Weston-on-the-Green
Encyclopedia
Weston-on-the-Green is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Bicester
.
of Wallingford held the manor
of Weston at the time of the Norman conquest of England
. Wigod died shortly after the conquest, leaving his estates including Weston to his son-in-law, the Norman baron Robert D'Oyly
. Weston descended via Robert's younger brother Nigel D'Oyly
to his nephew Robert (II) D'Oyly
, who in 1129 founded the Augustinian
Osney Abbey
and included Weston parish church among its endowments. He or his heirs granted parts of the manor lands at Weston to Osney Abbey, including six virgate
s given by Robert (II)'s wife Edith and son Henry, and confirmed by his grandson Henry (II) D'Oyly.
In 1137 Edith gave 35 acres (14.2 ha) at Weston to the new Otley Abbey
at Oddington
, which later moved to Thame
.
Henry (II) D'Oyly sold most of the remainder of the manor to Osney Abbey in 1227, retaining only the house, watermill
and demesne lands. He gave the final parts of the manor to the abbey shortly afterwards, probably in 1228. The abbey retained the manor until it surrendered all its lands to the Crown
in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
in 1539.
Weston Manor House is a 15th or early 16th century building built for Osney Abbey
's bailiff. It was built within a 13th century moat, two sides of which survived until they were filled in in 1908. The house was re-fronted in the 16th century and entrance hall has a Tudor
fireplace from about this period. In 1665 the house was assessed at 20 hearths for Charles II
's hearth tax. The panelling of the drawing room dates from the reign of William and Mary
just before the end of the 17th century. In about 1780 the 16th-century great hall was renovated with a timber roof frame and linenfold
panelling transferred from Notley Abbey in Buckinghamshire
. The 16th century front was replaced in about 1820 and the Hon. Rev. F.A. Bertie had the house altered and renovated in 1851. Weston Manor is now an hotel.
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
are the Norman
font
and the ground stage of the west tower, which was built around 1200. By 1741 the medieval building was in ruinous and in 1743–44 all but the 13th century bell tower
was rebuilt.
The replacement is a characteristically box-like Georgian
church, with what were originally plain round-arched windows on the north and south sides. There is no east window. Instead the blank east wall is dominated by an altarpiece of the Ten Commandments
painted by Pompeo Batoni
. The Georgian building had an ornate plaster ceiling, but this collapsed in 1810. The surviving ornate Georgian surroundings of the south door are of a very high quality.
The architect R. Phené Spiers restored the building in the 1870s, repairing the tower and adding the south porch and new seating. A plan to rebuild the east end with an apse
"to make the building more churchlike" was not executed. In 1885 Spiers added a heavy tracery to the Georgian windows and the organ was installed.
The tower used to have three bells, one each cast
in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. They were replaced in 1870 with the present ring
of five, all of which were cast by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
. There is also a Sanctus bell cast in 1834 by W. & J. Taylor, presumably at their Oxford foundry.
The ecclesiastical parish is now a member of the Church of England Benefice of Akeman, which includes the parishes of Bletchingdon
, Chesterton
, Hampton Gay
, Kirtlington
, Middleton Stoney
and Wendlebury
.
took it over in 1920 and reorganised it as a junior school in 1937. The village had no electricity until 1931 and the school had none until 1947. The school closed in 1984 and is now a private home.
RAF Weston-on-the-Green
is about 1 miles (1.6 km) north of the village. German prisoners of war and Canadian military personnel built it in 1915 for the Royal Flying Corps
. It is now a parachute
training station.
s: The Chequers controlled by Fuller's Brewery and the Ben Jonson
gastropub
. It is claimed that the "pub is named after him as he was well known for stopping here ... on his way to Stratford upon Avon to visit his friend William Shakespeare
".
The parish has a village hall
and a Women's Institute.
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...
.
Manor
WigodWigod
Wigod was the eleventh century Saxon thegn or lord of the English town of Wallingford, and a kinsman of Edward the Confessor....
of Wallingford held 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 Weston at the time of 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...
. Wigod died shortly after the conquest, leaving his estates including Weston to his son-in-law, the Norman baron Robert D'Oyly
Robert D'Oyly
Robert D'Oyly was a Norman nobleman who accompanied William the Conqueror on the Norman Conquest, his invasion of England. He died in 1091.-Background:Robert was the son of Walter D'Oyly and elder brother to Nigel D'Oyly...
. Weston descended via Robert's younger brother Nigel D'Oyly
Nigel D'Oyly
Nigel D'Oyly was an 11th-12th century nobleman of England and, in 1120, the Lord of Oxford Castle, and briefly the Lord of Wallingford Castle.-Biography:...
to his nephew Robert (II) D'Oyly
Robert D'Oyly (Osney)
Robert D'Oyly was a 12th century English nobleman, son of Nigel D'Oyly, and nephew of Robert D'Oyly, founder of Oxford Castle.Robert married Edith Forne, daughter of Lord Greystock, who had been King Henry I of England's concubine, in 1120...
, who in 1129 founded 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...
and included Weston parish church among its endowments. He or his heirs granted parts of the manor lands at Weston to Osney Abbey, including six virgate
Virgate
The virgate or yardland was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, typically outside the Danelaw, and was held to be the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres...
s given by Robert (II)'s wife Edith and son Henry, and confirmed by his grandson Henry (II) D'Oyly.
In 1137 Edith gave 35 acres (14.2 ha) at Weston to the new Otley Abbey
Thame Abbey
Thame Abbey was a Cistercian abbey at Thame in the English county of Oxfordshire.Thame Abbey was founded in 1137 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. It was dissolved in 1539. Most of the building stone was removed from the site, but the Abbot's House remained standing and was turned into a country...
at Oddington
Oddington
Oddington may refer to:*Oddington, Gloucestershire, England*Oddington, Oxfordshire, England...
