Chiselhampton
Encyclopedia
Chiselhampton is a village on the River Thame
about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Oxford
in Oxfordshire
, England
.
is spelt Chiselentona. Chislehampton came into use later in the same century and was still in use in 1974. A document dated 1517 calls the village Chessyllyngton. It has been colloquially called Chisleton.
of 1086 does not mention Chiselhampton by name, but it ascribes a fee
of land here to William Fitz-Ansculf of Dudley Castle
. For some time thereafter, as Dudley passed to successive families, Chiselhampton remained with the Honour
of Dudley.
In 1536 the principal manor
of Chiselhampton passed to Thomas Doyley of Hambleden
in Buckinghamshire
. The Doyley family built a substantial house in Chiselhampton, possibly towards the end of the 16th century. Maps of 1628 and 1743 record it as a four-gable
d mansion with a large dovecote
and an orchard, and an estate plan of 1741–42 shows the house's west front as having eight bay
s.
Chiselhampton's oldest building is Camoys or Camoise Court, a moat
ed stone-built farmhouse of the 14th century. It was in existence by 1318 when its owner, Sir Richard de Louches of Great Milton
, was licenced to crenellate it. The house's name comes from Thomas de Camoys
, who acquired it when he married Elizabeth de Louches. Part of the 14th-century building and traces of its moat survive, along with a wing that was added in the 17th century and altered in 1880. At some point the Doyley family, who had bought the main manor in 1748, also acquired the Camoys manor and Camoys Court. Camoys Court is a Grade 2* Listed building.
Several cottages and houses with timber frames and brick infill were built in the 17th century and survive today. They include Chiselhampton's only public house
, the 17th-century Coach and Horses Inn.
In the 18th century the Doyley family's wealth declined, so in 1748 Sir Thomas Doyley sold the Chiselhampton and Camoys manors to Charles Peers of Olney, Buckinghamshire. The combined manor was still with the Peers family in 1958.
In the 1740s a surveyor for the Doyleys reported that the late-16th-century mansion was "a very old inconvenient building part brick, part stone" whose outbuildings were ruinous, and concluded that they and the house would "scarce pay for pulling down and yet were not good enough to keep up". Only the dovecote and the walls of the kitchen garden
were fit to retain. The Doyleys seem to have lacked the means to rebuild the house, but in 1766 the new owner Charles Peers had a new house designed. In 1768 it was completed on a new site overlooking the River Thame and the old Doyley mansion was demolished. Peers' Chistleton or Chiselhampton House is a brick Georgian
country house
of five bays. The exterior is plain but the entrance hall has a fine, curved, cantilevered staircase, galleries at the first and second floors and is lit by a glass umbrella dome
. An orangery
was added in either 1790 or 1820. In 1820 the house was enhanced with the addition of a number of marble fireplaces and a pilaster
ed entrance porch that the Victoria County History states is Doric
but Pevsner and Sherwood state is Ionic
.
dedicated to Saint Mary
. It was a peculier
of Dorchester Abbey
and seems not to have been an independent parish. St. Mary's had no graveyard: villagers buried their dead at Stadhampton
, which was another of Dorchester Abbey's chapels and peculiers.
St. Mary's chapel remained under Dorchester Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries
in 1536, when Stadhampton became a parish separate from Dorchester. Chiselhampton seems then to have become a chapelry of Stadhampton. Despite this new status, until about 1835 clergy for both Chiselhampton and Stadhampton were licensed not by the Bishop of Oxford
but by the peculier of Dorchester. After the English Reformation
Chiselhampton and Stadhampton always shared the same parish clergy.
Until 1706 St. Mary's chapel was reported to be in a good state of repair, but by 1717 the parish curate had taken the villagers to the peculier court in Dorchester for failing to pay the church rate for the building's upkeep. In 1763 Charles Peers told the court that St. Mary's was in "so ruinous and decayed a condition that the inhabitants cannot assemble for worship without manifest hazard (to) their lives", and so he requested permission to demolish the chapel and build a new one.
In 1763 Charles Peers had the Mediaeval chapel demolished and the materials re-used to build a Georgian church on a new site beside the main Oxford - Stadhampton road. That same year it was completed and John Hume
, Bishop of Oxford consecrated it. Peers provided the new church with a graveyard to spare villagers from having to bury their dead at Stadhampton. He dispensed with the Norman chapel's dedication to Saint Mary and had the new church dedicated to Saint Katherine
. With the new church Chiselhampton was made a parish in its own right, but it continued to share the same parish clergy as Stadhampton.
