Nuneham Courtenay
Encyclopedia
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Oxford
.
evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family (see below) and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham".
Some time between the Norman conquest of England
in 1066 and the completion of the Domesday Book
in 1086 William the Conqueror
granted the manor
of Newenham to one of his Norman
barons, Richard de Courcy
. It remained in his family until the death of his great-grandson, William (III) de Courcy in 1176. It then passed from William de Courcy's widow Gundreda via her female heirs to Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon
. Baldwin died without an heir, so Newenham again passed to a female "overlord", Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon. She too died without an heir, but in 1310 King Edward II
granted Newenham to Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon
. Newenham remained in the Courtenay family until the latter part of the 14th century, when Sir Peter de Courtenay, son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon
sold his inheritance of the estate to Sir Hugh Segrave
.
Under the terms of the sale Margaret de Bohun, 2nd Countess of Devon
retained the use of Newenham Courtenay for life. However, Sir Hugh Segrave died in 1386 and the Countess outlived him, so upon her death in 1391 the manor passed to Segrave's aunt's grandson, Sir John Drayton, who was Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire (October 1404) and Gloucestershire (1410). Sir John died in 1417 leaving the manor to his widow Isabel, younger daughter of Sir Maurice Russell
(died 1416) of Dyrham
, Gloucestershire and Kingston Russell
, Dorset. Isabel then married, as her 4th husband, Stephen Hatfield. After some legal problems concerning good title to the manor, in 1425 Isabel and Hatfield sold the reversion of the manor, reserving a life interest to themselves, to Thomas Chaucer
(c. 1367–1434), son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer
and Speaker of the House of Commons on five occasions between 1407 and 1421. Upon Isabel's death in 1437, Newenham Courtenay passed to Alice Chaucer, daughter of Thomas Chaucer
, who had died in 1435. Alice was married to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
. The manor remained in the de la Pole family until 1502, when Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
was outlawed and forefeited his lands for allegedly plotting a Yorkist
rebellion against Henry VII.
In 1514 Henry VII made his brother-in-law Charles Brandon
Duke of Suffolk, and granted him the forefeited de la Pole estates. In 1528 Brandon conveyed Newenham Courtenay to Cardinal Wolsey, but the following year King Henry VIII
deposed Wolsey. The manor was administered by royal stewards until 1544, when it was bought by John Pollard
. Pollard lived at Newenham Courtenay until his death in 1557. He left the use of the manor to his widow Mary, with the estate to pass to two of his male relatives upon her death. However Dame Mary remarried in 1561 and lived to be over 100, outliving the heirs that Pollard had appointed. She eventually died in 1606 and the estate passed to a younger John Pollard. John transferred Newenham Courtenay to his son Lewis, but both men were in debt and in 1634 Lewis sold the estate to the wealthy lawyer Hugh Audley
.
In 1640 Audley sold Newenham Courtenay to Robert Wright
, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
. Wright supported Archbishop Laud
, for which Parliament
imprisoned him. He died in 1643 and his son Calvert inherited Newenham Courtenay. Calvert wasted his father's fortune, sold Newenham Courtenay in 1653, was imprisoned as a debtor, and died in the King's Bench Prison
in Southwark
in 1666.
Calvert Wright's buyer was John Robinson, a City of London
businessman who reported that it cost him more to clear the debts of Newenham Courtenay than to buy the estate. Robinson left the estate to his two daughters, who in 1710 sold it to Sir Simon Harcourt
of Stanton Harcourt
. Sir Simon was created Viscount Harcourt
in 1721 and died in 1727. He was succeeded by his grandson Simon Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt
, who was created 1st Earl Harcourt in 1749. Upon the death of William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt
in 1830 the earldom became extinct, and the estate, now called Nuneham Courtenay, passed to the first Earl's nephew Edward Venables-Vernon, Archbishop of York
, who then changed his name to Venables-Vernon-Harcourt. The estate remained in the family until 1948, when William Edward Harcourt sold it to the University of Oxford
.
There are sporadic records of one or more locks
on the River Thames at Newenham. One called "Bunselock" was referred to in 1279. In the 16th century the river seems to have had three locks at Newenham. A map of 1707 shows a flash lock
on the channel past a small island opposite the appropriately-named Lock Wood. In 1716 it was repaired at the expense of the first Viscount.
