Great Tew
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Great Tew is an English 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
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 ...
, about north-east of
Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...
and south-west of
Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...
, close to the
Cotswold Hills The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...
. The 2011 census gave a parish population of 156. This qualifies it for an annual
parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...
, not a monthly parish council. The village has largely belonged since the 1980s to the Johnston family, as the Great Tew Estate, with renovations and improvements.


Name

In
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 ...
, the
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
''Cyrictiwa'' – "Church Tew" – distinguishes the village from neighbouring
Little Tew Little Tew is an English village and civil parish about northeast of Chipping Norton and southwest of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The parish is bounded to the northwest by the River Swere and a road between Little Tew and Hook Norton, to the ...
, which then lacked a church, and
Nether Worton Nether Worton is a Hamlet (place), hamlet in the civil parish of Worton (civil parish), Oxfordshire, Worton, in the West Oxfordshire district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is about south of Banbury and east of Chipping Norton. In ...
which seems not to have had a place of worship until the 12th century.


History


Antiquity

Evidence that the area has been inhabited since at least the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
includes a barrow about south of the village. Under Roman rule, a
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
connected to a
road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...
was located southeast of the village at what is now Beaconsfield Farm. The villa was rediscovered in the 17th century and excavations have subsequently revealed a
hypocaust A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...
and mosaic floors,
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
from the 3rd and 4th centuries, and some evidence that Roman occupation may have begun early in the 2nd century.


Middle Ages

The main settlement moved to its present location in the
Anglo-Saxon era The territory today known as England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BB ...
.
Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfric of Abingdon (died 16 November 1005) was a late 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury. He previously held the offices of abbot of St Albans Abbey and Bishop of Ramsbury, as well as likely being the abbot of Abingdon Abbey. After his e ...
held the manor of Great Tew by 990 and became
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
in 995. Ælfric died in 1005, leaving Great Tew to Saint Alban's Abbey. In 1049–1052 the
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...
leased Great Tew:
''Leofstan,
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
, and St Albans Abbey, to Tova, widow of Wihtric, in return for 3
marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
of gold and an annual render of honey; lease, for her lifetime and that of her son, Godwine, of land at Cyrictiwa, with reversion to St Albans.''
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
granted the manor to his half-brother
Odo Odo is a name typically associated with historical figures from the Middle Ages and before. Odo is etymologically related to the names Otho and Otto, and to the French name Odon and modern version Eudes, and to the Italian names Ottone and Udo; a ...
,
Bishop of Bayeux The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux'') is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is a ...
. It was recorded among Odo's estates in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
in 1086.


