Stadhampton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The ...

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 ...

. Stadhampton is close to the River Thame, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

. The village was first mentioned by name in 1146, and was in the ownership of the bishops of Lincoln, the

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

, and various

colleges for most of subsequent history. The village includes several buildings of historical and architectural interest, including a parish church with features dating back to the 12th-century.

Toponym

The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' 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 a proper name o ...

"Stadhampton" was recorded as ''Stodeham'' in 1146 and ''Stodham'' in 1316. The name is derived from Old English, probably ''Stod-hāmm'' meaning "river

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artif ...

where horses were kept". ''Stadham'' has also been used, including colloquially to the present day, and the "ton" suffix seems to have been added relatively late in the village's history.

History

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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 does not mention Stadhampton by name, but the settlement evidently formed part of the demesne lands of the Bishop of Lincoln's Dorchester manor. Dorchester on Thames was the first

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

bishopric of England, and was the ''de facto'' capital of

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

until being displaced by Winchester in 660. Dorchester manor and the village of Stadhampton remained in the ownership of the bishops of Lincoln for almost a thousand years until they passed into the ownership of

Edward V Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland fr ...

I in 1547, continuing in the ownership of the crown until

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

granted the manor to Henry, Lord Norreys of Rycote. The village then passed through the ownership of several prominent families until being acquired by the

colleges of Oriel and Christ Church in 1740, and subsequently by

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

in 1927.

Location

The parish is about south-east of

and includes the villages of Stadhampton and Chiselhampton and hamlets of Ascott and Brookhampton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 832. The A329 between Thame and

Shillingford Shillingford a Hamlet (place), hamlet on the north bank of the River Thames in Warborough Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England. Its homes are not quite with Warborough by way of one residential road. It lies m ...

passes through the village. The River Thame separates Stadhampton and Chiselhampton. Stadhampton and Brookhampton are separated by a brook that flows through Chalgrove and joins the Thame just above Chiselhampton Bridge. Northwest of Chiselhampton is Richmond Hill, whose summit is more than above sea level.

Parish church

The oldest part of 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 ca ...

of St

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

is the 12th-century Norman

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring) ...

. Some 15th-century

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four- ...

features survive, including the north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

, three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

north arcade and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

arch. The church has a west

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

that was built in 1737. In 1875 the church was rebuilt and enlarged to designs by the Gothic Revival architect EG Bruton, who added a south aisle and three-bay south arcade. The tower has a ring of four bells. Henry I Knight of

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway serve the town. Reading is east o ...

cast the treble and second bells in 1621. Mears and Stainbank of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bell ...

cast the third bell in 1883 and the tenor bell in 1884. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable. Since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

St John's has always had the same parish clergy as St Mary's, Chiselhampton. The Welsh clergyman and writer

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

was priest of both parishes in 1798–1803.

Economic and social history

The village includes several buildings of historical and architectural interest, including a number that are

Grade II listed 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 ...

. The former Black Horse

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 ...

on Thame Road was built in 1751. Ash Cottage in School Lane is formed from three former cottages dating from the 17th century, now a single house. On the main street is a 17th-century bakehouse,

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 ...

and built of coursed stone and bearing the date 1658, that was used as a bakery until about 1914. In the 18th century Stadhampton had two clockmakers: James Jordan (born about 1751) and Thomas Jordan, who worked together. Thomas repaired the turret clock at St Peter's parish church, Great Haseley on several occasions between 1770 and 1790. School Lane, Stadhampton - geograph

Amenities

Most of the amenities of the parish are in the village, including Stadhampton Primary School. Stadhampton village school used to be at the bottom of School Lane but is now in Cratlands Close. The parish has three pub-restaurants: The Coach & Horses Inn in Chiselhampton and The Crown and the Crazy Bear Hotel in Stadhampton. Stadhampton has a petrol station that includes a village store. Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary is in Stadhampton. Thames Travel bus route T1 serves Stadhampton six days a week, linking the village with

''via'' Garsington and Cowley and with Watlington ''via'' Chalgrove. Buses run hourly from Mondays to Fridays and every 125 minutes on Saturdays. There is no Sunday service.

References

Sources

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External links

Stadhampton Grapevine
{{authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Villages in Oxfordshire