Long Wittenham
Encyclopedia
Long Wittenham is a village and civil parish 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Didcot
, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southeast of Abingdon
. It was part of Berkshire
until the 1974 boundary changes
transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire
, and from the former Wallingford Rural District
to the new district of South Oxfordshire
.
It used to be known as Earl's Wittenham, after its owner Gilbert de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester.
It lies by a loop in the River Thames
, on slightly higher ground than the flood-plain around it. About 1 miles (1.6 km) to the east, across the river, was the Roman town of Dorcic - now Dorchester-on-Thames. To the south-east lies neighbouring Little Wittenham
and the Wittenham Clumps
, otherwise called the Sinodun Hills.
It is twinned with the village of Thaon in Normandy, France.
and Roman
presence comes in the forms of trackways, various buildings (enclosures, farms and villas), burials (cremation and inhumation), and pottery and coins. There is also evidence of possible Frankish
settlement: a 5th Century grave that contained high-status Frankish objects. This early habitation was first revealed in the 1890s, in the first ever use of cropmarks to discern archaeological remains.
It is from the Saxon period that the core of the village emerges. There are cropmarks (dating from the 6th Century) that outline a large collection of buildings, which indicate, if not a royal palace, then certainly a high status Saxon enclosure, and the variety and number of objects found in Saxon burial sites around the village would appear to support this. These large, Saxon burial sites also indicate a good sized population, that lasted over many years. Historians now recognise that the general area of southern Oxfordshire was the heartland of the Gewisse - certainly the proximity to the Iron-Age hillfort of Wittenham Clumps and the Roman (and post-Roman) town of Dorchester, show that the localised area was of great importance for many centuries - though the notion that Witta (and / or his family) were related to the later Royal families of Wessex
, is unproven.
The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book
, and whilst still a rural settlement is nowadays less of an agricultural community. By Tudor
times, parish records show it had a population of around 200, with arable crops: wheat, oats, barley, even rye being farmed. In 1534, the Manor was bought by Sir Thomas White
and given to his foundation, St. John's College
in Oxford
. Until recently, the President and scholars of St. John's owned most of the houses in the village and much of the land; indeed, before the Enclosure Acts there were just two large, open fields, divided into strips, which were leased to the various villagers by the College. In 1857, using a special government grant for agricultural communities, the village school was built.
Local legend claims that Oliver Cromwell
addressed the villagers on his way to his niece's wedding, in neighbouring Little Wittenham.
preached here when he brought Christianity
to the area. The Church of England parish church
of Saint Mary
, begun around 1120, is on the site of a previous Saxon
church. The chancel
arch survives from the Norman
building; the aisles and tower are later additions. The font
is a rare Norman lead one; at some later point it was encased in wood, and this preserved it from iconoclastic Roundhead
soldiers in the 17th century. The church has the smallest monument in England a small stone effigy of Gilbert de Clare. Cruck
Cottage can be architecturally dated to being around 800 years old and consequently locals have claimed it may be the oldest house in South Oxfordshire.
The building housing Pendon Museum
, began as The Three Poplars public house
. Declining trade forced its sale in 1954. It became a Youth Hostel, before the owner Roye England turned it into a model railway museum. Other pubs included The Machine Man (which was disfranchised in 2003), The Plough and The Vine (now The Vine and Spice Indian restaurant). North of the village is the Barley Mow Inn (nowadays just a pub), which is closer to Clifton Hampden
but is on the Wittenham side of the parish boundary. A Methodist
chapel was built in 1820, and later converted into a butcher's, a general store, and a Post Office
. It was disfranchised in 2006 and turned into a private house.
The village has an annual fete, which is widely attended. It used to take place at the Vicarage until the mid 1990s, whence it was re-located to The Plough Inn.
At the eastern edge of the village lies the newly planted (2005) Neptune Wood, one of the 33 British Trafalgar Woods, planted to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar
.
Didcot
Didcot is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire about south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire...
, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southeast of 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...
. It was part of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
until the 1974 boundary changes
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, and from the former Wallingford Rural District
Wallingford Rural District
Wallingford Rural District, an administrative area in what was then Berkshire, now Oxfordshire area, in southern England was established in 1894, from the then Berkshire area within Wallingford Rural Sanitary Authority...
to the new district of South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
.
It used to be known as Earl's Wittenham, after its owner Gilbert de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester.
It lies by a loop in the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, on slightly higher ground than the flood-plain around it. About 1 miles (1.6 km) to the east, across the river, was the Roman town of Dorcic - now Dorchester-on-Thames. To the south-east lies neighbouring Little Wittenham
Little Wittenham
Little Wittenham is a village and civil parish on the south bank of the River Thames, northeast of Didcot in South Oxfordshire. It has one of only 220 habitats across Europe which is designated as a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union's Habitats Directive , on the Conservation of...
and the Wittenham Clumps
Wittenham Clumps
Wittenham Clumps is the commonly used name for a set of small hills in the flat Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham in the English county of Oxfordshire....
, otherwise called the Sinodun Hills.
It is twinned with the village of Thaon in Normandy, France.
History
Whilst the village is supposedly named after a Saxon chieftain, named Witta, there is evidence of earlier cultures. Bronze-Age double ditch enclosures and middle Bronze-age pottery were identified in the 1960s, and early Bronze-age items, such as an axe and spearhead, have been found in the Thames. Later settlement evidence is more extensive: Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
and Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
presence comes in the forms of trackways, various buildings (enclosures, farms and villas), burials (cremation and inhumation), and pottery and coins. There is also evidence of possible Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
settlement: a 5th Century grave that contained high-status Frankish objects. This early habitation was first revealed in the 1890s, in the first ever use of cropmarks to discern archaeological remains.
It is from the Saxon period that the core of the village emerges. There are cropmarks (dating from the 6th Century) that outline a large collection of buildings, which indicate, if not a royal palace, then certainly a high status Saxon enclosure, and the variety and number of objects found in Saxon burial sites around the village would appear to support this. These large, Saxon burial sites also indicate a good sized population, that lasted over many years. Historians now recognise that the general area of southern Oxfordshire was the heartland of the Gewisse - certainly the proximity to the Iron-Age hillfort of Wittenham Clumps and the Roman (and post-Roman) town of Dorchester, show that the localised area was of great importance for many centuries - though the notion that Witta (and / or his family) were related to the later Royal families of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, is unproven.
The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday 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...
, and whilst still a rural settlement is nowadays less of an agricultural community. By Tudor
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
times, parish records show it had a population of around 200, with arable crops: wheat, oats, barley, even rye being farmed. In 1534, the Manor was bought by Sir Thomas White
Thomas White (merchant)
Sir Thomas White was an English cloth merchant, civic benefactor and founder of St John's College, Oxford.He was born in Reading, Berkshire, the son of William White, a clothier of Reading, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Henry Kibblewhite of South Fawley, also in Berkshire. He was brought up in...
and given to his foundation, St. John's College
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
in 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...
. Until recently, the President and scholars of St. John's owned most of the houses in the village and much of the land; indeed, before the Enclosure Acts there were just two large, open fields, divided into strips, which were leased to the various villagers by the College. In 1857, using a special government grant for agricultural communities, the village school was built.
Local legend claims that Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
addressed the villagers on his way to his niece's wedding, in neighbouring Little Wittenham.
Buildings
The village Cross has First Millennial origins: the base dating from the 7th century. Saint BirinusBirinus
Birinus , venerated as a saint, was the first Bishop of Dorchester, and the "Apostle to the West Saxons".-Life and ministry:After Augustine of Canterbury performed initial conversions in England, Birinus, a Frank, came to the kingdoms of Wessex in 634, landing at the port of "Hamwic", now in the...
preached here when he brought Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
to the area. 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 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...
, begun around 1120, is on the site of a previous Saxon
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...
church. 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 survives from the 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...
building; the aisles and tower are later additions. The font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
is a rare Norman lead one; at some later point it was encased in wood, and this preserved it from iconoclastic Roundhead
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...
soldiers in the 17th century. The church has the smallest monument in England a small stone effigy of Gilbert de Clare. Cruck
Cruck
A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which supports the roof of a building, used particularly in England. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally bent, timber beams that lean inwards and form the ridge of the roof. These posts are then generally secured by a...
Cottage can be architecturally dated to being around 800 years old and consequently locals have claimed it may be the oldest house in South Oxfordshire.
The building housing Pendon Museum
Pendon Museum
Pendon Museum, located in Long Wittenham near Didcot, Oxfordshire, England, displays scale models of typical scenes on the Great Western Railway of the 1920s centred on working scale model railways....
, began as The Three Poplars 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...
. Declining trade forced its sale in 1954. It became a Youth Hostel, before the owner Roye England turned it into a model railway museum. Other pubs included The Machine Man (which was disfranchised in 2003), The Plough and The Vine (now The Vine and Spice Indian restaurant). North of the village is the Barley Mow Inn (nowadays just a pub), which is closer to 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:...
but is on the Wittenham side of the parish boundary. A Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
chapel was built in 1820, and later converted into a butcher's, a general store, and a Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
. It was disfranchised in 2006 and turned into a private house.
Amenities
The village has a sporting club: Long Wittenham Athletics Club, which is based at Bodkins Field. This and other flat fields around the village have often been utilised as impromptu landing sites for hot-air balloonists.The village has an annual fete, which is widely attended. It used to take place at the Vicarage until the mid 1990s, whence it was re-located to The Plough Inn.
At the eastern edge of the village lies the newly planted (2005) Neptune Wood, one of the 33 British Trafalgar Woods, planted to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
.