St. Katherine's is a neoclassical building whose architect is unknown. It has a bell-turret and clock over the west door. The interior is fitted with box pew
s, a west gallery
on Tuscan
columns, a carved altarpiece and a Jacobean
pulpit which is presumed to have been re-used from St. Mary's chapel. In 1952-54 the church was restored after an appeal for funds supported by the poet John Betjeman
who wrote verses for it and the artist John Piper
who repainted the clockface. Concealed electric lighting was installed in the pews in 1956 but St. Katherine's is still largely lit by its candle-lit candelabra
s. The church has since been made redundant and the ecclesiastical parish reunited with Stadhampton. The civil parishes had already been reunited in 1932. St. Katherine's church is vested in the Churches Conservation Trust
. Services are still held in St. Katherine's three or four times a year, including reenactments of historic Anglican liturgy and west gallery music
.
: the right to levy a toll for its upkeep. At that time the bridge had timber spans built on stone piers. A 1628 estate map recorded the bridge as "Doyley Bridge". Over the years it has been rebuilt with stone arches, altered by successive repairs, extended, and in 1899 widened with steel troughing. It is now 178 feet (54.3 m) long and has eight stone arches, of which the southern four are substantially 16th century.
By the time the English Civil War
broke out in August 1642 Chiselhampton was a strongly Puritan
community. In November of that year King Charles I
withdrew his court to Oxford. Royalist
control of the bridges over the River Thame became vital to Oxford's defence, and by March 1643 the Royalists had gated Chiselhampton Bridge and allowed none to cross it "but on market days and sometimes during the daytime". By June 1643 the bridge was reported to be too damaged for vehicles to use it, but still passable on horseback. On the night of 17 June Prince Rupert
led about 1,000 cavalry and 800 infantry from Oxford across the bridge to try to capture the payroll of the Parliamentarian
army of the Earl of Essex
. The payroll evaded capture, but on the morning of 18 June the Prince overpowered Parliamentarian garrisons at Postcombe
and Chinnor
. The Prince returned his infantry to Chiselhampton to secure the bridge while his cavalry ambushed a pursuing force in a skirmish at Chalgrove Field
, mortally wounding one of the Parliamentarian commanders, Colonel John Hampden
. The victorious Prince and his force then returned to Oxford over the bridge bringing 120 prisoners, most of them from Chinnor.
Historically the Oxford–Stadhampton main road has been called Oxford Lane where it passes through Chiselhampton. In 1664 John Doyley was licensed to divert part of the road to make room for him to enlarge his mansion. In the village it is joined by a road from Clifton Hampden
. This forms part of the route between Abingdon
and Stadhampton
and historically in Chiselhampton it has been called Abingdon Lane. Both roads are shown on estate maps dated 1628 and 1743. The name of the Coach and Horses public house suggests that the main road may have been a stagecoach
route, but there is no evidence that either road was ever a turnpike
. Since the early 1920s the main road has been classified B480 and the Clifton Hampden road has been classified B4015.
River Thame
The River Thame is a river in Southern England. It is a tributary of the larger and better-known River Thames.The general course of the River Thame is north-east to south-west and the distance from its source to the River Thames is about 40 miles...
about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Toponym
"Chisel" is derived from the old English ceosel or cisel meaning "gravel" or "shingle", referring to the river gravel beside the Thame on which some of the village is built. In a document dated 1147 the toponymToponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
is spelt Chiselentona. Chislehampton came into use later in the same century and was still in use in 1974. A document dated 1517 calls the village Chessyllyngton. It has been colloquially called Chisleton.
Manors and houses
The Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 does not mention Chiselhampton by name, but it ascribes a fee
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
of land here to William Fitz-Ansculf of Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
. For some time thereafter, as Dudley passed to successive families, Chiselhampton remained with the Honour
Honour (land)
In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...
of Dudley.
In 1536 the principal manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Chiselhampton passed to Thomas Doyley of Hambleden
Hambleden
Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire....
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. The Doyley family built a substantial house in Chiselhampton, possibly towards the end of the 16th century. Maps of 1628 and 1743 record it as a four-gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d mansion with a large dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
and an orchard, and an estate plan of 1741–42 shows the house's west front as having eight bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
s.
Chiselhampton's oldest building is Camoys or Camoise Court, a moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
ed stone-built farmhouse of the 14th century. It was in existence by 1318 when its owner, Sir Richard de Louches of Great Milton
Great Milton
Great Milton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford.-History:The toponym appears to refer to the "Middle Town" of a group....