Modernity

Tew Great Park was created before the latter part of the 16th century. Sir
Lawrence Tanfield Sir Lawrence Tanfield (c. 1551 – 30 April 1625) was an English lawyer, politician and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He had a reputation for corruption, and the harshness which he and his wife showed to his tenants was remembered for ...
,
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...
, bought Great Tew estate in 1611 from Edward Rainsford. He deprived the villagers of timber, causing some cottages to fall into disrepair. Tanfield enclosed part of Great Tew's lands in 1622. However, most of the parish's
common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...
s remained unenclosed until an
enclosure act The inclosure acts created legal property rights to land previously held in common in England and Wales, particularly open fields and common land. Between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 individual acts enclosing public land were passed, affecting 28,00 ...
for Great Tew was passed in 1767. After Tanfield died in 1626, followed by his wife Elizabeth in 1629, Great Tew passed to his young grandson
Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland PC (c. 1610 – 20 September 1643) was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War and was killed in action at t ...
. In the 1630s Lucius gathered together a
Great Tew circle The Great Tew Circle was a group of clerics and literary figures who gathered in the 1630s at the manor house of Great Tew, Oxfordshire in southern England, and in London. Lord Clarendon referred to the Circle as "A college situate in a purer a ...
of writers and scholars, who included
Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley (; 161828 July 1667) was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his ''Works'' published between 1668 and 1721. Early ...
,
Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
and
Edmund Waller Edmund Waller, 3 March 1606 to 21 October 1687, was a poet and politician from Buckinghamshire. He sat as MP for various constituencies between 1624 and 1687, and was one of the longest serving members of the English House of Commons. Althoug ...
. During the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
the young Viscount fought on the
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
side and was killed in 1643 at the
First Battle of Newbury The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following ...
. Great Tew remained in the
Cary family Cary may refer to: Places United States * Cary, Illinois, a village, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Cary, Miami County, Indiana, a ghost town * Cary, Maine, an unorganized township an ...
until the death of
Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland PC (16 February 1656 – 24 May 1694) was an English nobleman and politician. Biography Cary was born at Farley Castle, Somerset, the son of Henry Cary, 4th Viscount Falkland, to whose peerage he succeeded ...
in 1694. Viscount Cary lived in a large
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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
that seems to have been built in or before the early 17th century and extended in the latter part. In 1736 the political manager
Susanna Keck Lady Susanna Keck (''née'' Lady Susan Hamilton; bap. 26 September 1706 – 1755) was a British political manager. She sided with the Whigs and she took a strong interest in the 1754 general election in Oxfordshire. Life Keck was baptised in ...
married Anthony Keck MP who had inherited the manor. It was demolished in about 1800, but surviving adjacent structures from about 1700 include stables, a
dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...
and a stone gate piers. In 1780 and 1793 Great Tew estate was bought by George Stratton, who had made a fortune in the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. He died in March 1800 and was succeeded by his son
George Frederick Stratton George Frederick Stratton (1779–c.1834) was an English landowner and Fellow of the Royal Society. Early life He was the elder son of George Stratton (politician), George Stratton, a nabob who purchased Tew Park in Oxfordshire, and his wife Hester ...
. The manor house had evidently fallen into disrepair, as the Strattons lived in a smaller Georgian
dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish estate (house), estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house fr ...
slightly to the south of it, and had the manor house demolished in about 1803. In 1808 George Frederick Stratton engaged the Scots
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
and
garden designer A garden designer is someone who designs the plan and features of gardens, either as an amateur or professional. The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, planting, constructed elements and buildings, ...
John Loudon, who laid out north and south drives in Great Tew Park and planted ornamental trees in and around the village, which still enhance its appearance. In 1815–1816,
Matthew Robinson Boulton Matthew Robinson Boulton (8 August 1770 – 16 May 1842) was an English manufacturer, a pioneer of management, the son of Matthew Boulton and the father of Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, who first patented the aileron An aileron (French for ...
, son of the manufacturer
Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton ( ; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and silversmith. He was a business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the par ...
of
Soho, Birmingham Soho is an area split between the Birmingham and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands in England. The area is located on the A41 road. The name is an abbreviation of South House, denoting that it was located to the south of Hands ...
, bought the estate. In 1834 he added a
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
library to the east end of the house, and in 1856 his family added to the west end a Tudor style section designed by F.S. Waller. Great Tew stayed with the family until M. E. Boulton died without heirs in 1914. In 2014, the house seemed unoccupied and clad in scaffolding and plastic sheeting, as a restoration project for the owners, the Johnston family, who reopened the local ironstone quarry in 2000.
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
and
Jerry Hall Jerry Faye Hall (born July 2, 1956) is an American model and actress. She began modeling in the 1970s and became one of the most sought-after models in the world. She transitioned into acting, appearing in the 1989 film ''Batman''. Hall was the ...
acquired the manor in 2020; the building was "in a derelict condition" but the couple planned a restoration to include a domed roof. In recent years the Great Tew Estate has hosted events through the year, including the Cornbury Music Festival.


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 Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...
and all Angels was originally
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
. The south doorway of about 1170 survives. Rebuilding ensued in the 13th century; the
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
s of stone pillars inside and the south porch survive from that period. Early in the 14th century the
aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
s were enlarged and most of today's windows installed. The
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
was built late in the 14th century in a transitional style between
Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...
and
Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ...
. Next the Perpendicular Gothic
clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...
was added. The architect
Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...
repaired the church and restored its
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
in 1826–1827. The chancel has a monument to Mary Anne Boulton, which includes a reclining female figure sculpted in white marble by
Francis Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...
in 1834. The church is a
Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The tower has a ring of eight bells. Six were cast in 1709 by Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester. A seventh was cast in 1785 by Abraham's grandsons Charles and John Rudhall, also of Gloucester. The newest bell was cast in 1842 by W & J Taylor, presumably at their foundry in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. The organ by Henry Williams of Cheltenham is a fine example dating from about 1863, the work of a maker who as foreman of Gray and Davison in London had been involved in building the organ for the Great Exhibition of 1851, now in St Anne's, Limehouse. The
living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...
of St Michael's was granted to the
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
Godstow Abbey Godstow is a hamlet about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It lies on the banks of the River Thames between the villages of Wolvercote to the east and Wytham to the west. The ruins of Godstow Abbey, also known as Godstow Nunnery, are here. A ...
in 1302 and remained under it until the
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...
was suppressed in the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. The villages of Nether Worton and Little Tew were part of the Great Tew church parish. Nether Worton became separate again in the 17th century and Little Tew in the 1850s. Great and Little Tew were reunited as a single Church of England benefice in 1930. A further manor, called "Purceles Maner" in Great Tew, in mentioned in 1452, held by Thomas Purcell.