By 1707 Newenham Courtenay had a ferry linking it with Lower Radley
across the river. This continued to operate after the 1st Viscount removed Newenham Courtenay village (see below).
In 1809 the Countess Harcourt opened a school for the village, run by a schoolmistress and supervised by the vicar. In 1835 a new school building was completed and in 1849 the National Society for Promoting Religious Education
gave a grant to develop the building. At the end of the 19th century it was noted amongst village schools for the high quality of its education. In 1925 it was reorganised as a junior school, with pupils of secondary age thereafter being schooled at Dorchester. The school was still open in 1957 but closed later in the 20th century.
_by_edward_lear.jpg)
The village, parish church
and manor house
used to stand on a river bluff with a westward view over the River Thames
. The manor house may have dated from the 16th century. The 1st Earl demolished the house, church and "tumble-down clay-built" cottages of the village, built a new Nuneham House and parish church in slightly different positions (see below) and built an entirely new Nuneham Courtenay village almost 1 miles (1.6 km) to the northeast to make way for his plans for a landscaped park.
The new village comprises two identical rows of brick-built semi-detached
cottages, each of a single main storey plus an attic floor with dormer
windows. The two identical rows face each other across the Oxford–Dorchester
main road, which had been made a turnpike
in 1736. (It has been classified the A4074 since the 20th century.) As the village population has subsequently grown, additional cottages have been added in similar styles early in the 19th century and again early in the 20th century. The old village had a village green
. The new village has none, but was built to a spacious plan with gardens for every cottage and verges between them and the main road.
In the 1760s the Irish writer, poet and playwright Oliver Goldsmith
witnessed the demolition of an ancient village and destruction of its farms to clear land to become a wealthy man's garden. His poem The Deserted Village, published in 1770, expresses a fear that the destruction of villages and the conversion of land from productive agriculture to ornamental landscape garden
s would ruin the peasant
ry.
The Deserted Village gave the demolished village the pseudonym "Sweet Auburn" and Goldsmith did not disclose the real village on which he based it. However, he did indicate it was about 50 miles (80.5 km) from London and it is widely believed to have been Nuneham Courtenay.
The new Nuneham House
was designed by the architect Stiff Leadbetter
in 1756. The design was changed and enlarged twice during construction, so that the house when completed in 1764 was far from the compact Palladian
villa projected eight years earlier The design of the landscaped park owed much to the poet and gardener the Rev. William Mason
, who designed its flower garden in 1771. The Poet Laureate
William Whitehead
was also a visitor, and it was he who coined the change of spelling from "Newenham" to "Nuneham" in about 1764. George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown to make alterations to the park in 1779 and the house in 1781. The works were completed in the autumn of 1782, shortly before Brown's death. Whitehead's poem The Late Improvements at Nuneham celebrated Brown's work.
Brown had planned a neo-Gothic tower for a prominent site overlooking the Thames. However in 1787 the University of Oxford
dismantled Carfax Conduit
, which had been built in 1617 in the centre of Oxford. The 2nd Earl re-erected the Conduit building in his park instead of the proposed tower.
Archbishop Harcourt commissioned the architect Robert Smirke
to make unaesthetic but functional extensions to the house. Archbishop Harcourt destroyed Mason's flower garden and most of its sculptures, but he also bought and added adjacent land in Marsh Baldon parish to extend the park eastwards as far as the Oxford–Dorchester main road. On this new land he had the artist W.S. Gilpin
build a Doric
entrance lodge in about 1830 and plant a pinetum in 1835. Further alterations to the house were made in 1904.
In 1963 the pinetum became Harcourt Arboretum
, part of the tree and plant collection of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden
. It includes 10 acres (4 ha) of woodland and a 37 acres (15 ha) wild-flower meadow.
may have had a Saxon
parish church
in Newenham. If so, it was destroyed in the Danish invasions of the 10th century. There was then a parish church of All Saints that served the village from the Middle Ages
until the 1760s, but little information about it survives. It was demolished in 1764 to make way for Earl Harcourt's landscaping plan (see above). Remains of two windows of the old church and one of the tombs were moved to Baldon House at nearby Marsh Baldon
, where the windows were used to create a folly
. The Earl removed monuments from both the churchyard and the church, demolished the church building and sold its peal
of five bells.
Earl Harcourt had the next All Saints parish church
built about 20 feet (6.1 m) away from the mediaeval one. The Earl was an amateur architect and designed the church himself, aided by the Neoclassicist
James "Athenian" Stuart
. It is a domed Palladian temple conventionally oriented with its entrance at the west and altar at the east end, but has a doorless Ionic
portico
on its north side overlooking the River Thames
. The church is positioned on a slight rise on the river bluff to maximise its effect in the landscape design.
The removal of the village to a new site 1 miles (1.6 km) away made the new church highly inconvenient. Its austere neoclassical design also became unpopular during the 19th century Gothic Revival
. In 1871 Edward Vernon Harcourt MP inherited Nuneham Courtenay, and in 1872-74 he had a new All Saints parish church built close to the village, designed in the Early English style by the architect C.C. Rolfe
. This left the 18th century church to become the Harcourt family chapel, and in 1880 ornately carved Italian fittings were added to its austere interior. The Churches Conservation Trust
now cares for the building.
In the 20th century the benefice was combined with the parishes of Marsh Baldon
and Toot Baldon
and the 1870s All Saints church building declared redundant
.
.
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...
.
Manor
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...
evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family (see below) and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham".
Some time between the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066 and the completion of 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...
in 1086 William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
granted the 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 Newenham to one of his Norman
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
barons, Richard de Courcy
Richard de Courcy
Richard de Courcy was a Norman baron. He accompanied William the Conqueror as a soldier, in the invasion of England.He was subsequently granted lands, giving his name to Stoke Courcy, in Somerset...
. It remained in his family until the death of his great-grandson, William (III) de Courcy in 1176. It then passed from William de Courcy's widow Gundreda via her female heirs to Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon
Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon
Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon and Lord of the Isle was the son of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon and Amicia de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford. He succeeded at the age of ten....
. Baldwin died without an heir, so Newenham again passed to a female "overlord", Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon. She too died without an heir, but in 1310 King Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
granted Newenham to Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon
Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon
Hugh de Courtenay was the son of Hugh de Courtenay of Okehampton and Eleanor le Despenser, daughter of Lord Hugh le Despenser, the significant advisers to King Edward II. He was grandson of John de Courtenay of Okehampton by Isabel de Vere, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Oxford...
. Newenham remained in the Courtenay family until the latter part of the 14th century, when Sir Peter de Courtenay, son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon
Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon
Sir Hugh de Courtenay was the 2nd Earl of Devon in England, born probably in Devon. His parents were Hugh, the 1st Courtenay Earl of Devon by Agnes de St John, daughter of Sir John St John of Basing. He was destined to become a great soldier in the Hundred years war in service of King Edward III...
sold his inheritance of the estate to Sir Hugh Segrave
Hugh Segrave
Sir Hugh Segrave was a Lord Keeper and treasurer of England from 1381 until his death.- References :*. Accessed 16 June 2008.We the people, as one stated by John Lennon. He was our father, our hero, our king....
.
Under the terms of the sale Margaret de Bohun, 2nd Countess of Devon
Margaret de Bohun, 2nd Countess of Devon
Margaret de Bohun, 2nd Countess of Devon was an English noblewoman who lived most of her life in the county of Devonshire as the wife of Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon. She was a granddaughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile...
retained the use of Newenham Courtenay for life. However, Sir Hugh Segrave died in 1386 and the Countess outlived him, so upon her death in 1391 the manor passed to Segrave's aunt's grandson, Sir John Drayton, who was Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire (October 1404) and Gloucestershire (1410). Sir John died in 1417 leaving the manor to his widow Isabel, younger daughter of Sir Maurice Russell
Maurice Russell, knight
Sir Maurice Russell of Kingston Russell, Dorset and Dyrham, Glos. was a prominent member of the Gloucestershire gentry, the 3rd son, but eventual heir of Ralph Russell and his wife Alice. He was knighted between June and December 1385 and served twice as Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire in...
(died 1416) of Dyrham
Dyrham
Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England.-Location and communications:Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west . It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk road, about north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway...
, Gloucestershire and Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out...
, Dorset. Isabel then married, as her 4th husband, Stephen Hatfield. After some legal problems concerning good title to the manor, in 1425 Isabel and Hatfield sold the reversion of the manor, reserving a life interest to themselves, to Thomas Chaucer
Thomas Chaucer
Thomas Chaucer was the Speaker of the English House of Commons and son of Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet.-Life:...