, was licenced to crenellate it. The house's name comes from Thomas de Camoys
Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys
Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, KG , was an English peer and soldier.De Camoys was the son of Sir John de Camoys. In August 1383 he was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Camoys. He fought in the Hundred Years' War and commanded the left wing of the English Army at the Battle of Agincourt...
, who acquired it when he married Elizabeth de Louches. Part of the 14th-century building and traces of its moat survive, along with a wing that was added in the 17th century and altered in 1880. At some point the Doyley family, who had bought the main manor in 1748, also acquired the Camoys manor and Camoys Court. Camoys Court is a Grade 2* Listed building.
Several cottages and houses with timber frames and brick infill were built in the 17th century and survive today. They include Chiselhampton's only public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, the 17th-century Coach and Horses Inn.
In the 18th century the Doyley family's wealth declined, so in 1748 Sir Thomas Doyley sold the Chiselhampton and Camoys manors to Charles Peers of Olney, Buckinghamshire. The combined manor was still with the Peers family in 1958.
In the 1740s a surveyor for the Doyleys reported that the late-16th-century mansion was "a very old inconvenient building part brick, part stone" whose outbuildings were ruinous, and concluded that they and the house would "scarce pay for pulling down and yet were not good enough to keep up". Only the dovecote and the walls of the kitchen garden
Kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas...
were fit to retain. The Doyleys seem to have lacked the means to rebuild the house, but in 1766 the new owner Charles Peers had a new house designed. In 1768 it was completed on a new site overlooking the River Thame and the old Doyley mansion was demolished. Peers' Chistleton or Chiselhampton House is a brick Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
of five bays. The exterior is plain but the entrance hall has a fine, curved, cantilevered staircase, galleries at the first and second floors and is lit by a glass umbrella dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
. An orangery
Orangery
An orangery was a building in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th to the 19th centuries and given a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory...
was added in either 1790 or 1820. In 1820 the house was enhanced with the addition of a number of marble fireplaces and a pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
ed entrance porch that the Victoria County History states is Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
but Pevsner and Sherwood state is Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
.
Chapel and parish church
By 1146 Chiselhampton had a chapelChapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
dedicated to Saint Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
. It was a peculier
Peculier
Peculier may refer to:* A Royal Peculiar , an area including one or more places of worship under the jurisdiction of the British monarchy* Old Peculier, a beer brewed by Theakston Brewery, named in honour of the Peculier of Masham...
of Dorchester Abbey
Dorchester Abbey
Dorchester Abbey is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the site of a Saxon cathedral.-History:...
and seems not to have been an independent parish. St. Mary's had no graveyard: villagers buried their dead at Stadhampton
Stadhampton
Stadhampton is a village and civil parish north of Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. Stadhampton village is on the A329 road and close to the River Thame.-Location:...
, which was another of Dorchester Abbey's chapels and peculiers.
St. Mary's chapel remained under Dorchester Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1536, when Stadhampton became a parish separate from Dorchester. Chiselhampton seems then to have become a chapelry of Stadhampton. Despite this new status, until about 1835 clergy for both Chiselhampton and Stadhampton were licensed not by the Bishop of Oxford
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...
but by the peculier of Dorchester. After the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
Chiselhampton and Stadhampton always shared the same parish clergy.
Until 1706 St. Mary's chapel was reported to be in a good state of repair, but by 1717 the parish curate had taken the villagers to the peculier court in Dorchester for failing to pay the church rate for the building's upkeep. In 1763 Charles Peers told the court that St. Mary's was in "so ruinous and decayed a condition that the inhabitants cannot assemble for worship without manifest hazard (to) their lives", and so he requested permission to demolish the chapel and build a new one.
In 1763 Charles Peers had the Mediaeval chapel demolished and the materials re-used to build a Georgian church on a new site beside the main Oxford - Stadhampton road. That same year it was completed and John Hume
John Hume (bishop)
-Life:He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.He was rector of Barnes, London from 1747 to 1758; he was appointed bishop of Bristol in 1756. In 1758 he became bishop of Oxford and Dean of St Paul's, and in 1766 bishop of Salisbury.-Notes:...
, Bishop of Oxford consecrated it. Peers provided the new church with a graveyard to spare villagers from having to bury their dead at Stadhampton. He dispensed with the Norman chapel's dedication to Saint Mary and had the new church dedicated to Saint Katherine
Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
. With the new church Chiselhampton was made a parish in its own right, but it continued to share the same parish clergy as Stadhampton.
