Shipton-under-Wychwood is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
Evenlode valley about north of
Burford, in the
West Oxfordshire
West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based.
Area
The area is mainly rural downla ...
district, in the county of
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 ...
, England. The village is one of three named after the ancient forest of
Wychwood
Wychwood or Wychwood Forest is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Witney in Oxfordshire. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and an area of is a national nature reserve (United Kingdom), national natur ...
. The others are
Milton-under-Wychwood immediately to the west of the village and
Ascott-under-Wychwood
Ascott-under-Wychwood is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode valley about south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 560.
Toponym
The village is one of three named after the h ...
about to the east. The
2011 Census recorded Shipton-under-Wychwood's parish population as 1,244.
Manors
Langley
About southeast of the village is the farmhouse of Langley, a largely mid-19th-century building. It is on the site of a royal
hunting lodge that was built for
Henry VII. Most of the
Tudor monarchs stayed there when hunting in Wychwood Forest.
King James I stayed at Langley in August 1605, and a French servant who died was buried at Shipton. The de Langley family were hereditary keepers of
Wychwood Forest, Oxon. The office carried with it the tenancy of the manor of Langley in Shipton-under-Wychwood parish. The heir was Simon Verney (d. 1368) whose brother was William Verney of Byfield, Northants., father of Alice Verney, 1st. wife of John Danvers (d. 1449) of Calthorpe, MP for
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 ...
1420, 1421, 1423 and 1435. The de Langley family held the manor of Shipton, Oxfordshire, and Richard Lee in his ''Gleanings of Oxfordshire'' of 1574 states that these arms of ''"Gules, 2 bars or in chief 2 buck's heads cabossed of the 2nd"'' were then displayed in a stained glass window in St. Mary's parish church at Shipton with a tomb under it. The buck's heads seem to be a reference to the de Langley office of forester of Wychwood.
Lacey
Shipton Court, the estate of the Lacey family, was built in about 1603 but sold to Sir Compton Reade in 1663. It passed down in the Reade family until 1868 when, on the death of Sir John Reade, it was left to his footman Joseph Wakefield, on condition that he took the name Reade.
Parish church
The
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
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 ...
has a tower built in about 1200–1250, a 15th-century stone
pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
and
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
and a
Tudor wall monument. The architect
Richard Pace designed Saint Mary's Rectory, which was built in 1818.
Sports teams
Shipton-under-Wychwood Cricket Club
Founded in 1920,
Shipton-under-Wychwood Cricket Club First XI plays in The Home Counties Premier League, and the Second, Third and Fourth XI play in ''
The Oxford Times
''The Oxford Times'' is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. The paper is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, and is owned by Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of US-based Gannett Comp ...
'' Cherwell League. The men's first 11 won The National Village Knockout, with the final played at
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...
, in 2002 and 2003.
Oscar-winning film director
Sam Mendes
Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was Knight Bachelor, knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours ...
played in the team that lost in the final of the Knockout in 1997 The First XI won the National Village Knockout at Lords in 2002 and 2003, and was runner-up in 1997 and 2010. It was also Oxfordshire Team of the Year in 2011 after its trip to Lords, winning the Cherwell League title, and winning both the premier Oxfordshire Twenty 20 Competitions, all within 12 months. The club launched its first Ladies team in 2014, after several successful seasons running girls' sides. The Women's first 11 won the Oxfordshire Ladies Championship in 2015.
Economic and social history
William Langland
William Langland (; ; ) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as ''Piers Plowman'', an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem translated the language and concepts of the cl ...
, the conjectured author of ''
Piers Plowman
''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un-rhymed, alliterative ...
'', is known to have been a tenant in Shipton-under-Wychwood where he died. The village has three historic
public house
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
s: the Shaven Crown Hotel, The Wychwood and the Lamb Inn. The Shaven Crown Hotel overlooking the
village green
A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...
was once a guest house run by the monks of
Bruern Abbey. The present building is mainly 15th century. The former leader of the British Union of Fascists,
Sir Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...
stayed at the hotel after his release from internment in 1943. The Lamb Inn is 16th century and is controlled by
Greene King Brewery.
Amenities
Shipton railway station is on the
Cotswold Line
The Cotswold Line is an railway line between and in England.
History Early years
The line between Oxford and Worcester was built under an 1845 Act of Parliament and opened in 1851 as part of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway ...
. Shipton-under-Wychwood is on the
Oxfordshire Way footpath, which can be used to walk north-westwards up the Evenlode Valley to Bruern Abbey and
Bledington
Bledington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about southeast of Stow-on-the-Wold and southwest of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, Chipping Norton. ...
, or eastwards down the valley to
Charlbury
Charlbury () is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the River Evenlode, Evenlode valley, about north of Witney in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the edge of Wychwood, Wychwood Forest and the C ...
.
References
Sources
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External links
The Wychwood Magazine Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipton-Under-Wychwood
Villages in Oxfordshire
Civil parishes in Oxfordshire
West Oxfordshire District