Steeple Barton
Encyclopedia
Steeple Barton is a civil parish and scattered settlement on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire
, about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) east of Chipping Norton
, a similar distance west of Bicester
and 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Banbury
. Most of the parish's population lives in the village of Middle Barton, about 1 miles (1.6 km) northwest of the settlement of Steeple Barton.
Much of the parish's eastern boundary is formed by the former turnpike
between Oxford
and Banbury, now classified the A4260 road
. The minor road between Middle Barton and Kiddington
forms part of the western boundary. Field boundaries form most of the rest of the boundaries of the parish.
The village was the birthplace of Anne Greene
a domestic servant who was hanged apparent for alleged infanticide
in 1650, but who was revived from her apparent death and was later pardoned.
chamber tomb
s.
of 1086 records that a manor
of 10 hides
at Barton was one of many English manors under the feudal
overlordship of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.
Late in the 12th century Thomas St. John had a set of fish pond
s made that were fed by the River Dorn. Their remains are visible about 990 yard north of the parish church.
The former manor house
at Sesswell's Barton was built in about 1570 for John Dormer and altered for the recusant
Ralph Sheldon in 1678–79. The house was remodelled between 1849 and about 1862 to Tudor Revival designs by the architect S.S. Teulon
. In about 1860 it was renamed Barton Abbey on the false assumption that the Augustinian
Osney Abbey
had a cell here. The house was altered again in either the 1890s or the early years of the 20th century.
Philip Constable of Everingham
, Yorkshire was a Royalist
in the English Civil War
who was connected with Steeple Barton and was made a Baronet
in 1642. After the Parliamentarians won the war, the Commonwealth
authorities deprived him of all his estates. He died in 1644 and is buried in the south aisle of St. Mary's parish church. Like the Sheldons, later members of the Constable family were recusants, including Humphrey Constable who was reported as such in 1663 and 1682 and Michael Constable who was reported in 1706.
of Saint Mary the Virgin
had been built by 1190, by which time it had been given to Osney Abbey. Little of the original building is recognisable except the Norman
font
. The south aisle was added in the 14th century. Its surviving original features include the south porch and five-bay
arcade
, both of which are Decorated Gothic. The Perpendicular Gothic west tower was added in the 15th century. The chancel
was rebuilt and the nave
and south aisle drastically restored in 1850–51 under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect
J.C. Buckler
.
The tower has a ring
of five bells. Richard Keene of Woodstock
cast the treble and second bells in 1698. Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
cast the remainder including the tenor bell in 1851.
St. Mary's Vicarage was designed by S.S. Teulon and built in 1856.
St. Mary's was a dependent chapelry
of Sandford St. Martin
until the 16th century. In 1960 St. Mary's Benefice was merged with that of Westcott Barton
, and in 1977 this united benefice was combined with the parishes of Duns Tew
and Sandford St. Martin
.
of farming prevailed in the two parishes until an Inclosure Act
for their common land
s was implemented in 1796.
The main road between Bicester and Enstone traverses the parish east – west. It was turnpiked
in 1793, disturnpiked in 1876 and is now classified the B4030 road.
West Oxfordshire
West Oxfordshire is a local government district in north west Oxfordshire, England including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, and Witney ....
, about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) east of Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...
, a similar distance west of Bicester
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
and 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
. Most of the parish's population lives in the village of Middle Barton, about 1 miles (1.6 km) northwest of the settlement of Steeple Barton.
Much of the parish's eastern boundary is formed by the former 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...
between 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...
and Banbury, now classified the A4260 road
A4260 road
The A4260 is a road that leads from the A422 Henneff Way, Banbury to Frieze Way near Oxford. It is single carriageway for a majority of the route, except for a section near Steeple Aston for and on Frieze Way where the A4260 meets the A34 at Peartree Interchange, Oxford, where it becomes a dual...
. The minor road between Middle Barton and Kiddington
Kiddington
Kiddington is a village on the River Glyme in the civil parish of Kiddington with Asterleigh about southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village is just north of the A44 road between Woodstock and Chipping Norton.-Manor:...
forms part of the western boundary. Field boundaries form most of the rest of the boundaries of the parish.
The village was the birthplace of Anne Greene
Anne Greene
Anne Greene , was an English domestic servant who was accused of committing infanticide in 1650.Greene was born in 1628, in Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire. She entered the household of Sir Thomas Read of the manor house at nearby Duns Tew as a domestic servant...
a domestic servant who was hanged apparent for alleged infanticide
Infanticide
Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...
in 1650, but who was revived from her apparent death and was later pardoned.