, which later moved to 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....
.
Henry (II) D'Oyly sold most of the remainder of the manor to Osney Abbey in 1227, retaining only the house, watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
and demesne lands. He gave the final parts of the manor to the abbey shortly afterwards, probably in 1228. The abbey retained the manor until it surrendered all its lands to the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
in 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 1539.
Weston Manor House is a 15th or early 16th century building built for 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...
's bailiff. It was built within a 13th century moat, two sides of which survived until they were filled in in 1908. The house was re-fronted in the 16th century and entrance hall has a Tudor
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
fireplace from about this period. In 1665 the house was assessed at 20 hearths for Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
's hearth tax. The panelling of the drawing room dates from the reign of William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
just before the end of the 17th century. In about 1780 the 16th-century great hall was renovated with a timber roof frame and linenfold
Linenfold
Linenfold is a simple style of relief carving used to decorate wood panelling with a design "imitating window tracery", "imitating folded linen" or "stiffly imitating folded material". Originally from Flanders, the style became widespread across Northern Europe in the 14th to 16th centuries...
panelling transferred from Notley Abbey in 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....
. The 16th century front was replaced in about 1820 and the Hon. Rev. F.A. Bertie had the house altered and renovated in 1851. Weston Manor is now an hotel.
Parish church
The earliest surviving parts of 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 the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
are 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:...
and the ground stage of the west tower, which was built around 1200. By 1741 the medieval building was in ruinous and in 1743–44 all but the 13th century bell 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...
was rebuilt.
The replacement is a characteristically box-like Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
church, with what were originally plain round-arched windows on the north and south sides. There is no east window. Instead the blank east wall is dominated by an altarpiece of the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
painted by Pompeo Batoni
Pompeo Batoni
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni was an Italian painter whose style incorporated elements of the French Rococo, Bolognese classicism, and nascent Neoclassicism.-Biography:He was born in Lucca, the son of a goldsmith, Paolino Batoni...
. The Georgian building had an ornate plaster ceiling, but this collapsed in 1810. The surviving ornate Georgian surroundings of the south door are of a very high quality.
The architect R. Phené Spiers restored the building in the 1870s, repairing the tower and adding the south porch and new seating. A plan to rebuild the east end with an apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
"to make the building more churchlike" was not executed. In 1885 Spiers added a heavy tracery to the Georgian windows and the organ was installed.
The tower used to have three bells, one each cast
Bellfounding
Bellfounding is the casting of bells in a foundry for use in churches, clocks, and public buildings. A practitioner of the craft is called a bellmaker or bellfounder. The process in Europe dates to the 4th or 5th century. In early times, when a town produced a bell it was a momentous occasion in...
in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. They were replaced in 1870 with the present 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, all of which were cast by Mears and Stainbank 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...
. There is also a Sanctus bell cast in 1834 by W. & J. Taylor, presumably at their Oxford foundry.
The ecclesiastical parish is now a member of the Church of England Benefice of Akeman, which includes the parishes of Bletchingdon
Bletchingdon
Bletchingdon is a village and civil parish north of Kidlington and southwest of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-Manor and estates:...
, Chesterton
Chesterton, Oxfordshire
Chesterton is a village and civil parish on Gagle Brook, a tributary of the River Bure in Oxfordshire. The village is about southwest of the market town of Bicester...
, Hampton Gay
Hampton Gay
Hampton Gay is a village in the Cherwell valley about north of Kidlington, Oxfordshire.-Manor:After the Norman Conquest of England Robert D'Oyly gave an estate of three hides at Hampton Gay to his brother in arms Roger d'Ivry, while a second estate of two hides at Hampton Gay belonged to the...
, Kirtlington
Kirtlington
Kirtlington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Bicester.-Archaeology:The Portway is a pre-Roman road running parallel with the River Cherwell on high ground about east of the river. It bisects Kirtlington parish and passes through the village. A short stretch of it is now...
, Middleton Stoney
Middleton Stoney
Middleton Stoney is a village and civil parish about west of Bicester, Oxfordshire.-History:Aves ditch is pre-Saxon and may have been dug as a boundary ditch...
and Wendlebury
Wendlebury
Wendlebury is a village and civil parish about southwest of Bicester and about from Junction 9 of the M40. The village is on a steam that flows through the centre of the village parallel with the main street....
.
Social and economic history
The Church of England school was opened in 1855. Oxfordshire County CouncilOxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council, established in 1889, is the county council, or upper-tier local authority, for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire, in the South East of England, an elected body responsible for the most strategic local government services in the county.-History:County Councils...
took it over in 1920 and reorganised it as a junior school in 1937. The village had no electricity until 1931 and the school had none until 1947. The school closed in 1984 and is now a private home.
RAF Weston-on-the-Green
RAF Weston-on-the-Green
RAF Weston-on-the-Green is a former Royal Flying Corps station that was redeveloped after the great war period. Much demolition took place . The former RFC Officers and Sergeant's messes are located on the opposite side of the road, and are now in commercial use...
is about 1 miles (1.6 km) north of the village. German prisoners of war and Canadian military personnel built it in 1915 for the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
. It is now a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
training station.
Amenities
Weston-on-the-Green has two public housePublic 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 Chequers controlled by Fuller's Brewery and the Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
gastropub
Gastropub
Gastropub or Gastrolounge refers to a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food.The term gastropub, a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, originated in England in the late 20th century. English pubs were drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food. If...
. It is claimed that the "pub is named after him as he was well known for stopping here ... on his way to Stratford upon Avon to visit his friend William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
".
The parish has a village hall
Village 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...
and a Women's Institute.