Cassington
Encyclopedia
Cassington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire
about 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Oxford
. The village lies on gravel strata about 0.5 miles (804.7 m) from the confluence of the River Evenlode
with the River Thames
. The parish includes the hamlet
of Worton northeast of the village and the site of the former hamlet of Somerford to the south. Somerford seems to have been abandoned early in the 14th century. Cassington is formed of two parts, "upper" and "lower", each with its own village green
.
been (found during gravel extraction) and Romano-British. Traces have been found of an Saxon
settlement with buildings, a village boundary and a field system.
Cassington's toponym
is derived from the Old English Caersentun meaning "tun where cress grows". The Domesday Book
of 1086 records the village as Cersetone.
half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux was the feudal
overlord of Cassington. Cassington was divided into different manors
. Odo granted the mesne lord
ship of the largest manor to Ilbert de Lacy and two smaller manors to Wadard, a knight in William's court.
Ilbert de Lacy's manor at Cassington became part of the honour
of Pontefract
and passed to de Lacy's descendants, the Earls of Lincoln. When Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln
died in 1311 the Pontefract manor at Cassington passed to his son-in-law Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster. Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
had no sons, so when he died in 1361 the Pontefract manor at Cassington passed to one of his daughters, Blanche of Lancaster
, wife of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
. There is no surviving record of the lordship of this manor thereafter.
By 1123 the mesne lord of one of Wadard's manors was King Henry II
's chamberlain Geoffrey de Clinton
. The mesne lordship was passed down to Geoffrey's descendants until 1242 when it was sold to the de Cauntelo family, who held it until 1356. No record of it survives thereafter. In 1317 William Montagu, then tenant of this manor, was licenced to crenellate
his manor house
. The house also had a moat
and three fishponds. A mound southeast of the parish church
marks the site of the house, and there are remains of the earthworks for the fishponds in a field to the south.
By 1235 Wadard's other manor at Cassington was part of the honour of Saint Valery
, which by 1300 belonged to Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
. However, by 1414 it was part of the Honour of Wallingford
. By the end of the 12th century the mesne lordship of the manor had been divided and after 1247 the mesne lord of one part granted it to Godstow Abbey. The lordship of the other part changed hands down the centuries. In 1661 it was bought by Henry Allnut, and in 1711 his son (also Henry) sold it to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
.
In the 13th century Godstow Abbey acquired part of the Pontefract manor at Cassington as well as part of the St. Valery manor. The abbey combined them in a single manor which it retained until the dissolution of the monasteries
in 1536. The manor house was on the south side of the village, apparently where Thames Mead Farm now stands. The current farmhouse on the site bears a date stone of 1607.
of Saint Peter
was built in the Norman
style before 1123. In 1318 Lady Montacute
, who was a major benefactor of the Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford
, made Decorated Gothic additions to the St. Peter's: the west window of the nave
, east window of the chancel
, the broach spire
and the upper part of the tower
on which it rests. Fragments of Mediaeval wall painting from this period survive in the church, including a Doom
over the Norman chancel arch.
St. Peter's church tower has a ring
of six bells. The Church of England parish is now part of the benefice of Eynsham
and Cassington.
After 1827 a Methodist
congregation developed in Cassington, with itinerant preachers holding meetings in villagers' cottages. In 1870 the congregation built its own Primitive Methodist
chapel
. The chapel had closed by 1982 and is now commercial premises.
In the 18th century the village had at least four public house
s: the Bell, Chequers, Mason's Arms and Red Lion. Worton also had a public house, the Crown. The Mason's Arms closed in 1775 and the Crown closed in 1796. The Bell was in Lower Cassington and was built in 1688. It closed in 1976 and the building in Bell Lane is now a private house.
In 1724 Henry Allnut, a lawyer of the Middle Temple
in London
who had owned one of the manors at Cassington and had an estate at Goring Heath
in South Oxfordshire
, left a continuing income from his estate to teach, clothe and apprentice boys from five parishes including Cassington. Allnut also founded a set of almshouse
s at Goring Heath. Allnut's charity maintained a small school for boys at Cassington throughout the 18th century. By 1831 the Vicar of St. Peter's had established a day school that incorporated Allnut's charity, and in 1853 the building of a new schoolhouse beside upper Cassington green was funded jointly by the parish, Christ Church
and the Allnut charity. The new school was a National School
by 1866 and was enlarged in 1876. In 1926 it was reorganised as a junior school, with older children going to Gosford Hill School
. In 1973 the school moved to new buildings adjacent to the old one, which became a private house. It is now St. Peter's Church of England
primary school now occupies an adjacent modern school building
Between 1800 and 1802 the 4th Duke of Marlborough
, who was a shareholder in the Oxford Canal
, built the Cassington Cut, a "broad" canal
about 1300 yards (1,188.7 m) long linking the Thames with a wharf about 1000 yards (914.4 m) southwest of the village. The wharf had its own public house, The Barge, which was open between 1804 and 1872.
