Wytham Abbey Geograph-3504897-by-Dave-Price

Wytham ( ) 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 ...

on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the

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

, about northwest of the centre of

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 ...

. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the

Oxford Ring Road The Oxford Ring Road circles the city of Oxford, England. It is a dual carriageway ring road for most of its length apart from a short section between Woodstock Road and Banbury Road in the north of the city. The severe restrictions on traf ...

( A34). The nearest village is

Godstow 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. ...

. Wytham was the northernmost part of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.

Etymology

Wytham derives its name from the Anglo Saxon ''Witta's Home'' around 500 BCE. 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 ...

is first recorded as ''Wihtham'' around 957, and comes from the

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 ...

for a homestead or village in a river-bend.

History of the manor

The manor of Wytham, along with Wytham Abbey (not a religious foundation but 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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

) and much of the village, was formerly owned by the Earls of Abingdon. 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 All Saints was originally a medieval building but it was extensively rebuilt between 1811 and 1812 by Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon. The ruins of the former Godstow Nunnery lie just east of the village.

The 20th century

In the 1920s, The 9th Earl of Abingdon sold the Wytham Estate – comprising not just the Abbey but most of the houses in the village and approximately 2,500 acres of park, farm and woodland, including Wytham Great Wood – to Colonel Raymond ffennell, who had made a fortune in South Africa and changed his name from Schumacher on arrival in England, and his wife Hope (née Weigall). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

they agreed to take in six East End children as part of the evacuee programme. After the war, they gifted the entire Wytham Estate to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

– the largest bequest to the university since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The Abbey was subsequently sold by the University of Oxford in 1991 and is now in private hands.

Wytham Great Wood

Wytham Woods is an area of long-established mixed woodland noted for its high population of

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

s and long-term monitoring of

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of No ...

s. It is on rising ground to the west of the village and covers 1000 acres. The woods are a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

.Wytham Woods SSSI citation
/ref> The University of Oxford has owned the woods since 1942 and uses them for research in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. The university has a field station north of the village. It is claimed to be one of the most researched pieces of woodland in the world. The woods are open to the public by permit which are available on application, for walking but are closed to dogs, horses and bicycles. A named path within the wood is called the Singing Way. It is aligned with Oxford and got its name because monks on pilgrimage from

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

would break into song here as they sighted the town and the end of their day's journey. On 7 October 2017 an Oxfordshire Blue Plaque was unveiled at the Keeper's Hill car park in Wytham Woods, commemorating the bequest of the woods to the University of Oxford in 1942 by Raymond and Hope Ffennell.Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board: Wytham Woods
/ref>

Inspector Morse

Wytham village and Wytham Woods have frequently featured in the "

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

" detective novels by

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

, most notably in '' The Way Through the Woods''.

Gallery

Image:Wytham.jpg, The centre of Wytham, with the village shop on the left and the White Hart pub on the right File:Keepers Cottage, Wytham Woods - geograph.org.uk - 307425.jpg, Keepers Cottage, Wytham Woods, a gift to the

in 1943 File:Summer dappling.jpg, Ancient tree in Wytham Great Wood File:Wytham War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1231172.jpg, Wytham War Memorial File:John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxon - geograph.org.uk - 442296.jpg, Oxford University's John Krebs Field Station, Wytham

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Populated places on the River Thames Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse