Hanney was an ancient
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
about north of
Wantage
Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...
in the
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It Historic counties of England, was historically part of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Hors ...
. It included the villages of
East Hanney and
West Hanney (known collectively as "The Hanneys") and
Lyford.
[Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 285-294] Hanney was part of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
until the
1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
.
History
The villages were formerly islands in marshland, hence the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''"-ey"'' ending of their
toponyms.
Charney Bassett,
Childrey and
Goosey are other nearby examples. The name, first recorded as ''Hannige'' in a charter in 956, likely meant "island of the wild birds", with the first part being an Old English word ''hana''.
Parish churches
The parish church of
Saint James the Great, West Hanney was the
mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
of the parish.
[ The church of ]St. Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
, Lyford was built in the Middle Ages as a dependent chapel.[ East Hanney had a dependent chapel of St. James by 1288 but it was dissolved in the 16th century.][ A new chapel of St. James the Less was built in the 1850s but then made redundant in the 20th century.][Pevsner, 1966, page 133]
References
Sources
*
*
External links
TheHanneys
www.geograph.co.uk : photos of East and West Hanney and surrounding area
Vale of White Horse
{{Oxfordshire-geo-stub