Stonesfield Methodist Church

Stonesfield is a village and civil parish about north of Witney in Oxfordshire, and about 10 miles (17 km) north-west of Oxford. The village is on the crest of an escarpment. The parish extends mostly north and north-east of the village, in which directions the land rises gently and then descends to the River Glyme at Glympton and Wootton about to the north-east. South of Stonesfield, below the escarpment, is the River Evenlode which touches the southern edge of the parish. At the centre of Stonesfield stands the 13th-century church of St James the Great as well as a Wesleyan chapel, Stonesfield Methodist Church, slightly further west. The village is known for Stonesfield slate, a form of Cotswold stone mined particularly as a roofing stone and also a rich source of fossils. The architecture in Stonesfield features many old Cotswold stone properties roofed with locally mined slate along with some late 20th-century buildings and several properties under construction. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,527.

Literature

Poetry

Dr Romola Parish, an academic, lawyer, artist, and poet who studied Creative Writing at the University of Oxford has written two poems about Stonesfield during her time as poet in residence at Oxfordshire County Council, working as part of the Oxfordshire Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) project. Both poems are from the collection ''In Polygonia'' and were both published in The Stonesfield Slate. The first was published in April 2018 and was simply called ''‘Stonesfield’'' while the second was published in March 2020 on the back page of issue 500 of The Stonesfield Slate and had the title ''‘Stuntesfeld’''.

Toponym

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Stonesfield as ''Stunsfeld'', meaning "fool's field". This was because of the stony soil in the area, so the toponym's mutation is most appropriate. Thomas Hearne used the spelling "Stunsfield" in 1712 and Akerman spelt it ''"Stuntesfield"'' in 1854.

Geology

Stonesfield is on the Taynton Limestone Formation, a type of Cotswold stone that until the 20th century was mined as a roofing stone called Stonesfield slate. It is common on roofs of older buildings in the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire. Many of the older buildings of the University of Oxford have Stonesfield slate roofs. The mines were also one of Britain's richest sources of Middle Jurassic vertebrate fossils. The first fossil bones to be identified as those of a dinosaur were found early in the 19th century near Stonesfield. They are part of the skeleton of a bipedal carnivore, and in 1824 the pioneering palaeontologist William Buckland named it '' Megalosaurus''. The bones are now displayed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Other reptiles found at Stonesfield include the crocodile '' Steneosaurus'', pterosaur ''Rhamphocephalus'' and the type specimen of the theropod genus '' Iliosuchus''. Also found here was the type specimen of the quadruped '' Stereognathus'' belonging to the clade of animals called cynodonts, which were more like mammals than reptiles.

Archaeology

The course of Akeman Street Roman road forms part of the south-eastern boundary of the parish. In a field just east of the village is the site of a Roman villa that was very close to the Roman road. A tenant farmer, George Handes (or Hannes), found the villa in 1712 when his plough revealed the remains of a Roman pavement dating from the 3rd or 4th century AD. One of its panels showed the Roman god Bacchus riding a panther. Handes' landlord, Richard Fowler of Great Barrington, Gloucestershire, did not welcome the discovery and he quarrelled with Handes over any profit to be had from excavating and displaying the pavement. The pavement immediately attracted the interest of the Oxford academic Thomas Hearne, soon followed by Bernard Gardiner. However, in 1724 the pioneering archaeologist William Stukeley reported that Handes had destroyed the pavement as a result of the dispute with Fowler. Nevertheless, in 1780 the antiquarian Daines Barrington reported that much of the room and pavement found in 1712 still survived and a second, smaller room with a tesselated floor was being excavated. At the same time parts of the villa's baths were also excavated. In 1789 Richard Gough reported in his new edition of William Camden's ''Britannia'' that much of the pavement had been destroyed.

In 1801 Stonesfield's common lands were enclosed and the division of land caused further damage to the remains of the villa. In 1813 the antiquarian James Brewer reported in the Oxfordshire volume of his ''The Beauties of England and Wales'' that only fragments of the pavement found in 1712 had survived destruction. In 1826 the Ashmolean Museum acquired hypocaust flue-tiles from the site and the base of a pillar that may also be from the hypocaust. In 1836 a small coin from the reign of the 4th-century Emperor Valentinian was found. In 1858 a visitor called Akerman learnt that the remains of the villa had been totally destroyed. During the Second World War aerial archaeology discovered a number of Roman and other archaeological sites in this part of Oxfordshire. However, despite repeated attempts in different seasons and under different crop conditions, aerial archaeology has found no surviving trace of the villa at Stonesfield. About south of Stonesfield, on the other side of the River Evenlode and in the next parish, the remains of North Leigh Roman Villa survive in the care of English Heritage.

Church and chapels

Church of England

The Church of England parish church of St James the Great was built in the 13th century. Surviving Early English features from that period include the chancel arch, north chapel, south aisle, arcade and piscina and most of the west tower. Decorated Gothic remodelling in the 14th century includes the piscina and south windows of the chancel, the north window and west arch of the north chapel and the east window of the south aisle. The octagonal font is also 14th-century. In the 15th century the west tower was increased in height.

Between the chancel and north chapel is a screen that is partly Perpendicular Gothic. The Perpendicular Gothic east window in the chancel is 15th-century. Fragments of 15th-century stained glass survive in the window, including a figure that has a 14th-century head and may represent Saint Peter, and symbols of the evangelists St John and St Mark. In the west window of the west tower is late-15th-century stained glass of four family coats of arms. In one of the south windows of the chancel is 16th-century stained glass of two coats of arms: one of a manorial family and the other of the Worshipful Company of Mercers. There is also mid-16th-century stained glass of two family coats of arms in one of the 17th-century south windows of the clerestory. The Jacobean pulpit was made in 1629.

In 1743 a clock was installed in the church. It was said to have been made for a local manor house in 1543, and transferred to the church after the house was demolished. The clock has since been moved from Stonesfield, rebuilt, and installed at Judd's Garage at Wootton. In 1825 the north aisle was greatly enlarged, opening directly into the nave without an arcade. This greatly changed the interior of the church, and in the 20th century the architectural historians Jennifer Sherwood and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner condemned the change as "lunatic". Other 19th-century changes include the addition of the south porch, possibly during a restoration in 1876. The vestry was added in 1956. The church is a Grade II* listed building St James' parish is now part of the Benefice of Stonesfield with Combe Longa.

Methodist

Stonesfield Methodist Church is a Wesleyan chapel with capacity for 100 people, located at the junction of Boot Street and High Street.

The current church was first opened for worship in July 1867 and still remains in use today. The current Reverend is Rev Rose Westwood, Witney and Farringdon Circuit Superintendent and Minister for Long Hanborough, Charlbury, Stonesfield, and Sutton Churches.

The church contains a four and a half octave single keyboard organ with foot pedals and seven stops. It bears two plaques recording two last members who helped arrange for its purchase and installation; both plaques are dedicated to the Glory of God 30 April 1966.

Economic and social history

For centuries the parish had one main open field for arable farming: Home Field, which was east of the village. Three others, Church Field, Callowe, and Jenner's Sarts, were much smaller, and an early 17th-century survey records that not every farmer had strips in Church Field. In 1232 the parish almost doubled in size by acquiring King's Wood, a nearby detached part of Bloxham parish. It was in this wood that people from Stonesfield created Callowe by clearing woodland, a process called assarting. By the time of the Hundred Rolls in the 1270s, every tenant in Stonesfield held assarted land.

By the first decade of the 17th century Stonesfield had at least four fields. Church Field is taken to be ancient like Home Field, but Jenner's Sarts was created by felling in Gerner's Wood. It is not clear whether this field is the same as that called Gannett's Sarte in another source. By 1792 very little of Stonesfield's common land had been enclosed, and most of it was still worked by arable strip farming. By 1797 most of this had been enclosed and converted to pasture. Some common land remained in the parts of the parish closest to the village, but this was enclosed in a land award of 1804.

Amenities

Public houses

Over the years Stonesfield has had between seven and ten pubs; however, since 2020 the village no longer has any active pubs or restaurants.

The White Horse

The White Horse, Stonesfield's final pub, was at the top of the village green on The Ridings. The pub had served the community since its opening in 1876. Previously called the White Lion, a man named John Lardner held its licence from 1847 and resided in one of the three cottages making up the pub's buildings. Following John's death in September 1865 the licence was transferred to his son, Henry Lardner, in October 1865. This was the first mention of the name 'White Horse'. The White Horse was sold at auction after it was advertised on 28 October 1876. The listing had the description: 'A stone-built and slated free public house, called or known by the name of "The White Horse," situate in the village of Stonesfield, and containing 2 front rooms, tap room, pantry, scullery, cellar 3 bed rooms, and 1 attic; together with the 2 Cottages adjoining (but unoccupied). Detached are a Brew-house, large Shop with extensive cellarage underneath, Stable, Barn, Wagon Hovel, Cow Shed, Poultry Pen, Piggery, and Cattle Yard; together with capital Garden Ground at the back and in the front of the house.



