Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1911_0077.jpg

d ir e c t o r y

.]

B E R K S H IR E .

manor belonged at a very early period to the abbot and
convent of Abingdon, by whom the manor house was
used as a country seat and built as a sanatorium : in
1562 it was purchased by Anthony Forster, during
whose occupancy the tragic event so vividly told in the
pages of “ Kenilworth,” is said to have occurred : Amy,
the young and beautiful daughter and heiress of Sir
John Robsart kt. of Norfolk, was married June 4, 1550,
to Lord Robert Dudley (afterwards Earl of Leicester),
in the presence of Edward VI. at Sheen Court, Surrey,
being then only 18 years of age ; on the 8th of Sept.
1560, while staying at Forster'« house at Cumnor, she
met with her death at the m u.-erous hands of her host
and his accomplice, Sir Richard Varney ; the latter died
a miserable death in London: Forster, offering to
divulge the particulars of the deed, was strangled in
prison by Dudley’s order, and the Earl him self died, 4
Sept. 1588, at Cornbury Manor House in Oxfordshire,
when his titles became extinct, his son, Sir Robert
Dudley, by his second -wife, having failed to establish
his le g itim acy; the remains of the hapless lady were
brought from Cumnor to Gloucester Hall (now Worcester
College, Oxford), and thence taken, with great solemnity,
to St. Mary’s church, and there interred, the funeral
being attended by the University and C ity authorities,
the officers of the Heralds’ College, and many others,
as described in the Dugdale MS. in the Brit. Mus. ; in
1874, the late Very Rev. John William Burgon B.D.
late Dean of Chichester, and then vicar of St. Mary's,
caused the following inscription to be placed on the
altar steps: “ In a vault of brick, at the upper end of
this quire, was buried Amy Robsart, wife of Lord
Robert Dudley K .G . Sunday, 22 September, 1560:” the
old Hall, pulled down in 1810, was a quadrangular
building, with good Decorated windows and doors : some
of the windows, with their stained glass, were removed
to Wytliam Abbey, the residence of the Earl of Abing­
P R IV A T E R E S ID E N T S .

DENCH W ORTH.

75

don ; others are now on the south side of the church
at Wytham, and one of the doors, with the inscription
“ IANVA VIT.-E VERBUM DOMINI ” above it, is in the
wall surrounding W ytham churchyard. The village inn,
a picturesque old-fashioned hostelry, is still “ The Bear
and Ragged Staff.” Oaken Holt, now (1911) unoccupied,
stands on a wooded eminence and commands an
extensive view of the upper valley of the Tham es and
four surrounding counties. The Earl of Abingdon is
lord of the manor and chief owner of the land ; St.
John’s College and Merton College, Oxford, are also
landowners. The soil is various, consisting of stone
brash, sand and loam ; the subsoil is various, princi­
pally limestone. The crops are a succession of grain
The area is 5,929 acres of land and 33 of w ater; rateable
value, ¿8,124 ; the population in 1901 was 870.
Chawley, three-quarters of a mile n orth -east; Deancourt,
north-east ; Swinford, 3 miles north-west.;
Henwood, i\ miles south-east ; Fitcham pstead, i£ miles
north-west, and Rockley, i j miles south, are hamlets.
Parish Clerk, Edmund Holifield.
Post, M. 0 . & T. Office.— E d m u n d Holifield, sub-post­
m a s t e r . Letters a r r i v e from Oxford at 7.35
&
1.50 p .m . ; d i s p a t c h e d at 1.40 & 7.20 p.m. ; no
delivery on S u n d a y s
Pillar Letter Box, Chawley, cleared 1.50 & 7.35 p.m.
daily, S u n d a y s excepted
W all Letter Boxes.— Dean C ou rt, cleared 7.50 a.m. &
10.30 p.m. ; S u n d a y s , 10.30 p.m. ; Oaken Holt, cleared
7.25 a.m . & 10.30 p.m. ; Sundays, 10.30 p.m . ; Sw in­
ford, cleared at 5.30 & 10.15 p-m * > S u n d a y s , 10.15 p m
Elementary School, founded in 1861, for 153 children ;
average attendance, 125 ; the school-room with
teachers’ house, was built by the Rev. the Hon. Chas
F. 0 . Spencer M.A. vicar 1850-61 ; Thomas James
Cole, master

C O M M ER CIA L.