(c. 1367–1434), son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
and Speaker of the House of Commons on five occasions between 1407 and 1421. Upon Isabel's death in 1437, Newenham Courtenay passed to Alice Chaucer, daughter of Thomas Chaucer
Thomas Chaucer
Thomas Chaucer was the Speaker of the English House of Commons and son of Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet.-Life:...
, who had died in 1435. Alice was married to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other...
. The manor remained in the de la Pole family until 1502, when Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk , Duke of Suffolk, was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York.-Family:...
was outlawed and forefeited his lands for allegedly plotting a Yorkist
House of York
The House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three members of which became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented...
rebellion against Henry VII.
In 1514 Henry VII made his brother-in-law Charles Brandon
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
Duke of Suffolk, and granted him the forefeited de la Pole estates. In 1528 Brandon conveyed Newenham Courtenay to Cardinal Wolsey, but the following year King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
deposed Wolsey. The manor was administered by royal stewards until 1544, when it was bought by John Pollard
John Pollard (speaker)
Sir John Pollard was a Speaker of the English House of Commons. He became Speaker in 1553 and he was knighted only a few weeks before his death.-Life:...
. Pollard lived at Newenham Courtenay until his death in 1557. He left the use of the manor to his widow Mary, with the estate to pass to two of his male relatives upon her death. However Dame Mary remarried in 1561 and lived to be over 100, outliving the heirs that Pollard had appointed. She eventually died in 1606 and the estate passed to a younger John Pollard. John transferred Newenham Courtenay to his son Lewis, but both men were in debt and in 1634 Lewis sold the estate to the wealthy lawyer Hugh Audley
Hugh Audley
Hugh Audley , also known as The Great Audley, was an English moneylender, lawyer and philosopher...
.
In 1640 Audley sold Newenham Courtenay to Robert Wright
Robert Wright (bishop)
-Life:Wright was born of humble parentage in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1560, and probably attended the refounded free school there , where preference was given to poor scholars of the borough. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1574 at the age of 14, was elected to a scholarship in...
, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
. Wright supported Archbishop Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, for which Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
imprisoned him. He died in 1643 and his son Calvert inherited Newenham Courtenay. Calvert wasted his father's fortune, sold Newenham Courtenay in 1653, was imprisoned as a debtor, and died in the King's Bench Prison
King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison...
in Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
in 1666.
Calvert Wright's buyer was John Robinson, a City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
businessman who reported that it cost him more to clear the debts of Newenham Courtenay than to buy the estate. Robinson left the estate to his two daughters, who in 1710 sold it to Sir Simon Harcourt
Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt
Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, PC was Queen Anne's Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. He was her solicitor-general and her commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland...
of Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford.-Archaeology:Within the parish of Stanton Harcourt is a series of paleochannel deposits buried beneath the second gravel terrace of the river Thames...
. Sir Simon was created Viscount Harcourt
Viscount Harcourt
The title Viscount Harcourt has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in Great Britain in 1711 for Simon Harcourt, Lord Chancellor. The third viscount was created Earl Harcourt in 1749.The ancient family of...
in 1721 and died in 1727. He was succeeded by his grandson Simon Harcourt, 2nd Viscount Harcourt
Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt
Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, PC, FRS, Viceroy of Ireland , known as 2nd Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, between 1727 and 1749, was a British diplomat and general....
, who was created 1st Earl Harcourt in 1749. Upon the death of William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt
William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt
Field Marshal William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, GCB was a British nobleman and soldier. He was the younger son of Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt.-Seven Years War:...
in 1830 the earldom became extinct, and the estate, now called Nuneham Courtenay, passed to the first Earl's nephew Edward Venables-Vernon, Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, who then changed his name to Venables-Vernon-Harcourt. The estate remained in the family until 1948, when William Edward Harcourt sold it to the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Economic & social history
The highest point in the parish is a hill 316 feet (96.3 m) above sea level, about 0.5 miles (804.7 m) south of the present village. It is called Windmill Hill, but no evidence of a windmill survives.There are sporadic records of one or more locks
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
on the River Thames at Newenham. One called "Bunselock" was referred to in 1279. In the 16th century the river seems to have had three locks at Newenham. A map of 1707 shows a flash lock
Flash lock
Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times....
on the channel past a small island opposite the appropriately-named Lock Wood. In 1716 it was repaired at the expense of the first Viscount.
By 1707 Newenham Courtenay had a ferry linking it with Lower Radley
Radley
Radley is a village and civil parish about northwest of the centre of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Lower Radley on the River Thames. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire....
across the river. This continued to operate after the 1st Viscount removed Newenham Courtenay village (see below).
