Waterstock
Encyclopedia
Waterstock is village and civil parish on the River Thame
about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of the town of Thame
in Oxfordshire
. The parish is bounded to the north and west by the river, to the south largely by the A418 main road, and to the east largely by the minor road between Tiddington
and Ickford
Bridge across the Thame. On the north side of the parish, the river forms the county boundary with Buckinghamshire
as well as the parish boundary with Ickford and Worminghall
.
Waterstock village is on a minor road north of the A418 and is surrounded by open farming land. In the village are about 50 houses and a farm along one main street.
Waterstock Mill is recorded in the Domesday Book
of 1086. It was most likely on the same site as the current mill, which is a 15th-century building on a small island in the River Thame. The mill a two-storey L-shaped building, with a timber frame filled in with brick nogging
. It was rebuilt in the Elizabethan
period. In 1957 it was converted and sold.
Many of the parish's fields show ridge-and-furrow
strip cultivation. In 1279 there were probably about 200 inhabitants, but after the Black Death
the population decreased to 51 persons over the age of 14.
Waterstock's oldest buildings are the two thatched cottages, one thought to date from late in the 13th or early in the 14th century and the other from the 16th. Orchard End is a mediaeval cruck
house, its smoke-blackened beams showing that it was originally a two-bay open hall house. The village's single street is flanked by cottages built of stone or local brick, some retaining the small buildings in the gardens, originally privies or pig-sties.
At one end of the village, Home Farm is a 17th-century timber-framed house with its thatched barn and 17th-century granary. The 18th-century Park Farm is beyond.
The grounds of Waterstock House are next to the church. The manor house was built in 1787 to designs by the architect SP Cockerell
. It was demolished in 1953 or 1956 after the servants' quarters were converted into the present substantial residence. The stone-built stables are 18th century and probably contemporary with the 1787 house. They are now the Waterstock Equestrian Centre.
Near Waterstock Mill is Bow Bridge: a small, single-arch brick bridge built for Diana Ashhurst in 1790. By the entrance to Waterstock House is the Pump House dated 1898, a small building reminiscent of a Saxon tower. Many of the villagers used to collect water from it until the village's mains water supply was installed in 1951.
Opposite the church are Church Farm Cottages and the Old Rectory, a substantial stone-built 18th-century house, the only other 'gentlemen's house'. In the 20th century it was the home of the violinist Manoug Parikian until his sudden death on Christmas Eve 1987. He is buried in St Leonard's churchyard.
since at least 1190. The current Church of England parish church
of Saint Leonard
was built at the end of the 15th century. The nave
and chancel
were rebuilt in 1790, and in 1858 the Gothic Revival architect
G.E. Street
restored the building. It is the burial place of the early-17th-century Puritan
writer William 'Eternity' Tipping
.
Remnants of mediaeval window glass were recovered after the Reformation
and have been inserted above the armorial Ashurst window. This window, together with monuments in the church, records the families of local gentry who inhabited the manor house and made up the squirearchy, which retained its patronage until 1957.
As well as regular church services, meetings and concerts are held in the church.
was once the main equestrian centre of the area, and was once owned by the horse trainer Lars Sederholm
.
and Oxford Services
motorway service station are in the parish. There is also a public golf course
.
The Oxfordshire Way
traverses the parish and crosses the River Thame by Bow Bridge near Waterstock Mill.
There is a Waterstock and Tiddington Women's Institute.
River Thame
The River Thame is a river in Southern England. It is a tributary of the larger and better-known River Thames.The general course of the River Thame is north-east to south-west and the distance from its source to the River Thames is about 40 miles...
about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of the town of Thame
Thame
Thame is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about southwest of the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury. It derives its toponym from the River Thame which flows past the north side of the town....
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. The parish is bounded to the north and west by the river, to the south largely by the A418 main road, and to the east largely by the minor road between Tiddington
Tiddington, Oxfordshire
Tiddington is a village about west of Thame in Oxfordshire, England. The village is on the A418 road between Thame and Oxford.Tiddington is in the civil parish of Tiddington-with-Albury, which is on the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. Historically Tiddington was a manor and hamlet of the...
and Ickford
Ickford
Ickford is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary with Oxfordshire, about west of the market town of Thame....
Bridge across the Thame. On the north side of the parish, the river forms the county boundary with Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
as well as the parish boundary with Ickford and Worminghall
Worminghall
Worminghall is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is near the boundary with Oxfordshire and about west of Thame.The village toponym is derived from Old English meaning 'Wyrma's nook of land'...
.
Waterstock village is on a minor road north of the A418 and is surrounded by open farming land. In the village are about 50 houses and a farm along one main street.
History
Waterstock's toponym is derived from the Old English for "Waterplace".Waterstock Mill is recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086. It was most likely on the same site as the current mill, which is a 15th-century building on a small island in the River Thame. The mill a two-storey L-shaped building, with a timber frame filled in with brick nogging
Dwang
In construction, a dwang , nogging or blocking is a horizontal bracing piece used between wall studs or floor joists to give rigidity to the wall or floor frames of a building. Noggings may be made of timber, steel or aluminium...