Home for Feeble Minded Girls (Miss
Haigh, m atron), Chawley
Horne George Albt. buildr.Cum nor hi
James Eliza (Miss), farmer
James Robert, Vine P.H
Lambourne Mark, frm r. Longleys frm
May Fredk. A rth.farm er. Bradley frm
Mortimer Frederick J. m arket gardnr
Nixev William J. Dean court
Podbury Frederick WTilliam . farmer,
Wood End farm
Richards Edward R. & Son, farmers,
Dean court
Saunders Jemima (Mrs.), grocer
Shaw Sidney, farmer
Sm ith John, joiner
Tyrrell Henry Chas. farmr. Chawley
Walker
Percy,
farmer.
Rockley
Field farm
Wastie A. farm er, Mount Pleasant
& Westfield farms
White Frederick Stedman. blacksmth
Wigmore
John Bracher, farmer,
Child well’s farm
Wilkins W illiam , farm er, Farmoor
Wise Henry George, farmer, Dean crt

Abel Ellen Elizabeth (Mrs.), farmer,
Farmoor
Amalgamated Radio Telegraph Co.
Lim ited (demonstration station)
Blake Ralph, market gardener
Buckingham George, coal dealer
Busbv Susan (Mrs.), Bear & Ragged
Staff P.H
Butterfield Frederick M. farmer,
Hill End farm
Chawley Brick Works Ltd. brick mfrs
Didcock Frank, coal dealer
Drewett Aylm er, wood dealer
Franklin Arthur A ugustus, farmer.
Red house (postal address, Botley,
Oxford)
Franklin Boycott W illiam , farmer,
Farmoor
Franklin Edwin T. farm er, Farmoor
Franklin Thomas J. B. wool m er­
chant. Swinford (postal address,
- • "
Evnsham, Oxford)
Grav W illiam , builder
Holifield E. & Son, plumbers
D E N C H W O R T H is a parish situated on a feeder of proper obverse side an inscription commemorating the
laying of a foundation stone, by K ing Edward III. afteT
the river Ock, about 3 miles west from W antage Road
station,
north-by-west from Wantage, partly in the the battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick, 1333, at the
Northern division of the county, hundred of Ock, and request of Sir William de M ountagu, who founded t}je
partly in that of W antage, petty sessional division, abb^y in 1336; there is another brass to William Say.
union and county court district of Wantage, and in the 1493,V robbed of its shields and effigy, and the church
rural deanerv of W antage, archdeaconry of Berks and nUo contains various monuments to the fam ilies of
diocese of Ox’ford. The cburch of St. James, thoroughly Geering and F ro g le y : in the chancel is a. monument
erected by the Rev. Richard Lynch Cotton D.D. provost
repaired in 1852, under the direction of the late G. E
Street esq. R.A. is an ancient cruciform, edifice of mixed of Worcester College, Oxford, 1839-81, to his two
styles, consisting of chancel, nave, north and south brothers : there is also a hagioscope in the north ch.3 pel.
and faint traces of a rood-loft and a hagioscope ; a
chapels, and a tower on the north side, containing 4
b nll«, dated 1624. 1733, 1868 and 1869: the chancel is library of 150 ancient books, formed in 1693 by the Rev
Ralph’ Kedden, vicar, Mr. G eering, churchwarden, and
Early English, and ha-s sedilia formed in the sill of the
south-east window; the nave has Perpendicular windows Mr. Edward Brewster, stationer, of London, two of
which are chained, and form erly in a room over the
and a Late roof ; the south doorway is a good example
church porch, was transferred to the vicarage at the
of Norman work ; the tower is apparently Early E ng­
restoration
of the church ; it included an edition of the
lish at the base, the upper part being rather poor Per­
pendicular : in the south chapel are some memorials to “ Golden Legend.” printed by Caxton in 1483. and now
in
the
Bodleian,
and a copy of Cranm er’s Bible, dated
the Geering family and in the chancel are brasse« to
Oliver Hyde esq. 1516, and Agnes, his wife, with effigies ; 1547, now in a glass case in the church, and still retains
four volumes of Thom as Aquinas, one of Homilies, a
William Hyde esq. in armour, 1557, and Margery
copv of Burnet on the Articles, given by the Bishop
(Cater), his wife, 1562, with 12 sons and 8 daughters,
and an inscription ; and W illiam Hyde esq. 1567 also him self, and a Life nf Christ by Ludolphus Saxe,
in armour, and his wife Alice ; the inscription of the written in 1330; an altar cloth, worked at St. Mary’s
Home, W antage, was presented by Miss Pye and friends;
Hyde brass of 1557-62 is a rescript or palimpsest “ of
great historic value, and fortunately co m plete;” it the brass lectern is - memorial to Mr. W alker, 33 years
churchwarden;
he "ak pulpit was designed by Mr.
originally belonged to Bisham Abbey, and has on its

Bennett Benj. Glen Durran, Chawley
Bennett Frederick W. A. Norman11urst, Chawley
Bennett Lionel, Elm croft, Cumnor hi
Busby Edward J. Park view
Colegrove Alfred, Nab end, Chawley
Coppock Mrs. Em m a, Chawley
Cunningham Walter. Russell house,
Cumnor hill
Griffiths A lfred Edward, Rocklands,
Chawley
Hardwick Joseph, The Red house,
Cumnor hill
Hay ter James Lawrence, Cranborne,
Cumnor hill
Jervois Miss A m y E. Cumnor place
Johnson Herbert, Uplands, Cumnor hi
Packford Henry Alfred T . Pink hill
Roberts A rth.E . Belvedere. Cum nor hi
Wilkinson Rev. A rthur Dudley M.A.
Vicarage
W yatt W. W. Stroudcroft, Swinford