Churchill, Oxfordshire
Encyclopedia
Churchill is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire in the Cotswolds
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
.
has evolved through forms including Cercelle, Churchell, and Cherchell, reaching its current form was in use by 1537. The origin of the name is uncertain, though it may come from the Old English
cyrc, meaning a hill, burial ground, or barrow. (The village does contain several barrows, suggesting the existence of a settlement here from prehistoric times.) However, the name may come from Cyrc-hill, literally Hill-hill — a common construction formed by Anglo-Saxon
incomers who did not understand the meaning of a Celtic
root (cf. the etymology
of Pendle Hill
).
Churchill was originally at the foot of a hill (now known as Hastings Hill), but on 31 July 1684 a fire destroyed twenty houses and many other buildings, and killed four people. The village was rebuilt higher up the hill, with stone houses instead of the old timber-framed and thatched cottages. The fire was apparently caused by a baker who, to avoid chimney tax
, had knocked through the wall from her oven to her neighbour's chimney. The old village can still be seen as grassy mounds in the pastures around the Heritage Centre.
The former Chipping Norton Railway
, part of the Great Western Railway
, passed near Churchill. The line had a small railway station
, Sarsden Halt
, 0.3 miles (482.8 m) northwest of Churchill. British Rail
ways closed the halt to passengers in 1962 and closed the railway in 1964.
The Heritage Centre is on what is thought to be the site of a Saxon church. In 1348 the church of which the chancel
– now the Churchill Heritage Centre – is the last remaining part was built in the Decorated Gothic style. At that time it was at the centre of the village, but after the fire of 1684 the village moved up the hill, and the old parish church
of All Saints
was left at the edge of the village. By the end of the eighteenth century the church was said to be in disrepair, and in 1825 James Haughton Langston (1796–1863), who had the living of Churchill & Sarsden, and who owned the Sarsden estate and most of Churchill, built a new one higher up the hill in what had become the centre of the village. The new All Saints was consecrated in 1827. The old church fell into disrepair, but the chancel
was retained and used as a mortuary chapel and to house the memorials and in 1869 the Gothic Revival architect
C.C. Rolfe added a new east window.
A Preservation Society was formed in 1988 to campaign for its retention as the last medieval building in Churchill and the building was repaired. The Heritage Centre opened in 2001 in the restored chancel which now houses a collection of maps and historical records of the village from 1600 to the present, as well as displays about Warren Hastings and William Smith. Having received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2010, the building has been refurbished with new interactive displays and oral history recordings. A temporary exhibition illustrates the story of wartime evacuees to the village and the US Army stationed nearby at the Sarsden estate.
The Church of England parish church
of All Saints
was designed by James Plowman of Oxford
in 1826. It is an architectural mixture of imitations. The tower is a two-thirds copy of the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford
, its hammerbeam roof
a copy of the roof of Christ Church, Oxford
, its buttresses are versions of those of the chapel of New College, Oxford
, and its windows are based on those from various Oxford Colleges.
In a restoration appeal for the tower in 1975, Sir John Betjeman
wrote of it:
The church tower
has a ring
of eight bells. External stairs lead to the bell-ringers'
chamber, the top of the staircase being in the form of a pulpit
. In imitation of the May morning
celebrations at Magdalen College, villagers gather at sunrise on 1 May each year and sing from the stairs and pulpit.
The Village Hall was originally built in 1870 by James Langston as a Reading Room
for the village. It was converted into the village hall
after the Second World War
.
Churchill had two primary schools: the "Top School", opposite the church on Junction Road, was the Girls' School, and the "Lower School", further down the hill on the Sarsden Road, was the Boys' School. Their dates are somewhat obscure; the Lower School is said to have been built in 1716, though that seems surprisingly early to some historians, and the deeds of the Top School date it to the 1850s, though its rainwater heads are dated 1870. The Lower School was closed in 1947, the Top School in 1982, and both have been converted and divided into domestic dwellings.
(1732–1818) was the first Governor-General of British India, born in Churchill on 6 December 1732. His mother died within a week of his birth, and he took her maiden name as his Christian name after his father abandoned him; he was brought up by a foster mother (Mary Ellis). He was educated at the village school, and went on to an illustrious career in the British East India Company
, becoming Governor-General in 1774. On his return to England his political enemies had him impeached
, and although he won his case against them, it ate up most of his fortune. He did manage, however, to buy back the family estates in Daylesford, a village near Churchill, and died there on 22 August 1818.
