Hampton-in-Arden

Hampton-in-Arden is a former Warwickshire village, which since 1974 has been in Solihull. Hampton-in-Arden was mentioned in the Domesday Book when it was held by Geoffrey de Wirce [1] and later by the Mowbrays and then the de Montford family of Coleshill before reverting to ownership by the crown. In later times the Manor of Hampton was bought by Sir Robert Peel.

Hampton was originally a large parish that includes Balsall, Knowle and Nuthurst but nowadays the parish is much reduced in size. It is bordered to the East by the river Blythe, to the West is largely farm land though to the North West it isn't long until you get to the sprawling complex that is the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham Airport!

The village's oldest building is the Norman church of St Mary and St Bartholomew. There are a number of other buildings dating from Tudor times with parts of Moat Farm dating from the medieval period.

[1] "Parishes: Hampton-in-Arden." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred. Ed. L F Salzman. London: Victoria County History, 1947. 81-86. British History Online. Web. 9 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol4/pp81-86.

Colin P Witter Lock in Stratford-upon-Avon

Just down from Bancroft Basin in Stratford-upon-Avon where the river Avon and Stratford Canal met used to be the Lucy's Locks. These were staircase locks which allowed for a difference of nearly two and a quarter metres in height in the water level on the Avon. The locks were filled in in 1959 [1].

They were replaced by the Colin P Witter Lock built in the early 1970s next to the old site of the Lucy's Locks [2]. The lock has steel girder supports due to the depth of the lock and the unstable nature of the ground. Much of the work was done by volunteers from Gloucester prison. The gates were donated by the Port of London Authority from the abandoned Grand Surrey Canal.

Head on view of the lock

A river cruise boat is in the lock

[1] Charles Hadfield and John Norris, Waterways to Stratford (David and Charles, 1968) p. 60
[2] Jamie Davies, Shakespeare's Avon - the history of a navigation (Oakwood Press, 1996) p. 141

National Museum of Computing, Bletchley

A true geek heaven is the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley which has a remarkable collection of computers ranging from the earliest electronic machines to fairly recent microcomputers. The highlight though is the ICL mainframe room full of "old iron".

Mainframes that filled rooms used to run the world, though have less power than the average smart phone these days. Of course thats not the whole story, mainframes were designed to munch through tens of thousands of records and transactions. You wouldn't really want to use an iPhone to calculate and print payroll for a few hundred thousand employees overnight!

Lower Heyford

Lower Heyford is a village in Oxfordshire next to the river Cherwell and the Oxford Canal and is about midway between Banbury and Oxford.

There has been settlement in the area since before Anglo-Saxon times, the pre-Saxon Aves ditch marking the Eastern boundary of Lower Heyford parish. The village is known in Saxon chronicles and the later Domesday Book as Hegford or Haiforde. The village is also sometimes known as Heyford Bridge. It is thought the village has been continually inhabited since the sixth century at least.

After the Norman conquest Lower Heyford was given to Geoffery de Montbray, a senior and trusted adviser of William and the bishop of Coutances. In later times (the sixteenth century) the manor was sold to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Corpus Christi still owned the estate in the 1950s.

Economically Lower Heyford had always been a rural backwater and the local economy was mostly agricultural. The village had a couple of watermills on the Cherwell, the arrival of the Oxford Canal in the 1790 meant that coal could be easily bought from coal fields elsewhere in the Midlands and unloaded at Heyford Wharf.

[1] "Parishes: Lower Heyford." A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6. Ed. Mary D Lobel. London: Victoria County History, 1959. 182-195. British History Online. Web. 2 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol6/pp182-195.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shottery

The wife of William Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, lived in this farmhouse as a child. Parts of the farmhouse (it is a bit big to be a cottage despite the name) date to the fifteenth century or earlier [1] with the upper part seventeenth century. It is a large farmhouse with a hall and two wings and was once attached to ninety acres of farmland. The building remained owned by the Hathaway family until 1846 and since 1892 has been owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

The farmhouse or cottage is in Shottery, a separate village just outside Stratford-upon-Avon though these days where Stratford ends and Shottery starts is a moot point.

[1] Nikolaus Pevsner & Alexandra Wedgwood, Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 397

Bicester North railway station

Bicester North railway station in Oxfordshire was built as a stop on the Great Western Railway Chiltern Main Line, opening in 1910. It was Bicester's second station - the other being the London and North West Railway's Bicester London Road, later called Bicester Town and nowadays Bicester Village on the line to Oxford).

The station as built was far more elaborate than the station which exists now. Like many stations before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s Bicester North had a goods yard and a couple of through roads. The Chiltern line was drastically cut back in the late 1960s, being singled for a lot of its stretch though a loop was retained at Bicester North [1]. The track was redoubled in the early 2000s and remodelled through the station to allow for higher speeds. The space formally occupied by the through road became the new Up (London) bound track through the station. The platform was widened as a result (which is why the waiting rooms and other buildings on that platform are so far back!)