. It was rebuilt in the Elizabethan
Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture is the term given to early Renaissance architecture in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historically, the period corresponds to the Cinquecento in Italy, the Early Renaissance in France, and the Plateresque style in Spain...
period. In 1957 it was converted and sold.
Many of the parish's fields show ridge-and-furrow
Ridge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas. Ridge and furrow topography is...
strip cultivation. In 1279 there were probably about 200 inhabitants, but after the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
the population decreased to 51 persons over the age of 14.
Waterstock's oldest buildings are the two thatched cottages, one thought to date from late in the 13th or early in the 14th century and the other from the 16th. Orchard End is a mediaeval cruck
Cruck
A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which supports the roof of a building, used particularly in England. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally bent, timber beams that lean inwards and form the ridge of the roof. These posts are then generally secured by a...
house, its smoke-blackened beams showing that it was originally a two-bay open hall house. The village's single street is flanked by cottages built of stone or local brick, some retaining the small buildings in the gardens, originally privies or pig-sties.
At one end of the village, Home Farm is a 17th-century timber-framed house with its thatched barn and 17th-century granary. The 18th-century Park Farm is beyond.
The grounds of Waterstock House are next to the church. The manor house was built in 1787 to designs by the architect SP Cockerell
Samuel Pepys Cockerell
Samuel Pepys Cockerell was an English architect. He was the son of John Cockerell, of Bishop's Hull, Somerset, and the brother of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, for whom he designed the house he is best known for, Sezincote House, Gloucestershire, where the uniquely Orientalizing features...
. It was demolished in 1953 or 1956 after the servants' quarters were converted into the present substantial residence. The stone-built stables are 18th century and probably contemporary with the 1787 house. They are now the Waterstock Equestrian Centre.
Near Waterstock Mill is Bow Bridge: a small, single-arch brick bridge built for Diana Ashhurst in 1790. By the entrance to Waterstock House is the Pump House dated 1898, a small building reminiscent of a Saxon tower. Many of the villagers used to collect water from it until the village's mains water supply was installed in 1951.
Opposite the church are Church Farm Cottages and the Old Rectory, a substantial stone-built 18th-century house, the only other 'gentlemen's house'. In the 20th century it was the home of the violinist Manoug Parikian until his sudden death on Christmas Eve 1987. He is buried in St Leonard's churchyard.
Parish church
Waterstock seems to have had a parish churchParish 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....
since at least 1190. The current Church of England parish church
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of Saint Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
was built at the end of the 15th century. 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 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...
were rebuilt in 1790, and in 1858 the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
G.E. Street
George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex.- Life :Street was the third son of Thomas Street, solicitor, by his second wife, Mary Anne Millington. George went to school at Mitcham in about 1830, and later to the Camberwell collegiate school, which he left in 1839...
restored the building. It is the burial place of the early-17th-century Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
writer William 'Eternity' Tipping
William 'Eternity' Tipping
William Tipping was an early 17th century English religious writer.William Tipping was ths fourth son of Sir George Tipping of Wheatfield Park, Oxfordshire by his wife, Dorothy , daughter of Sir John Borlase of Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He was the uncle of Sir Thomas Tipping the Elder...
.
Remnants of mediaeval window glass were recovered after the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and have been inserted above the armorial Ashurst window. This window, together with monuments in the church, records the families of local gentry who inhabited the manor house and made up the squirearchy, which retained its patronage until 1957.
As well as regular church services, meetings and concerts are held in the church.
Economy
Many of the houses in Waterstock have their own stables. Waterstock House Training CentreWaterstock House Training Centre
Waterstock House Training Centre is situated in the village of Waterstock in Oxfordshire, England. It is a well used venue for local and national equestrian training events and clinics....
was once the main equestrian centre of the area, and was once owned by the horse trainer Lars Sederholm
Lars Sederholm
Lars Sederholm is former Consultant Head of Training for the British Showjumping Association and has been one of the leading trainers and mentors in the equestrian world for the last forty years....
.
Amenities
Junction 8A of the M40 motorwayM40 motorway
The M40 motorway is a motorway in the British transport network that forms a major part of the connection between London and Birmingham. Part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05...
and Oxford Services
Oxford services
Oxford services is a motorway service station next to junction 8A of the M40 motorway at Waterstock near Wheatley in Oxfordshire. It is named after the nearby city of Oxford. The services are owned by Welcome Break and opened in the summer of 1998. There is also a Days Inn hotel on the site.. There...
motorway service station are in the parish. There is also a public golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
.
The Oxfordshire Way
Oxfordshire Way
The Oxfordshire Way is a long-distance walk in Oxfordshire, England, with 6 miles in Gloucestershire and very short sections in Buckinghamshire. The path links with the Heart of England Way and the Thames Path....
traverses the parish and crosses the River Thame by Bow Bridge near Waterstock Mill.
There is a Waterstock and Tiddington Women's Institute.