William Smith
(1769–1839) "Strata Smith" was the "father of English geology
". Smith was born in Churchill on 23 March 1769, the son of a blacksmith
. He was educated at the village school until the age of eleven, then went to London for two years. In 1788, when he returned to Churchill, his uncle (a Hook Norton
farmer) encouraged his interest in surveying
, and together they pursued various schemes for land improvement
and drainage
. At eighteen he became an assistant surveyor, helping to survey Churchill and Sarsden for the 1788 Enclosure Act. His experience of different rock formations led him to develop the theory that the occurrence of different types of fossil
could be used to order the geological
sequence of rock strata
. Although from 1800 he gained a reputation as a Civil Engineer
, he became famous for preparing and producing a series of detailed geological maps
of England. He died on 28 August 1839 in Northampton
.
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
.
History
Churchill's 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...
has evolved through forms including Cercelle, Churchell, and Cherchell, reaching its current form was in use by 1537. The origin of the name is uncertain, though it may come from the Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
cyrc, meaning a hill, burial ground, or barrow. (The village does contain several barrows, suggesting the existence of a settlement here from prehistoric times.) However, the name may come from Cyrc-hill, literally Hill-hill — a common construction formed by Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
incomers who did not understand the meaning of a Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
root (cf. the etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Pendle Hill
Pendle Hill
Pendle Hill is located in the north-east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Clitheroe and Padiham, an area known as Pendleside. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill, separated from the Pennines to the...
).
Churchill was originally at the foot of a hill (now known as Hastings Hill), but on 31 July 1684 a fire destroyed twenty houses and many other buildings, and killed four people. The village was rebuilt higher up the hill, with stone houses instead of the old timber-framed and thatched cottages. The fire was apparently caused by a baker who, to avoid chimney tax
Chimney money
A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth or family unit. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area....
, had knocked through the wall from her oven to her neighbour's chimney. The old village can still be seen as grassy mounds in the pastures around the Heritage Centre.
The former Chipping Norton Railway
Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway
The Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway is a former railway in the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, England.-Origins and development:...
, part of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
, passed near Churchill. The line had a small railway station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
, Sarsden Halt
Sarsden Halt railway station
Sarsden Halt was an unstaffed railway station on the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway.-History:When the Chipping Norton Railway from Kingham on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway to Chipping Norton opened in June 1855 a goods siding was provided at Churchill Mill...
, 0.3 miles (482.8 m) northwest of Churchill. British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways closed the halt to passengers in 1962 and closed the railway in 1964.
Buildings
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
– now the Churchill Heritage Centre – is the last remaining part was built in the Decorated Gothic style. At that time it was at the centre of the village, but after the fire of 1684 the village moved up the hill, and the old parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of All Saints
All Saints
All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
was left at the edge of the village. By the end of the eighteenth century the church was said to be in disrepair, and in 1825 James Haughton Langston (1796–1863), who had the living of Churchill & Sarsden, and who owned the Sarsden estate and most of Churchill, built a new one higher up the hill in what had become the centre of the village. The new All Saints was consecrated in 1827. The old church fell into disrepair, but the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
was retained and used as a mortuary chapel and to house the memorials and in 1869 the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
C.C. Rolfe added a new east window.
A Preservation Society was formed in 1988 to campaign for its retention as the last medieval building in Churchill and the building was repaired. The Heritage Centre opened in 2001 in the restored chancel which now houses a collection of maps and historical records of the village from 1600 to the present, as well as displays about Warren Hastings and William Smith. Having received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2010, the building has been refurbished with new interactive displays and oral history recordings. A temporary exhibition illustrates the story of wartime evacuees to the village and the US Army stationed nearby at the Sarsden estate.
The Church of England parish church
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 the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of All Saints
All Saints
All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
was designed by James Plowman 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 1826. It is an architectural mixture of imitations. The tower is a two-thirds copy of the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, its hammerbeam roof
Hammerbeam roof
Hammerbeam roof, in architecture, is the name given to an open timber roof, typical of English Gothic architecture, using short beams projecting from the wall.- Design :...
a copy of the roof of Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, its buttresses are versions of those of the chapel of New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, and its windows are based on those from various Oxford Colleges.