In 1861 the Witney Railway
was built past Cassington, linking Witney
with the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
at nearby Yarnton
. This may have contributed to the decline of the Cut, which seems to have become disused by about 1870. The Barge public house closed at the same time or shortly afterwards.
In 1935 the stretch of the A40 road
between Wolvercote
and Eynsham
was built through the parish past Cassington village. In 1936 the Great Western Railway
opened Cassington Halt
just southeast of the village. It served the village until British Rail
ways withdrew passenger trains from the Witney Railway in 1962.
Cassington's two remaining public houses are the Chequers and the Red Lion, on opposite sides of Upper Cassington green. In the 1990s the Chequers was demolished and replaced with a row of traditional cottages built of traditional local stone
and a new village hall, but a new Chequers Inn was included in the redevelopment. It is controlled by to Young's pub company
. The Red Lion remains in its original building, complete with a stone-lined well visible inside the building. The Red Lion also serves as the village Post Office.
Cassington Football Club played in the Witney and District Football Association
Premier League but the club dissolved in 2009. The Elms Road sports field is still used for football and cricket. Cassington Cricket Club plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division Five.
Cassington has a Women's Institute.
troop from nearby Eynsham all raise funds from the event.
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
about 5 miles (8 km) northwest 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...
. The village lies on gravel strata about 0.5 miles (804.7 m) from the confluence of the River Evenlode
River Evenlode
The River Evenlode is a river in England which is a tributary of the Thames in Oxfordshire. It rises near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire in the Cotswold Hills and flows south-east passing near Stow-on-the-Wold, Charlbury, Bladon, and Cassington, and its valley provides the route of the southern...
with 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 parish includes the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Worton northeast of the village and the site of the former hamlet of Somerford to the south. Somerford seems to have been abandoned early in the 14th century. Cassington is formed of two parts, "upper" and "lower", each with its own 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...
.
Early history
Evidence of early settlement includes Bronze AgeBronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...
been (found during gravel extraction) and Romano-British. Traces have been found of an Saxon
History of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
settlement with buildings, a village boundary and a field system.
Cassington's toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
is derived from the Old English Caersentun meaning "tun where cress grows". 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...
of 1086 records the village as Cersetone.
Manors
In 1086 William the Conqueror'sWilliam 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...
half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux was the feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
overlord of Cassington. Cassington was divided into different manors
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...
. Odo granted the mesne lord
Mesne lord
A mesne lord was a lord in the feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. A mesne lord did not hold land directly of the king, that is to say he was not a tenant-in-chief. His subinfeudated estate was called a "mesne estate"...
ship of the largest manor to Ilbert de Lacy and two smaller manors to Wadard, a knight in William's court.
Ilbert de Lacy's manor at Cassington became part of the honour
Honour (land)
In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...
of Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
and passed to de Lacy's descendants, the Earls of Lincoln. When Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln was a confidant of Edward I of England.In 1272 on reaching the age of majority he became Earl of Lincoln...
died in 1311 the Pontefract manor at Cassington passed to his son-in-law Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster. Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 4th Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, KG , also Earl of Derby, was a member of the English nobility in the 14th century, and a prominent English diplomat, politician, and soldier...
had no sons, so when he died in 1361 the Pontefract manor at Cassington passed to one of his daughters, Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster, Duchess of Lancaster was an English noblewoman and heiress, daughter of England's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster...
, wife of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
. There is no surviving record of the lordship of this manor thereafter.
By 1123 the mesne lord of one of Wadard's manors was King Henry II
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
's chamberlain Geoffrey de Clinton
Geoffrey de Clinton
Geoffrey de Clinton was an Anglo-Norman noble, chamberlain and treasurer to King Henry I of England. He was foremost amongst the men king Henry "raised from the dust". He married Lescelina.-Life:Clinton's family origins are a little obscure...