In 1809 the Countess Harcourt opened a school for the village, run by a schoolmistress and supervised by the vicar. In 1835 a new school building was completed and in 1849 the National Society for Promoting Religious Education
National school (England and Wales)
A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...
gave a grant to develop the building. At the end of the 19th century it was noted amongst village schools for the high quality of its education. In 1925 it was reorganised as a junior school, with pupils of secondary age thereafter being schooled at Dorchester. The school was still open in 1957 but closed later in the 20th century.
Nuneham House and Park
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....
and manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
used to stand on a river bluff with a westward view over 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,...
. The manor house may have dated from the 16th century. The 1st Earl demolished the house, church and "tumble-down clay-built" cottages of the village, built a new Nuneham House and parish church in slightly different positions (see below) and built an entirely new Nuneham Courtenay village almost 1 miles (1.6 km) to the northeast to make way for his plans for a landscaped park.
The new village comprises two identical rows of brick-built semi-detached
Semi-detached
Semi-detached housing consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin...
cottages, each of a single main storey plus an attic floor with dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
windows. The two identical rows face each other across the Oxford–Dorchester
Dorchester, Oxfordshire
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Wallingford and southeast of Oxford. Despite its name, Dorchester is not on the River Thames, but just above the Thame's confluence with it...
main road, which had been made 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...
in 1736. (It has been classified the A4074 since the 20th century.) As the village population has subsequently grown, additional cottages have been added in similar styles early in the 19th century and again early in the 20th century. The old village had a village green
Village green
A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...
. The new village has none, but was built to a spacious plan with gardens for every cottage and verges between them and the main road.
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
witnessed the demolition of an ancient village and destruction of its farms to clear land to become a wealthy man's garden. His poem The Deserted Village, published in 1770, expresses a fear that the destruction of villages and the conversion of land from productive agriculture to ornamental landscape garden
Landscape garden
The term landscape garden is often used to describe the English garden design style characteristic of the eighteenth century, that swept the Continent replacing the formal Renaissance garden and Garden à la française models. The work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is particularly influential.The...
s would ruin the peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
ry.
The Deserted Village gave the demolished village the pseudonym "Sweet Auburn" and Goldsmith did not disclose the real village on which he based it. However, he did indicate it was about 50 miles (80.5 km) from London and it is widely believed to have been Nuneham Courtenay.
The new Nuneham House
Nuneham House
Nuneham House is a Palladian villa, at Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire England. It was built for Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt in 1756. It is owned by Oxford University and is currently used as a retreat centre by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University...
was designed by the architect Stiff Leadbetter
Stiff Leadbetter
Stiff Leadbetter was a British architect and builder, one of the most successful architect–builders of the 1750s and 1760s, working for many leading aristocratic families.- Career :...
in 1756. The design was changed and enlarged twice during construction, so that the house when completed in 1764 was far from the compact Palladian
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
villa projected eight years earlier The design of the landscaped park owed much to the poet and gardener the Rev. William Mason
William Mason (poet)
William Mason was an English poet, editor and gardener.He was born in Hull and educated at Hull Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1754 and held a number of posts in the church....
, who designed its flower garden in 1771. The Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
William Whitehead
William Whitehead
__FORCETOC__William Whitehead was an English poet and playwright. He became Poet Laureate in 1757 after Thomas Gray declined the position.-Life:...
was also a visitor, and it was he who coined the change of spelling from "Newenham" to "Nuneham" in about 1764. George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown to make alterations to the park in 1779 and the house in 1781. The works were completed in the autumn of 1782, shortly before Brown's death. Whitehead's poem The Late Improvements at Nuneham celebrated Brown's work.
Brown had planned a neo-Gothic tower for a prominent site overlooking the Thames. However in 1787 the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
dismantled Carfax Conduit
Carfax Conduit
The Carfax Conduit was a water conduit that supplied the city of Oxford with water from 1617 until the 19th century.The conduit ran in an underground lead pipe from a spring on the hillside above the village of North Hinksey, beneath Seacourt Stream and the River Thames, to a building at Carfax in...
, which had been built in 1617 in the centre of Oxford. The 2nd Earl re-erected the Conduit building in his park instead of the proposed tower.