In a restoration appeal for the tower in 1975, Sir 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...
wrote of it:
It is a beautiful landmark and has[...] been an eye-catcher for miles around, and a delightful one. I am sure it was built with this object in view. Although the style is English Perpendicular Gothic, the Tower is in the great tradition of English landscape gardeningEnglish gardenThe English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
. Its disappearance would be a grave loss to a rolling wooded landscape.
The church tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
has a ring
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
of eight bells. External stairs lead to the bell-ringers'
Campanology
Campanology is the study of bells. It encompasses the physical realities of bells — how they are cast, tuned and sounded — as well as the various methods devised to perform bell-ringing....
chamber, the top of the staircase being in the form of a pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
. In imitation of the May morning
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
celebrations at Magdalen College, villagers gather at sunrise on 1 May each year and sing from the stairs and pulpit.
The Village Hall was originally built in 1870 by James Langston as a Reading Room
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
for the village. It was converted into the village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
after the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Churchill had two primary schools: the "Top School", opposite the church on Junction Road, was the Girls' School, and the "Lower School", further down the hill on the Sarsden Road, was the Boys' School. Their dates are somewhat obscure; the Lower School is said to have been built in 1716, though that seems surprisingly early to some historians, and the deeds of the Top School date it to the 1850s, though its rainwater heads are dated 1870. The Lower School was closed in 1947, the Top School in 1982, and both have been converted and divided into domestic dwellings.
Memorials
- A monolith made of stone found in nearby Sarsden Wood, erected in 1891 by the 3rd Earl of DucieHenry Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Earl of DucieHenry John Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Earl of Ducie GCVO, PC, FRS, JP , styled Lord Moreton between 1840 and 1853, was a British courtier and Liberal Party politician. He notably served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1859 to 1866...
to commemorate William Smith. - A memorial fountain, erected in 1870 by Julia, Countess of Ducie, to her father, James Haughton Langston. Jennifer Sherwood described this fountain as: "Memorably ugly. A squat, square tower with obelisks and flying buttresses carrying a dumpy spire. The water drips from a rude spout at the side."
- The village War MemorialWar memorialA war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
.
Famous Churchillians
Warren HastingsWarren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
(1732–1818) was the first Governor-General of British India, born in Churchill on 6 December 1732. His mother died within a week of his birth, and he took her maiden name as his Christian name after his father abandoned him; he was brought up by a foster mother (Mary Ellis). He was educated at the village school, and went on to an illustrious career in the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, becoming Governor-General in 1774. On his return to England his political enemies had him impeached
Impeachment of Warren Hastings
The Impeachment of Warren Hastings was a failed attempt to impeach the former Governor-General of India Warren Hastings in the Parliament of Great Britain between 1788 and 1795. Hastings was accused of misconduct during his time in Calcutta particularly relating to mismanagement and personal...
, and although he won his case against them, it ate up most of his fortune. He did manage, however, to buy back the family estates in Daylesford, a village near Churchill, and died there on 22 August 1818.
William Smith
William Smith (geologist)
William 'Strata' Smith was an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map. He is known as the "Father of English Geology" for collating the geological history of England and Wales into a single record, although recognition was very slow in coming...
(1769–1839) "Strata Smith" was the "father of English geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
". Smith was born in Churchill on 23 March 1769, the son of a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
. He was educated at the village school until the age of eleven, then went to London for two years. In 1788, when he returned to Churchill, his uncle (a Hook Norton
Hook Norton
Hook Norton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, England. It is northeast of Chipping Norton.-Toponym and early history:...
farmer) encouraged his interest in surveying
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
, and together they pursued various schemes for land improvement
Land improvement
Land improvement or land amelioration refers to investments making land more usable by humans. In terms of accounting, land improvements refer to any variety of projects that increase the value of the property...
and drainage
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
. At eighteen he became an assistant surveyor, helping to survey Churchill and Sarsden for the 1788 Enclosure Act. His experience of different rock formations led him to develop the theory that the occurrence of different types of fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
could be used to order the geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
sequence of rock strata
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
. Although from 1800 he gained a reputation as a Civil Engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, he became famous for preparing and producing a series of detailed geological maps
Geologic map
A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols to indicate where they are exposed at the surface...
of England. He died on 28 August 1839 in Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
.
External links
- The War Memorial
- http://www.churchillheritage.org.uk The Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre
- Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre
- Information on Churchill village schools
- Standing Stone — page 1
- Standing Stone — page 2