Taynton | |
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St John the Evangelist parish church | |
Location within Oxfordshire | |
Population | 108 (2001 Census) |
OS grid reference | SP2313 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Burford |
Postcode district | OX18 |
Dialling code | 01993 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Oxfordshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Taynton is a village and civil parish about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Burford in West Oxfordshire. The village is on Coombe Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush. The parish is bounded in the south by the River Windrush, in the north partly by Coombe Brook and its tributary Hazelden Brook, in the west by the county boundary with Gloucestershire and in the east by field boundaries. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 108. [1]
In 1059, King Edward the Confessor granted the manor of Taynton to the Abbey of Saint Denis near Paris. [2] [3] [4] The present manor house was built in the 17th century and has been much altered since. [5]
The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Evangelist has a Decorated Gothic north aisle and arcade dating from about 1360. The east window of the south aisle is also Decorated Gothic, but the present south arcade and the rest of the south aisle are Perpendicular Gothic work from the end of the 15th century. The clerestory of the nave was added at the same time. The bell tower also is Perpendicular Gothic. The chancel was rebuilt in 1865 to plans by the architect W.F. Poulton. [5] The church is a Grade II* listed building. [6] The tower has a ring of six bells. [7] Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester [8] cast the fourth and fifth bells in 1717. [9] Thomas Bond of Burford [8] cast the treble, second, fifth and tenor bells in 1937. [9] St John's has also a Sanctus bell of unknown date. [9] The parish of St John the Evangelist is now part of the Benefice of Burford, Fulbrook, Taynton, Asthall, Swinbrook, and Widford. [10]
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Taynton had two water mills. [11] There is still a Taynton Mill in the Windrush valley downstream from Coombe Brook's confluence with the river. The Manor of Taynton's other mill may have been 14 miles (23 km) away at Northmoor, where the Manor of Taynton held land. [11]
The Domesday Book records a quarry at Taynton. [3] [12] The Taynton Limestone Formation is a Middle Jurassic Cotswold limestone. [13] It is a high-quality freestone that for centuries has been used for ashlar and other precision masonry. The quarries, now all disused, are on the east side of the valley of Coombe Brook, starting 1⁄2-mile (800 m) north of the village and extending another 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) up the valley. [14]
The earliest record of a building using Taynton stone is from 1310, when it was used at Merton College, Oxford. [15] Taynton supplied stone for many of the older colleges of the University of Oxford, [16] Windsor Castle, [16] Old St Paul's Cathedral, [16] and Eton College. [17] The original statues around the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford (carved in the 17th century and since replaced) were Taynton stone. [18] Early in the 18th century Taynton supplied some of the stone for Blenheim Palace. [16] "Rally Quarr", almost 2 miles (3 km) north of the village, is a corruption of "Railway Quarry". [19] It was worked in 1846–52 for stone to build bridges in the Windrush Valley for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. [19] [20] Taynton stone was used in Oxford to widen Magdalen Bridge over the River Cherwell in 1882 [21] and to build the New Bodleian Library in 1937–39. [22] Stone was still being quarried in the parish in 1974. [16]
The navigability of the River Thames affected Taynton's ability to supply building stone. Originally the stone was taken 14 miles (23 km) overland to Eynsham before being loaded onto barges. [15] However, when Eton College was being built in the 15th century, navigation on the Upper Thames was so bad that stone was taken overland 40 miles (64 km) to river wharves at Henley-on-Thames. [17] In the 17th and 18th centuries the river was sometimes navigable upstream from Eynsham, so barges loaded the stone at Radcot, 12 miles (19 km) from Taynton. [23] Despite transport limitations in earlier centuries, products from Taynton sometimes included substantial monoliths. In the 17th century Robert Plot recorded that Sir Compton Reade had a stone mash tun made at Taynton that measured 6+3⁄8×3+3⁄8×4+1⁄2 feet (1.9×1.0×1.4 m) and held about 65 bushels [19] (about 2,400 litres). A team of 21 horses hauled it by road from Taynton to Shipton-under-Wychwood, [19] a distance of about 4 miles (6.4 km).
No. 16, or Strong's House, is a gable-fronted house with a date stone of 1676. [5] It was built for Thomas Strong, who was master mason to Sir Christopher Wren. It is a Grade II* listed building. [24] As well as the manor house and Strong's House, a number of other houses in the village date from the 17th century. No. 5 is much restored but in its garden are two gothic stone window frames that may be medieval. [5] The village school was built in 1877 and a post office had opened by 1895. [25] Neither remains open today.
Burford is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located 18 miles (29 km) west of Oxford and 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Cheltenham, about 2 miles (3 km) from the Gloucestershire boundary. The toponym derives from the Old English words burh meaning fortified town or hilltown and ford, the crossing of a river. The 2011 Census recorded the population of Burford parish as 1,422.