. The mesne lordship was passed down to Geoffrey's descendants until 1242 when it was sold to the de Cauntelo family, who held it until 1356. No record of it survives thereafter. In 1317 William Montagu, then tenant of this manor, was licenced to crenellate
Battlement
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...
his 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...
. The house also had a moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
and three fishponds. A mound southeast of the 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....
marks the site of the house, and there are remains of the earthworks for the fishponds in a field to the south.
By 1235 Wadard's other manor at Cassington was part of the honour of Saint Valery
Saint-Valery-en-Caux
Saint-Valery-en-Caux is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A small fishing port and light industrial town situated in the Pays de Caux, some west of Dieppe at the junction of the D53, D20, D79 and the D925 roads...
, which by 1300 belonged to Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall
Edmund of Cornwall of Almain was the 2nd Earl of Cornwall of the 7th creation.-Early life:Edmund was born at Berkhamsted Castle on 26 December 1249, the second and only surviving son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his wife Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Provence,...
. However, by 1414 it was part of the Honour of Wallingford
Honour of Wallingford
The Honour of Wallingford was a medieval English honour located circa 1066 to 1540 in present-day Oxfordshire.The Honour of Wallingford was established after the Norman conquest of England, which began in 1066. The Honour initially encompassed Wallingford and Harpsden and thereafter gained...
. By the end of the 12th century the mesne lordship of the manor had been divided and after 1247 the mesne lord of one part granted it to Godstow Abbey. The lordship of the other part changed hands down the centuries. In 1661 it was bought by Henry Allnut, and in 1711 his son (also Henry) sold it to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
.
In the 13th century Godstow Abbey acquired part of the Pontefract manor at Cassington as well as part of the St. Valery manor. The abbey combined them in a single manor which it retained until the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1536. The manor house was on the south side of the village, apparently where Thames Mead Farm now stands. The current farmhouse on the site bears a date stone of 1607.
Churches
Geoffrey de Clinton built 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 Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
was built in 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...
style before 1123. In 1318 Lady Montacute
Lady Elizabeth Montacute
Lady Elizabeth de Montfort was born in Beaudesert Castle, Warwickshire, England, which was owned by her father, Peter de Montfort II. She married William de Montacute, 2nd Baron Montacute ....
, who was a major benefactor of the Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford
Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford
The priory of St Frideswide, Oxford was established as a priory of Augustinian canons regular, in 1122. It was set up by Gwymund, chaplain to Henry I of England. It lasted to the 1520s, when it was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey so that he could use its premises together with those of other adjacent...
, made Decorated Gothic additions to the St. Peter's: the west window of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
, east window of 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...
, the broach spire
Broach spire
A broach spire is a type of spire, a tall pyramidal or conical structure usually on the top of a tower or a turret. A broach spire starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces....
and the upper part of the 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...
on which it rests. Fragments of Mediaeval wall painting from this period survive in the church, including a Doom
Doom (painting)
A Doom is a traditional English term for a painting or other image of the Last Judgment, an event in Christian eschatology. Christ judges souls, and then sends them to either Heaven or Hell...
over the Norman chancel arch.
St. Peter's church tower 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 six bells. The Church of England parish is now part of the benefice of Eynsham
Eynsham
Eynsham is a village and civil parish about east of Witney in Oxfordshire, England.-History:Eynsham grew up near the historically important ford of Swinford on the River Thames flood plain...
and Cassington.
After 1827 a Methodist
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
congregation developed in Cassington, with itinerant preachers holding meetings in villagers' cottages. In 1870 the congregation built its own Primitive Methodist
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
. The chapel had closed by 1982 and is now commercial premises.
Economic & social history
The parish's common lands were inclosed in 1801.In the 18th century the village had at least four 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...
s: the Bell, Chequers, Mason's Arms and Red Lion. Worton also had a public house, the Crown. The Mason's Arms closed in 1775 and the Crown closed in 1796. The Bell was in Lower Cassington and was built in 1688. It closed in 1976 and the building in Bell Lane is now a private house.
In 1724 Henry Allnut, a lawyer of the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
who had owned one of the manors at Cassington and had an estate at Goring Heath
Goring Heath
Goring Heath is a hamlet and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. The civil parish includes the villages of Whitchurch Hill and Crays Pond and some small hamlets...
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....
, left a continuing income from his estate to teach, clothe and apprentice boys from five parishes including Cassington. Allnut also founded a set of almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s at Goring Heath. Allnut's charity maintained a small school for boys at Cassington throughout the 18th century. By 1831 the Vicar of St. Peter's had established a day school that incorporated Allnut's charity, and in 1853 the building of a new schoolhouse beside upper Cassington green was funded jointly by the parish, Christ Church
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...
and the Allnut charity. The new school was a National School
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...
by 1866 and was enlarged in 1876. In 1926 it was reorganised as a junior school, with older children going to Gosford Hill School
Gosford Hill School
Gosford Hill School is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and a Specialist College of Mathematics and Computing; the first school in Oxfordshire to receive this award...
. In 1973 the school moved to new buildings adjacent to the old one, which became a private house. It is now St. Peter's Church of England
Voluntary controlled school
A voluntary controlled school is a state-funded school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in which a foundation or trust has some formal influence in the running of the school...
primary school now occupies an adjacent modern school building
Between 1800 and 1802 the 4th Duke of Marlborough
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough KG, PC, FRS , styled Marquess of Blandford until 1758, was a British courtier and politician...
, who was a shareholder in the Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
, built the Cassington Cut, a "broad" canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
about 1300 yards (1,188.7 m) long linking the Thames with a wharf about 1000 yards (914.4 m) southwest of the village. The wharf had its own public house, The Barge, which was open between 1804 and 1872.
In 1861 the Witney Railway
Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway
The Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway was a single track railway line, long, in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.-The Witney Railway:In 1849 a branch line was proposed from the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway at Wilcote near Charlbury via North Leigh to Witney, but the route was...
was built past Cassington, linking Witney
Witney
Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....
with the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway was a company authorised on 4 August 1845 to construct a railway line from the Oxford and Rugby Railway at Wolvercot Junction to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley, and Wolverhampton, with a branch to the Grand Junction Railway at Bushbury...
at nearby Yarnton
Yarnton
Yarnton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southwest of Kidlington and northwest of Oxford and southeast of Woodstock.-Archaeology:Early Bronze Age decorated beakers have been found in the parish...
. This may have contributed to the decline of the Cut, which seems to have become disused by about 1870. The Barge public house closed at the same time or shortly afterwards.
In 1935 the stretch of the A40 road
A40 road
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road in all legal documents and Acts...
between Wolvercote
Wolvercote
Wolvercote is a village that is part of the City of Oxford, England, though still retaining its own identity. It is about northwest of the centre of Oxford, on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common, which is itself north of Port Meadow.-History:The village is listed in the Domesday Book as...
and Eynsham
Eynsham
Eynsham is a village and civil parish about east of Witney in Oxfordshire, England.-History:Eynsham grew up near the historically important ford of Swinford on the River Thames flood plain...
was built through the parish past Cassington village. In 1936 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...
opened Cassington Halt
Cassington Halt railway station
Cassington Halt served the village of Cassington, Oxfordshire and was a single platform halt opened by Great Western Railway on 9 March 1936 on the Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway line between Oxford and Witney, just south of the A40. The halt which consisted of a single concrete platform and a...
just southeast of the village. It served the village until 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 withdrew passenger trains from the Witney Railway in 1962.
Amenities
Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as 'honey' or 'golden'....
and a new village hall, but a new Chequers Inn was included in the redevelopment. It is controlled by to Young's pub company
Pub chain
A pub chain is a group of pubs or bars with a brand image. The brand may be owned outright by one company, or there may be multiple financiers; the chain may be a division within a larger company, or may be a single operation. Examples include Chef & Brewer, Wetherspoons, Walkabout, Taylor Walker...
. The Red Lion remains in its original building, complete with a stone-lined well visible inside the building. The Red Lion also serves as the village Post Office.
Cassington Football Club played in the Witney and District Football Association
Witney and District League
The Witney and District League is a football competition based in Oxfordshire, England. It has a total of four divisions headed by the Premier Division which sits at level 13 of the English football league system.-Champions:-Member clubs 2011–12:...
Premier League but the club dissolved in 2009. The Elms Road sports field is still used for football and cricket. Cassington Cricket Club plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division Five.
Cassington has a Women's Institute.
Cassington Bike Night
The British Motorcycle Riders' Club (Oxford) meets at the Red Lion. On the last Monday of June the BMRCO holds its annual Bike Night on Upper Cassington village green. Several thousand motorcyclists fill the village to see a static display of hundreds of historic British motorcycles. St. Peter's School, the Women's institute, the village's pre-school playgroup and a ScoutScouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
troop from nearby Eynsham all raise funds from the event.