Economic and social history


Mills

Great Tew is said to have had two
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
s by the 13th century. Both were still in use when the estate was surveyed in 1778. Mill Lane, about north of the village, is named after a mill built or rebuilt in the 17th century for wool processing. Traces of its
mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the co ...
, mill stream and wheel chamber were still visible in the early 1980s. About north of the village, there was a mill on the stream near Cottenham Farm. Traces of its mill ponds, buildings and two water wheels were still visible in the early 1980s, and a small wood there is still called Pool Spinney. One mill had ceased to be used by the time G. F. Stratton sold the estate in 1815; the other was disused by 1837. One of J. C. Loudon's works for G. F. Stratton after 1808 was an elaborate watermill at Tracey Farm in the south of the parish. It was a bone mill, because 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 labor and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricu ...
had identified
lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...
as a fertiliser and
bone meal Bone meal (or bonemeal) is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animal bones and slaughter-house waste products. It is used as a dietary supplement to supply calcium and phosphorus to monogastric livestock in the form of hydroxyapatite. As a slo ...
as a source of it. The stream at Tracey Farm was dammed in a mill pond, and both the
leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Othe ...
feeding the water wheel and the tail race downstream of it were in brick-lined tunnels, the latter below ground. While most Oxfordshire watermills have an
undershot A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous blade ...
or a breastshot wheel, Loudon adopted a more efficient
backshot wheel Backshot may refer to: * Backshot wheel, a type of water wheel *''Backshot'', a novel by David Sherman and Dan Cragg in the StarFist: Force Recon series *''Backshot'', novel by George G. Gilman *A slang term for doggy style sex {{Disambig
made of wood and iron and in diameter. A
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
powered by a
beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead Beam (structure), beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used b ...
was built in the middle of the 19th century. The beam engine has gone but the engine house and its tall chimney survive.


Cottages

Many dwellings in the village seem to have been built in the 17th century during the
Great Rebuilding A Great Rebuilding is a period in which a heightened level of construction work, architectural change, or rebuilding occurred. More specifically, W. G. Hoskins William George Hoskins (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an English local his ...
of England. Given the Tanfields' behaviour towards the villagers, they are more likely to have been built in the decades when the Cary family had the estate. Every cottage and house is built of local
ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...
from Great Tew's
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
, and most have
thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
roofs. Matthew Robinson Boulton had most of the village's old cottages and houses rebuilt and embellished from 1819 onwards. After M. E. Boulton's death in 1914 Great Tew estate was held in
public trustee In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
ship for nearly 50 years, during which time many of its historic cottages and houses were unoccupied and allowed to become derelict. In 1962 Major Eustace Robb, only son of Major-General Sir Frederick Spencer Robb, inherited the estate and declared he would restore its prosperity and buildings. However, a decade later many cottages were continuing to decay and Jennifer Sherwood and Sir
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...
condemned this as "one of the most depressing sights in the whole county. Terraces of cottages lie derelict (1972) and will soon be beyond hope of restoration. A scheme of gradual rehabilitation is said to be in progress, but nothing has been done meanwhile to prevent the decay of unused cottages, some of which are completely ruinous and will need to be entirely rebuilt." In 1978 another authority described Major Robb's treatment of Great Tew as a "notorious example" that "demonstrated that a single-minded or neglectful owner can still cause both the community and the village fabric to die." Also in 1978, Great Tew village was declared a
conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
. In 1985 Major Robb died, leaving Great Tew estate to the Johnston family, who have worked on restoration. In 2000 they reopened Great Tew's quarry to supply ironstone for building. Many of the cottages are Grade II listed buildings. One pair of 17th-century cottages, 57 and 58 The Lane, are
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
. Great Tew has 87 Grade II listed buildings.


School

In the 17th century, Lettice Cary, wife of the 2nd Viscount Falkland, cared for the poor and sick of Great Tew and founded a village school. The village still had a school in the 18th century, but a schoolroom attached to the church was disused by 1738 and demolished later in that century. A school had been re-established by 1774; its building was enlarged in 1815. In 1818, the village also had two
dame school Dame schools were small, privately run schools for children aged two to five. They emerged in Great Britain and its colonies during the Early modern Britain, early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman ...
s. In 1852 M. R. Boulton moved the
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
to a new building on 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 ...
. In 1923 this was enlarged to take extra pupils from Little Tew. It has three classrooms for pupils in classes of mixed age and ability. It is a county primary school run by Oxfordshire County Council.


Amenities

The ''Falkland Arms'' is mostly a late 17th-century public house, in part possibly earlier. It had acquired its current name by 1830 and is now held by
Wadworth Brewery Wadworth is a brewery company founded in 1875 in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, best known for their 6X beer brand. History Wadworth & Co. was founded in 1875 when Henry Wadworth purchased the Northgate Brewery in Devizes. It was not long before ...
. It offers accommodation, food and
real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for ale that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous ca ...
, and is listed in a
Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...
. Great Tew has a general store-cum-café, which was once also the sub-post office. The Tew Centre between the village and Little Tew, also has a café. Great and Little Tew Cricket Club is based there. Just outside the village, on the site of the former Tracey Farm is the Soho Farmhouse member's club
Soho House (club) Soho House is an international private members’ club with a focus on the media, arts and fashion industries. Membership is highly selective and primarily drawn from these fields. The company operates clubs, hotels, restaurants and other venu ...
. The Soho Farmhouse is noted as one of the area's most fashionable destinations and a celebrity destination.


Notable people

* David and Victoria Beckham.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * *


External links


Great Tew
{{authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Thomas Rickman buildings Villages in Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire District