Syresham 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the English district of

West Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire is a unitary authority area covering part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, created in 2021. By far the largest settlement in West Northamptonshire is the county town of Northampton. Its other signific ...

. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 855. It is near

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from Oxford and from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the inter ...

town and close to Silverstone Circuit. It is surrounded by villages and hamlets such as Biddlesden, Whitfield,

Helmdon Helmdon is a village and civil parish about 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 ...

, Silverstone and

Wappenham Wappenham is a linear village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is south-west of Towcester, north of Syresham and north-west of Silverstone and forms part of West Northamptonshire. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's ...

, and the border with Buckinghamshire lies just to the south of the village. The border itself is defined by the River Great Ouse, which rises within the parish. There are two small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s in the parish: Crowfield and Pimlico. The village's name means 'homestead/village of Sigehere' or 'hemmed-in land of Sigehere'. The local geology includes the

cornbrash The Cornbrash Formation is a Middle Jurassic geological formation in England. It ranges in age from Bathonian to Callovian, the uppermost part of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the form ...

and

oolitic limestone Oolite or oölite (''egg stone'') is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word for egg (ᾠόν). Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

age. There is a large abandoned

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

north of the church which supplied the stone for many of the older buildings in the village. The population, like so many other villages in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is now much lower than even a century ago due to the

British agricultural revolution The British Agricultural Revolution, or Second Agricultural Revolution, was an unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain arising from increases in labour and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agric ...

. There are the remains of a very large fish pond south of the church and close to the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

. The

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

wall still stands but the pond was drained long ago for its rich

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries most of the land in and around Syresham passed to Magdalen College, Oxford. Much of the estate has now been sold off, however There are several deserted medieval villages nearby, including

Astwell Astwell is a hamlet (place), hamlet in Northamptonshire, England. With Falcutt, it is part of the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Helmdon , but formerly Astwell was split between the parishes of Syresham and Wappenham. The hamlet is ...

near Helmdon, the site of the still standing keep or

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

Astwell Castle Astwell Castle is a manor house in Northamptonshire, England about south-west of Wappenham. It is a Grade II listed building and part of the parish of Helmdon, a village west. History The De Wauncys were amongst the earliest possessors of th ...

Local woods

An old forest town, it is surrounded by the remnants of

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

, the hunting grounds for several English kings such as Richard III. They include Whistley wood near

and Hazelborough wood near Silverstone. Further afield is

Yardley Chase Yardley Chase is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, mostly in Northamptonshire, with a small area in the south of the site in Buckinghamshire. It is in two areas of woodland, pasture and parkland, south-west of Yardley Hastings ...

and

Whittlewood Forest Whittlewood Forest is a former medieval hunting forest east of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England. It is managed by the Forestry England. There are tracts of ancient woodland within it and old ditches can be found at the edges of severa ...

. They are mainly owned by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

and are crossed by many public footpaths and some byways and bridleways leading to the village. The woods have a diverse range of trees, including oak, beech, hazel and some conifer stands. The hazel will have been

coppiced Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

in previous times, but are now completely neglected. All of the ancient woods are surrounded by deep ditches, a common indicator of their great age and importance in the Medieval period. There is a Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI near Hazelborough wood which hosts rare marsh plants including

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

. It is known as ''Syresham Marshy Meadows'' and hosts a number of very rare plants owing to its waterlogged condition. The woods are rich in a wide range of plants, especially

common bluebell ''Hyacinthoides non-scripta'' (formerly ''Endymion non-scriptus'' or ''Scilla non-scripta'') is a bulbous perennial plant, found in Atlantic areas from north-western Spain to the British Isles, and also frequently used as a garden plant. It is ...

s and primroses (or

Primula vulgaris ''Primula vulgaris'', the common primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and parts of southwest Asia.''Flora Europaea'Primula vulgaris''/ref> The common name ...

) in the spring, and associated

as well as the

yellow rattle ''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus '' Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An a ...

. There is a diverse fauna including mammals such as

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

and

muntjac Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

, and birds such as the common buzzard and

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region o ...

s are also seen in the parish.

Facilities

The village possesses a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, the ''Kings Head'', a sub

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, church and

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

. It has a thriving social life, with a Sports and Social Club (football field and cricket pitch), and several local societies (such as the Syresham History Society). There are several

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

s, including The Priory, Manor Farm and The Old College Farmhouse. St. James' Church, dating from the 12th century, is Grade II* listed. It is bypassed by the A43 trunk road and is the western terminus of the Ouse Valley Way long distance footpath. It is traversed by Welsh lane, a

Drovers' road A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; ot ...

used to bring cattle and sheep to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

before the railways killed off the droving business. The lane has wide verges at many places between the village and Buckingham which were ideal for grazing the

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

. There are the remains or stump of a hanging tree at the cross-roads just south of Biddlesden.

Sport

Sport has always played a central part in village life. Syreham currently has two senior football teams playing in the

North Bucks & District Football League The North Bucks & District Football League, commonly referred to as simply the North Bucks League, is a competition affiliated to the Berks & Bucks County Football Association featuring amateur association football clubs primarily in Northern B ...

and two senior cricket teams playing in the South Northants Cricket League. There are also junior teams representing both football and cricket. Syresham also has a darts team, a dominoes team and a bowls club. For those who play rugby Brackley Rugby Union Football Club is only 4 miles away. Syresham also has a golf society, the Gytte Lane Club, and several courses within a ten-mile drive.

Awards

Syresham won village of the year awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010; 2012-2013, 2015 and 2017, being awarded the best community within the region. Contributions to this were events such as the village Scarecrow Festival and village pantomime. The village pantomime celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009 with a brilliant production of Cinderella.

Bibliography

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

Northampton *Philip Pettit, ''Syresham, A Forest Village and its Chapel'', Syresham History (1996)

External links

Syresham village websiteSyresham Scarecrow Festival websiteSyresham Sports and Social ClubDetails of the architecture of the parish church
*

References

{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire Grade II listed buildings in Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District