St. Katherine's is a neoclassical building whose architect is unknown. It has a bell-turret and clock over the west door. The interior is fitted with box pew
Box pew
Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...
s, a west gallery
West gallery music
West Gallery Music, also known as "Georgian psalmody" refers to the sacred music sung and played in English parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850...
on Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
columns, a carved altarpiece and a Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
pulpit which is presumed to have been re-used from St. Mary's chapel. In 1952-54 the church was restored after an appeal for funds supported by the poet John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
who wrote verses for it and the artist John Piper
John Piper (artist)
John Egerton Christmas Piper, CH was a 20th-century English painter and printmaker. For much of his life he lived at Fawley Bottom in Buckinghamshire, near Henley-on-Thames.-Life:...
who repainted the clockface. Concealed electric lighting was installed in the pews in 1956 but St. Katherine's is still largely lit by its candle-lit candelabra
Candelabra
"Candelabra" is the traditional term for a set of multiple decorative candlesticks, each of which often holds a candle on each of multiple arms or branches connected to a column or pedestal...
s. The church has since been made redundant and the ecclesiastical parish reunited with Stadhampton. The civil parishes had already been reunited in 1932. St. Katherine's church is vested in the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
. Services are still held in St. Katherine's three or four times a year, including reenactments of historic Anglican liturgy and west gallery music
West gallery music
West Gallery Music, also known as "Georgian psalmody" refers to the sacred music sung and played in English parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850...
.
Bridge and roads
Chiselhampton has long been important as a crossing over the River Thame. A bridge has existed since at least 1444, when the villagers were granted pontagePontage
Pontage was a medieval toll levied for the building or repair of bridges.Pontage was similar in nature to murage and pavage ....
: the right to levy a toll for its upkeep. At that time the bridge had timber spans built on stone piers. A 1628 estate map recorded the bridge as "Doyley Bridge". Over the years it has been rebuilt with stone arches, altered by successive repairs, extended, and in 1899 widened with steel troughing. It is now 178 feet (54.3 m) long and has eight stone arches, of which the southern four are substantially 16th century.
By the time the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
broke out in August 1642 Chiselhampton was a strongly Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
community. In November of that year King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
withdrew his court to Oxford. Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
control of the bridges over the River Thame became vital to Oxford's defence, and by March 1643 the Royalists had gated Chiselhampton Bridge and allowed none to cross it "but on market days and sometimes during the daytime". By June 1643 the bridge was reported to be too damaged for vehicles to use it, but still passable on horseback. On the night of 17 June Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
led about 1,000 cavalry and 800 infantry from Oxford across the bridge to try to capture the payroll of the Parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
army of the Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
. The payroll evaded capture, but on the morning of 18 June the Prince overpowered Parliamentarian garrisons at Postcombe
Postcombe
Postcombe is a village in the civil parish of Lewknor, about south of Thame in Oxfordshire. It is on the A40 road with the Chiltern Hills to the east and the M40 motorway just to the south....
and Chinnor
Chinnor
Chinnor is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame. The village is a Spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment...
. The Prince returned his infantry to Chiselhampton to secure the bridge while his cavalry ambushed a pursuing force in a skirmish at Chalgrove Field
Battle of Chalgrove Field
The Battle of Chalgrove was a small battle during the English Civil War in the county of Oxfordshire. It took place around 09:00 hours on the morning of 18 June 1643 in Chalgrove Field, northeast of Chalgrove in Oxfordshire...
, mortally wounding one of the Parliamentarian commanders, Colonel John Hampden
John Hampden
John Hampden was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643) was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643)...
. The victorious Prince and his force then returned to Oxford over the bridge bringing 120 prisoners, most of them from Chinnor.
Historically the Oxford–Stadhampton main road has been called Oxford Lane where it passes through Chiselhampton. In 1664 John Doyley was licensed to divert part of the road to make room for him to enlarge his mansion. In the village it is joined by a road from Clifton Hampden
Clifton Hampden
Clifton Hampden is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over east of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Since 1932 the civil parish has included the village of Burcot, east of Clifton Hampden.-Manor:...
. This forms part of the route between Abingdon
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
and Stadhampton
Stadhampton
Stadhampton is a village and civil parish north of Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. Stadhampton village is on the A329 road and close to the River Thame.-Location:...
and historically in Chiselhampton it has been called Abingdon Lane. Both roads are shown on estate maps dated 1628 and 1743. The name of the Coach and Horses public house suggests that the main road may have been a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
route, but there is no evidence that either road was ever a turnpike
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
. Since the early 1920s the main road has been classified B480 and the Clifton Hampden road has been classified B4015.
External links
- AgriCultured website: Interview with Charles Peers, farmer, 5 June 2002 (a descendant of the first Charles Peers)