Archbishop Harcourt commissioned the architect Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (architect)
Sir Robert Smirke was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture his best known building in that style is the British Museum, though he also designed using other architectural styles...
to make unaesthetic but functional extensions to the house. Archbishop Harcourt destroyed Mason's flower garden and most of its sculptures, but he also bought and added adjacent land in Marsh Baldon parish to extend the park eastwards as far as the Oxford–Dorchester main road. On this new land he had the artist W.S. Gilpin
William Sawrey Gilpin
William Sawrey Gilpin was an English artist, drawing master and, in later life, landscape designer.Gilpin was the son of the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin. He attended the school of his uncle, William Gilpin, at Cheam in Surrey...
build a 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:...
entrance lodge in about 1830 and plant a pinetum in 1835. Further alterations to the house were made in 1904.
In 1963 the pinetum became Harcourt Arboretum
Harcourt Arboretum
Harcourt Arboretum is an arboretum owned and run by the University of Oxford. It is a satellite of the university's botanic garden in the city of Oxford, England...
, part of the tree and plant collection of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden
University of Oxford Botanic Garden
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is an historic botanic garden in Oxford, England. It is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it...
. It includes 10 acres (4 ha) of woodland and a 37 acres (15 ha) wild-flower meadow.
Parish churches
Abingdon AbbeyAbingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.-History:...
may have had a 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...
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....
in Newenham. If so, it was destroyed in the Danish invasions of the 10th century. There was then a parish church of All Saints that served the village from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
until the 1760s, but little information about it survives. It was demolished in 1764 to make way for Earl Harcourt's landscaping plan (see above). Remains of two windows of the old church and one of the tombs were moved to Baldon House at nearby Marsh Baldon
Marsh Baldon
Marsh Baldon is village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter dates from the 12th century. Its 14th century bell tower has a ring of five bells, the oldest of which was cast by John White of Reading in about...
, where the windows were used to create a folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
. The Earl removed monuments from both the churchyard and the church, demolished the church building and sold its peal
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 five bells.
Earl Harcourt had the next All Saints parish church
Old All Saints Church, Nuneham Courtenay
Old All Saints Church, Nuneham Courtenay, or Harcourt Chapel, is a redundant Anglican church near the village of Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...
built about 20 feet (6.1 m) away from the mediaeval one. The Earl was an amateur architect and designed the church himself, aided by the Neoclassicist
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
James "Athenian" Stuart
James Stuart (1713-1788)
James "Athenian" Stuart was an English archaeologist, architect and artist best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism.-Early life:...
. It is a domed Palladian temple conventionally oriented with its entrance at the west and altar at the east end, but has a doorless 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...
portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
on its north side overlooking 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,...
. The church is positioned on a slight rise on the river bluff to maximise its effect in the landscape design.
The removal of the village to a new site 1 miles (1.6 km) away made the new church highly inconvenient. Its austere neoclassical design also became unpopular during the 19th century Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
. In 1871 Edward Vernon Harcourt MP inherited Nuneham Courtenay, and in 1872-74 he had a new All Saints parish church built close to the village, designed in the Early English style by the architect C.C. Rolfe
Clapton Crabbe Rolfe
Clapton Crabb Rolfe was an English Gothic Revival architect whose practice was based in Oxford.-Family:C.C. Rolfe was the second of nine children. His father was Rev. George Crabb Rolfe who was perpetual curate of Hailey, Oxfordshire from 1838 until his death. His mother Ellen was a sister of the...
. This left the 18th century church to become the Harcourt family chapel, and in 1880 ornately carved Italian fittings were added to its austere interior. 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...
now cares for the building.
In the 20th century the benefice was combined with the parishes of Marsh Baldon
Marsh Baldon
Marsh Baldon is village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter dates from the 12th century. Its 14th century bell tower has a ring of five bells, the oldest of which was cast by John White of Reading in about...
and Toot Baldon
Toot Baldon
Toot Baldon is village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.The Church of England parish church of Saint Lawrence was built mostly in the 13th century. The Gothic Revival architect Henry Woodyer restored the building in 1865...
and the 1870s All Saints church building declared redundant
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
.
Amenities
The 18th century village was designed with a pair of large houses facing each other across the main road at the north end. That on the west side was the New Inn, then the Harcourt Arms and now trades as Cockadoo Bar and Restaurant. That on the east side was a blacksmith's forge and in the 20th century has been a car showroom. Nuneham has also a post office and a village hallVillage 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...
.