Archaeology
Near Barton Lodge are two Hoar Stones that are the remains of NeolithicNeolithic British Isles
The Neolithic British Isles refers to the period of British, Irish and Manx history that spanned from circa 4000 to circa 2,500 BCE. The final part of the Stone Age in the British Isles, it was a part of the greater Neolithic, or "New Stone Age", across Europe.During the preceding Mesolithic...
chamber tomb
Chamber tomb
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
s.
Manor
The Domesday BookDomesday 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 that a 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 10 hides
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
at Barton was one of many English manors under 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...
overlordship of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.
Late in the 12th century Thomas St. John had a set of fish pond
Fish pond
A fish pond, or fishpond, is a controlled pond, artificial lake, or reservoir that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, or is used for recreational fishing or for ornamental purposes...
s made that were fed by the River Dorn. Their remains are visible about 990 yard north of the parish church.
The former 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...
at Sesswell's Barton was built in about 1570 for John Dormer and altered for the recusant
Recusancy
In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...
Ralph Sheldon in 1678–79. The house was remodelled between 1849 and about 1862 to Tudor Revival designs by the architect S.S. Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon was a notable 19th century English Gothic Revival architect.-Family:Teulon was born in Greenwich in south-east London, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French Huguenot family. His younger brother William Milford Teulon also became an architect...
. In about 1860 it was renamed Barton Abbey on the false assumption that the Augustinian
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
Osney Abbey
Osney Abbey
Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford station. It was founded as a priory in 1129, becoming an...
had a cell here. The house was altered again in either the 1890s or the early years of the 20th century.
Philip Constable of Everingham
Everingham
Everingham is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is west of Market Weighton town centre and south of Pocklington town centre. Everingham is part of the civil parish of Everingham and Harswell....
, Yorkshire was a Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
who was connected with Steeple Barton and was made a Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1642. After the Parliamentarians won the war, the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
authorities deprived him of all his estates. He died in 1644 and is buried in the south aisle of St. Mary's parish church. Like the Sheldons, later members of the Constable family were recusants, including Humphrey Constable who was reported as such in 1663 and 1682 and Michael Constable who was reported in 1706.
Parish church
The Church of England parish churchChurch of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of Saint Mary the Virgin
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
had been built by 1190, by which time it had been given to Osney Abbey. Little of the original building is recognisable except 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...
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:...
. The south aisle was added in the 14th century. Its surviving original features include the south porch and five-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
, both of which are Decorated Gothic. The Perpendicular Gothic west tower was added in the 15th century. The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
was rebuilt and 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...
and south aisle drastically restored in 1850–51 under the direction of the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
J.C. Buckler
John Chessell Buckler
John Chessell Buckler was a British architect, the eldest son of the architect John Buckler. J.C. Buckler initially worked with his father before working for himself. His work included restorations of country houses and at the University of Oxford.-Career:Buckler received art lessons from the...
.
The 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 five bells. Richard Keene of Woodstock
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Woodstock is a small town northwest of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. It is the location of Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in 1874 and is buried in the nearby village of Bladon....
cast the treble and second bells in 1698. Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
cast the remainder including the tenor bell in 1851.
St. Mary's Vicarage was designed by S.S. Teulon and built in 1856.
St. Mary's was a dependent chapelry
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
of Sandford St. Martin
Sandford St. Martin
Sandford St. Martin is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about east of Chipping Norton and about south of Banbury.The village was known as Sandford until about 1884, when the suffix St. Martin was added to distinguish the village from other local settlements with similar names. The...
until the 16th century. In 1960 St. Mary's Benefice was merged with that of Westcott Barton
Westcott Barton
Westcott Barton, also spelt Wescot Barton or Wescote Barton, is a village and civil parish on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire about east of Chipping Norton and about south of Banbury...
, and in 1977 this united benefice was combined with the parishes of Duns Tew
Duns Tew
Duns Tew is a village and civil parish about south of Banbury in Oxfordshire. With nearby Great Tew and Little Tew, Duns Tew is one of the three villages known locally as "The Tews".-Origin of the name:...
and Sandford St. Martin
Sandford St. Martin
Sandford St. Martin is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about east of Chipping Norton and about south of Banbury.The village was known as Sandford until about 1884, when the suffix St. Martin was added to distinguish the village from other local settlements with similar names. The...
.
Economic history
The agricultural lands of Steeple Barton and Westcott Barton were worked as a single unit. An open field systemOpen field system
The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...
of farming prevailed in the two parishes until an Inclosure Act
Inclosure Act
The Inclosure or Enclosure Acts were a series of United Kingdom Acts of Parliament which enclosed open fields and common land in the country. They removed previously existing rights of local people to carry out activities in these areas, such as cultivation, cutting hay, grazing animals or using...
for their common land
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
s was implemented in 1796.
The main road between Bicester and Enstone traverses the parish east – west. It was turnpiked
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 1793, disturnpiked in 1876 and is now classified the B4030 road.