Chadlington is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode Valley about 3 miles (5 km) south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village has six neighbourhoods: Brookend, Eastend, Greenend, Millennium, Westend and Bell-end.
Helmdon is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Brackley in West Northamptonshire, England. The village is on the River Tove, which is flanked by meadows that separate the village into two. The parish includes the hamlets of Astwell and Falcutt and covers more than 1,550 acres (630 ha). The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 899.
Steeple Aston is a village and civil parish on the edge of the Cherwell Valley, in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire, England, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Oxford, 7 miles (11 km) west of Bicester, and 10 miles (16 km) south of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 947. The village is 108 metres (354 ft) above sea level. The River Cherwell and Oxford Canal pass 1 mile (2 km) east of the village. The river forms part of the eastern boundary of the parish. The parish's southern boundary, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) south of the village, also forms part of Cherwell District's boundary with West Oxfordshire.
Tackley is a village and civil parish beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about 6 miles (10 km) west of Bicester and 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) north of Kidlington. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercott. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 998.
Shilton is a village and civil parish about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Carterton, Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 626.
Asthall or Asthal is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush in Oxfordshire, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Witney. It includes the hamlets of Asthall Leigh, Field Assarts, Stonelands, Worsham and part of Fordwells. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 252. Asthall village is just south of the River Windrush, which also forms the south-eastern part of its boundary. The remainder of the parish including all of its hamlets lie north of the river. A minor road through Fordwells forms most of the parish's northern boundary. Most of the remainder of the parish's boundary is formed by field boundaries.
Standlake is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Witney and 7 miles (11 km) west of Oxford, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Brighthampton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,497. The River Windrush flows past the village and with its tributary Medley Brook it forms much of the eastern boundary of the parish. The western boundary has been subject to changes and disputes in past centuries. It now follows Brighthampton Cut, an artificial land drain dug in the 19th century. The Windrush joins the River Thames at Newbridge just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south.
Woodeaton or Wood Eaton is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Oxford, England. It also has a special needs school called Woodeaton Manor School.
Fulbrook is a village and civil parish immediately northeast of Burford in West Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 437.
Northmoor is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Oxford and almost the same distance southeast of Witney. Northmoor is in the valley of the River Thames, which bounds the parish to the east and south, and is close to the River Windrush which forms part of the parish's western boundary. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 377.
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Witney and about 6 miles (10 km) west of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Sutton, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) north of the village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 960.
Glympton is a village and civil parish on the River Glyme about 3 miles (5 km) north of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 80. The village and church are owned by the Glympton Park estate.
Whatcote is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Shipston on Stour in the Vale of the Red Horse. The population at the 2011 census was 143.
Widford is a deserted medieval village on the River Windrush about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Burford in West Oxfordshire. The village was an exclave of Gloucestershire until 1844.
Chesterton is a village and civil parish on Gagle Brook, a tributary of the Langford Brook in north Oxfordshire. The village is about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the market town of Bicester. The village has sometimes been called Great Chesterton to distinguish it from the hamlet of Little Chesterton, about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) to the south in the same parish. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 850.
The Parish Church of Saint Giles, Standlake is the Church of England parish church of Standlake, a village about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Witney in Oxfordshire. Since 1976 St Giles' parish has been a member of the Lower Windrush Benefice along with the parishes of Northmoor, Stanton Harcourt and Yelford.
Sandford St Martin is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about 7 miles (11 km) east of Chipping Norton and about 12 miles (19 km) south of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 209.
Steeple Barton is a civil parish and scattered settlement on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire, about 8+1⁄2 miles (13.7 km) east of Chipping Norton, a similar distance west of Bicester and 9 miles (14 km) south of Banbury. Most of the parish's population lives in the village of Middle Barton, about 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the settlement of Steeple Barton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,523. Much of the parish's eastern boundary is formed by the former turnpike between Oxford and Banbury, now classified the A4260 road. The minor road between Middle Barton and Kiddington forms part of the western boundary. Field boundaries form most of the rest of the boundaries of the parish.
Westcott Barton, also spelt Wescot Barton or Wescote Barton, is a village and civil parish on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire about 7 miles (11 km) east of Chipping Norton and about 9+1⁄2 miles (15 km) south of Banbury. The parish is bounded to the north by Cockley Brook, a tributary of the River Dorn. A minor road to Kiddington forms part of the eastern boundary, another minor road forms part of the western boundary and the remainder of the parish boundaries are field boundaries. Westcott Barton's main area of housing is on the eastern boundary of the parish and contiguous with the village of Middle Barton in the neighbouring parish of Steeple Barton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 244.