Ipsden
Encyclopedia
Ipsden is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills
in South Oxfordshire
, about 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Wallingford.
of Saint Mary the Virgin
was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke
. It is said to have been the replacement for an earlier church that fell into disrepair in that century.
The north aisle of the present church was built in the 12th century and retains a Norman
window. The chancel
arch is 13th century and the present south doorway is 14th century. There had been a south aisle but this has been lost and its arcade
blocked up. Perpendicular Gothic windows occupy the south wall of the nave where the arcade had been. The chancel east window is also Perpendicular Gothic. The south porch was added in 1634 and the belfry
in the 19th century.
St. Mary the Virgin parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that includes also the parishes of Checkendon
, North Stoke
, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames
and Woodcote
.
The date of the vicarage has been disputed: the former Department of the Environment
(DoE) dated it to 1643 but the architectural historians Jennifer Sherwood and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
considered about 1700 to be more likely. It is of five bays
and built of red brick with a pattern of blue bricks.
in 1800. In the grounds is a dovecote
that the DoE dated to the 15th century but Sherwood & Pevsner consider to be 17th century.
Early in the 19th century Ipsden House was the home of John and Anne-Marie Reade. Their son Charles Reade
, born at Ipsden in 1814, became a novelist and dramatist. In 1823 their second daughter, Julia Susanna, was married to the missionary Allen Francis Gardiner
(1794–1851). Another son, John Thurlow Reade, died in India in 1827, and there is a pyramidal stone monument to him in a field 0.5 miles (804.7 m) north of Ipsden House. Another member of the family, the historian and explorer William Winwood Reade
(1838–1875), is buried in St. Mary's churchyard.
Between 1930 and 1939, Ipsden House was the home of novelist Rosamond Lehmann
and her husband Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford.
Close to the house is a small stone circle
, druid
ical in style. It is not ancient but was created in 1827.
in about 1799 by the builder and architect Daniel Harris
. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Since 1950 it has been the premises of an educational trust, the Braziers Park School of Integrative Social Research. Since 2008 Braziers park has hosted the annual Wood
festival.
. The barn is unusually large, being built of 24 bays and having five entrance porches. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Olympic rower Richard Boyle
was born at Ipsden in 1888. Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden (1907–2005) lived at Ipsden.
The parish includes the hamlet of Hailey, immediately north of Ipsden village. Hailey has a public house
, the King William IV.
The parish includes Well Place, which used to have a zoo but has now closed down.
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
in South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
, about 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Wallingford.
Parish church
The Church of England parish churchChurch 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 Saint Mary the Virgin
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...
was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke
North Stoke, Oxfordshire
North Stoke is a village beside the River Thames in the Crowmarsh civil parish in South Oxfordshire, south of the market town of Wallingford.-Parish church:...
. It is said to have been the replacement for an earlier church that fell into disrepair in that century.
The north aisle of the present church was built in the 12th century and retains a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
window. 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...
arch is 13th century and the present south doorway is 14th century. There had been a south aisle but this has been lost and its arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
blocked up. Perpendicular Gothic windows occupy the south wall of the nave where the arcade had been. The chancel east window is also Perpendicular Gothic. The south porch was added in 1634 and the belfry
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...
in the 19th century.
St. Mary the Virgin parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that includes also the parishes of Checkendon
Checkendon
Checkendon is a village and civil parish about west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire, England.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a 12th century Norman building...
, North Stoke
North Stoke, Oxfordshire
North Stoke is a village beside the River Thames in the Crowmarsh civil parish in South Oxfordshire, south of the market town of Wallingford.-Parish church:...
, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames
Whitchurch-on-Thames
Whitchurch-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the Oxfordshire bank of the River Thames, about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. Opposite Whitchurch on the Berkshire bank is the village of Pangbourne.-History:...
and Woodcote
Woodcote
Woodcote is a village in the civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea level....
.
The date of the vicarage has been disputed: the former Department of the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
(DoE) dated it to 1643 but the architectural historians Jennifer Sherwood and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
considered about 1700 to be more likely. It is of five bays
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:...
and built of red brick with a pattern of blue bricks.
Ipsden House
Ipsden House was built in the 17th century. It was remodelled in the 18th century, probably 1764 which is the date on the rainwater heads, and one wing was gothicisedGothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
in 1800. In the grounds is a 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...
that the DoE dated to the 15th century but Sherwood & Pevsner consider to be 17th century.
Early in the 19th century Ipsden House was the home of John and Anne-Marie Reade. Their son Charles Reade
Charles Reade
Charles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
, born at Ipsden in 1814, became a novelist and dramatist. In 1823 their second daughter, Julia Susanna, was married to the missionary Allen Francis Gardiner
Allen Francis Gardiner
Allen Francis Gardiner was a British Royal Navy officer and missionary to Patagonia.-Biography:Gardiner was the fifth son of Samuel Gardiner of Coombe Lodge, Oxfordshire, by Mary, daughter of Charles Boddam of Capel House, Bull's Cross, Enfield, Middlesex...
(1794–1851). Another son, John Thurlow Reade, died in India in 1827, and there is a pyramidal stone monument to him in a field 0.5 miles (804.7 m) north of Ipsden House. Another member of the family, the historian and explorer William Winwood Reade
William Winwood Reade
William Winwood Reade was a British historian, explorer, and philosopher.- Biography :He was born in Perthshire, Scotland. Reade took to writing at an early age, composing two novels by the age of 25. At this age he also decided to depart for Africa, arriving in Capetown by paddle-boat in 1862...
(1838–1875), is buried in St. Mary's churchyard.
Between 1930 and 1939, Ipsden House was the home of novelist Rosamond Lehmann
Rosamond Lehmann
Rosamond Nina Lehmann, CBE , was a British novelist. Her first novel, Dusty Answer , was a succès de scandale; she subsequently became established in the literary world and intimate with members of the Bloomsbury set...
and her husband Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford.
Close to the house is a small stone circle
Stone circle
A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons....
, druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
ical in style. It is not ancient but was created in 1827.
Braziers Park
Braziers Park was built late in the 17th century: a date-stone in the cellar says 1688. It was gothicised and ornamentally castellatedBattlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles. These cut-out portions form crenels...
in about 1799 by the builder and architect Daniel Harris
Daniel Harris (Oxford)
Daniel Harris was a builder, prison governor, civil engineer and architect who lived and practised in Oxford.-Family:Harris's birthplace is obscure but he was born about 1761, as the entry in St-Peter-le-Bailey's register for his death in 1840 records his age as 79. He married Elizabeth Tomkins of...
. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Since 1950 it has been the premises of an educational trust, the Braziers Park School of Integrative Social Research. Since 2008 Braziers park has hosted the annual Wood
Wood (festival)
Wood is an annual small early summer folk and roots music festival and environmental gathering, which takes place in Braziers Park, Ipsden near Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK. Its indepdendent organisers, Robin and Joe Bennett, also arrange the Truck Festival....
festival.
Other historic features
Ipsden Farm, just west of the village, has an 18th century barn built of brick on an L-shaped plan with roofs that are tiled and hippedHip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
. The barn is unusually large, being built of 24 bays and having five entrance porches. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Olympic rower Richard Boyle
Richard Boyle (rower)
Richard Frederick Robert Pochin Boyle was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics....
was born at Ipsden in 1888. Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden (1907–2005) lived at Ipsden.
Amenities
Ipsden has a post office and village store. Ipsden has a former village school in a part of the village called Newtown. It is now a pre-school for children 3–5 years old. Ipsden has a village hall, an amateur dramatic company. and a cricket club.The parish includes the hamlet of Hailey, immediately north of Ipsden village. Hailey has a 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 King William IV.
The parish includes Well Place, which used to have a zoo but has now closed down.