles and pottery were made in Nettlebed from the second half of the 14th century ^{[20] [21]} until the 1930s.^{[ citation needed ]} In the 15th century Nettlebed supplied ceramic tiles to Abingdon Abbey ^[20] and bricks to Stonor House. ^[22] The name "Crocker End" means "Potter's End". One remaining brick "bottle kiln" is preserved in Nuffield. It may be 17th-century. It is a Grade II* listed building. ^[23] In 1674, George Ravenscroft obtained from Nettlebed, the sand used in the making of the first flint glass.^{[ citation needed ]}

Windmill

Nettlebed had what seems to have been the only smock mill in Oxfordshire. ^[24] It used to be at Chinnor but was moved to a windier site at Nettlebed in about 1825. It was a slender octagonal building with four common sails and a fantail. It burned down in 1912. ^[25]

Amenities

Nettlebed Folk Club

The village has a long-established folk club which holds concerts on Monday evenings from 8pm at The Village Club in Nettlebed High Street. The Folk Song Club is a volunteer run, non-profit organisation. It was founded in July 1975 at the Bull Inn. When Brakspear Brewery closed the Bull Inn in 1991, the club moved to its present venue, which has capacity for 200 people. ^[26] Musicians who have performed at the club include Martin Carthy, Fairport Convention, John Kirkpatrick, Ralph McTell, Show of Hands, Steeleye Span and Richard Thompson. ^[26] The Club is also known for special performances such as its "Feast of Fiddles'" where a mix of leading national performers and local artists provide themed evenings. In 2002 the club won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Club of the Year Award. ^[27]

Transport

Thames Travel bus route X38 links Nuffield with Wallingford and Oxford in one direction and Henley on Thames and Reading, Berkshire in the other. It stops on the A4130 main road at Nettlebed Green, near the brick kiln at the east end of the village. Buses run generally hourly from Mondays to Saturdays. There is no Sunday service. ^[28]

Notable residents

• Lucy Fleming, actress
• Peter Fleming, writer and traveller
• Celia Johnson, star of the 1945 film Brief Encounter (also Peter Fleming's wife)
• Sir Ninian Stephen, Australian judge and later 20th Governor-General of Australia, born in Nettlebed to Scottish parents in 1923 and emigrated to Australia in 1940 ^[29]

See also

• Crocker End House – former rectory

Gallery

• 
  The White Hart
• 
  25 High Street. The façade is 18th-century but the house is probably 16th-century. ^[30]
• 
  A Thames Travel bus on route X38 on the A4130 road at The Green in Nettlbed
• 
  Nettlebed puddingstone
• 
  Chancel east window by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens in St Bartholomew's parish church

References

1. "Area: Nettlebed CP (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics . Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 1 December 2013.
2. "Early history". History of Nettlebed. Nettlebed Community. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
3. Case 1952–53, pp. 3–10.
4. Ekwall 1960 , Nettlebed
5. Rosevear, Alan. "Turnpike Roads in England".
6. Historic England. "The White Hart Hotel (Grade II) (1369327)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
7. Historic England. "The Bull Inn (Grade II) (1047383)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
8. Historic England. "The Sun Inn Public House (Grade II) (1181154)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
9. https://www.thewh.co.uk/ ^{[ bare URL ]}
10. "The White Hart - Pub/Inn in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire - Visit Thames". www.visitthames.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
11. Nikkhah, Roya (30 September 2012). "Kate and the Middletons all smiles at wedding of family friend". The Daily Telegraph .
12. Historic England. "25, High Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (Grade II) (1047382)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 21 November 2023.
13. Page 1907, pp. 87–90.
14. Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 714.
15. Historic England. "Church of St Bartholomew (Grade II) (1369329)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
16. Anonymous 2012, p. 3.
17. Anonymous 2012, p. 4.
18. Davies, Peter (17 January 2007). "Nettlebed S Bartholomew". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers . Central Council of Church Bell Ringers . Retrieved 1 December 2013.
19. Historic England, "Sue Ryder Home (1181065)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 15 December 2016
20. Mellor et al. 1994, p. 33.
21. Mellor et al. 1994, p. 149.
22. Mellor et al. 1994, p. 201.
23. Historic England. "Brick Kiln (Grade II*) (1181146)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
24. Foreman 1983, plates 66, 67.
25. Foreman 1983, p. 127.
26. "Nettlebed Folk Club" . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
27. "Previous winners". Radio 2 Folk Awards 2006. BBC Online . Retrieved 7 February 2011.
28. "river rapids X38 X39 X40" (PDF). Thames Travel . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
29. "Sir Ninian Stephen, Australia's former Governor-General and war crimes judge – obituary". The Telegraph. 29 October 2017. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 22 February 2024.
30. Historic England. "25, High Street (Grade II) (1047382)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 24 July 2018.

Bibliography

• Anonymous (2012). John Piper and the Church a Stained-Glass Tour of Selected Local Churches. Dorchester-on-Thames: Friends of Dorchester Abbey.
• Case, Humphrey (1952–53). "Mesolithic finds in the Oxford area" (PDF). Oxoniensia. XVII–XVIII. Oxford Architectural and Historical Society: 1–13.
• Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1936]. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nuffield. ISBN   0198691033.
• Foreman, Wilfrid (1983). Oxfordshire Mills. Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd. p. 127. ISBN   0-85033-441-1.
• Mellor, Maureen; Cowell, Mike; Newns, Sarah; Vince, Alan (1994). "A Synthesis of Middle and Late Saxon, Medieval and Early Post-medieval Pottery in the Oxford Region" (PDF). Oxoniensia. LIX. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society.
• Page, William, ed. (1907). "The abbey of Dorchester". A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. Vol. 2: Ecclesiastical History, etc. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 87–90.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 714–715. ISBN   0-14-071045-0.

External links

• Nettlebed Community