The Outgoings are Quit Rents amounting to 1s. yearly.'. From 1876 to 1907 various landlords took on the role of running the pub until the licence was passed on to the Oliver family. The family ran it from 1907 under Edward Oliver until 1962 under Minnie Oliver. The ''Witney Gazette'' referenced Vivian and Emily Miles' retirement from the pub's ownership in June 1977. During the 1980s Nigel Bishop ran the White Horse. During this period, much like Sturdy's Castle on the Banbury Road (A4260) and the King's Head in the centre of Woodstock, the White Horse Inn became a 'Spud Pub'. After a period between 2001 and 2005 of the pub being shut, it was bought by a Londoner called Richard Starowki. Following restoration he reopened The White Horse in 2006. Three years later, in 2009, John Lloyd bought the pub from Richard. During the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in England, the pub was forced to close and never reopened. The owner, John Lloyd, listed it for sale that July. Local residents formed a community benefit society to attempt to raise money to save the pub via a shared ownership concept. £430,000 was eventually raised. Despite this, a private sale took place in early 2021. The new owner says he plans to reopen the pub; however, concerns have arisen from his background as a property developer.

The Black Head

Originally named The Black Boy, The Black Head was a pub on Church Street. The pub burnt down in around 1850 during which time Thomas Stewart had ownership. This was the cause of the name change to The Black Head when it was rebuilt soon afterwards, the name sticking until the pub ceased trading in 2010. During the 21st century the pub was owned by the Nomura Bank of Japan, owner of the Wellington Pub Company. Its latest owner applied in 2012 and 2014 for planning permission to turn the Black Head into a private house. The building is now a private residence.

The Chequers

The Chequers is another pub in the village that is now a private residence. It was on the south of Laughton's Hill and was allegedly a popular pub with entertainers travelling through Stonesfield. The Chequers was open from 1753 until 1847.

The Malster and Shovel

The Malster & Shovel, on High Street, was open from 1831 to 1939 and is now also a private residence.

The Marlborough Arms

A public house which now forms part of Prospect Villa, The Marlborough Arms, opened on the Woodstock Road in 1838 and served customers until 1875.

The Rose and Crown

The Rose & Crown also previously stood on the High Street; however, it was demolished in 1958 to make way for a new school playground and, 34 years later, five low cost houses were erected there.

The Swan Inn

The Swan Inn is thought to have been up the Tewer and served from around 1865 until 1877, although evidence is limited especially compared to the other Stonesfield pubs.

The Churchill Arms

The Churchill Arms is another public house with limited information regarding its details. The '' Oxford Journal'' mentioned the pub in 1826 and 1828 regarding the auction of an 'estate at Stonesfield'.

The Boot Inn

The Boot Inn was also among Stonesfield's previous pubs. Mr Vivian Miles and his wife, Emily, ran the pub from 1952 until 1962 before taking ownership of the White Horse Inn up the road for a further 15 years.

The Pick and Hammer

The Pick and Hammer pub is said to have been at the bottom of Well Lane. Records are also limited in regard to this pub; however, the cottage gained notoriety in the 1990s from a police incident involving a search for the body of a murdered woman. Michael Morton, a millionaire and architect by trade, was jailed for seven years in 1997 following his conviction of the murder of Gracia, his 40-year-old wife.

Other amenities

Village hall and Stonesfield Sports and Social Club

Stonesfield Village Hall is at the end of Field Close, next to the library, play park, and football pitch. Stonesfield Sports & Social Club opened on 23 July 1995 after 10 years of fundraising £65,000 for an extension to the village hall. The Main Hall can accommodate up to 200 people. The community hall contains a stage, small 50-capacity club room, kitchen and has a car-parking area outside. Stonesfield Parish Council meetings are regularly held at the village hall. The library next door, Stonesfield Library, is a small community library run by Oxfordshire County Council and supported by the Friends of Stonesfield Library (FoSL).

Sports pitch and playground

The adjacent sports pitch accommodates cricket and football matches as well as three tennis courts in the far north corner. This is the home ground of Stonesfield Strikers F.C., a youth football club with a number of mixed-sex and girls-only teams.Stonesfield Strikers FC
/ref> The club is FA Charter Standard and is affiliated with Oxfordshire FA, boasting teams in all local leagues. They also fundraise for the Mickey Lewis Memorial Fund in memory of the club mentor and coach.

There is also a small playground, Stonesfield Play