The main station building is little changed since the opening of the station with the original canopy. The footbridge has been changed over the years though is largely as it was since the station was built, though lifts have been added. Originally the bridge had to span four tracks hence its width!

Chiltern 165 002 pulls into the station on a Marylebone bound service 

Main station building

View of the footbridge, note the width of the Up platform

View towards Banbury

Platform shelter, advertising Chiltern services to Stratford-upon-Avon

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Princes Risborough to Banbury (Middleton Press, 2001) plate 63

Atherstone

Atherstone is a town at the very North of Warwickshire near the borders with Staffordshire and Leicestershire. Atherstone is in between Nuneaton and Tamworth and is also close to the site of the battle of Bosworth, which may have actually taken place in fields near Atherstone and not Bosworth.

Settlement in Atherstone dates back to Roman times with a Roman settlement in the adjoining village of Mancetter and the Roman road Watling street running through the town. Atherstone was listed in the Domesday Book and was granted a yearly fair by King Henry III in 1246 [1].

Atherstone became an affluent market town surrounded by agricultural lands and in later medieval times a centre for cloth and textile manufacture, being well known for it's hat industry. During the Industrial Revolution Atherstone was linked to the canal network by the Coventry Canal and the rail network by the West Coast Main Line though was eclipsed by the likes of Birmingham and Coventry industrially.

Church of St Mary

Former wharf on the Coventry Canal

Lock house on the canal

This part of the Roman road Watling street goes under the West Coast Main Line

[1] "Parishes: Atherstone." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred. Ed. L F Salzman. London: Victoria County History, 1947. 126-131. British History Online. Web. 23 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol4/pp126-131.

Guild Hall, Henley-in-Arden

Next to the church of St John the Baptist on Henley-in-Arden's High Street is the Guild Hall. Like the church the Guild Hall is also of fifteenth century origin [1]. Although some original timbers remain the building has been extensively restored. The Guild Hall is still used for meetings of the ceremonial Court Leet who meet every November.

The Court Leet has been meeting since at least 1333. Nowadays the Court Leet has no legal jurisdiction but administers the Guild Hall Trust which owns the Guild Hall and some other properties in the town.

[1] Nikolaus Pevsner & Alexandra Wedgwood, Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 310

War memorial, Woburn Sands

Woburn Sands (until Victorian times known as Hogsty End) is on the Buckinghamshire-Bedfordshire border. This memorial was erected for the inhabitants of Woburn Sands and Aspley Heath who died in the First World War.

Haddenham

Haddenham is a Buckinghamshire village close to the Oxfordshire border and especially the village of Thame which is about three kilometres away. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book as Hedreham and may have been founded by members of the Anglo-Saxon Hadding tribe from Haddenham, Cambridgeshire.

For a few years (1294-1301) Haddenham had a charter to be a market town but lost it due to the proximity of Thame which objected to the competition. Agriculture was the main occupation of  Haddenham's inhabitants, the village was known for duck and poultry breeding [1] and also had a brick works.

The village has a rather unusual plan, stretching over one and half kilometres. The village was devastated by two fires in the eighteenth century which destroyed a large number of buildings, especially near the church [2].

The parish church, situated on the green, is dedicated to St. Mary dates back to before the thirteenth century and maybe even has remnants from Saxon times. The chancel is thirteenth centurieswith additions in later centuries. The church was rebuilt in Victorian times [3].

[1] "Parishes: Haddenham." A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 2. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1908. 281-286. British History Online. Web. 16 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol2/pp281-286.
[2]" Haddenham." An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Buckinghamshire, Volume 1, South. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912. 176-184. British History Online. Web. 16 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/bucks/vol1/pp176-184.
[3] Nikolaus Pevsner, Buckinghamshire (Penguin, 1960) p. 149

Tomb of John de Nowers... or is it?

Inside Christ Church cathedral in Oxford is the effigy of a tall knight in full armour however it is not quite how it first appears...

The figure bears the garb and crest of the Nowers family. Which Nowers the effigy represents however is in question. It is thought it represents John de Nowers who died in 1386. It has also been suggested it represents Sir George Nowers who was Lord of the Manor of Tackley and died in 1425. The armour the effigy wears would be wrong for the period however.

The tomb has an interesting origin [1]. Analysis of the tomb itself under the effigy has revealed what appears to be a greyhound and crests of the de Gaynsfords. The tomb was therefore possible appropriated by the Nowers and a new effigy installed on it. The effigy itself has signs parts of it coming from different origins, the feet being cut into a de Gaynsford greyhound. It is possible therefore that the feet are from the original effigy. The rest being removed and replaced by one representing Nowers.

[1] Mark Turnham Elvins, "The knight and the appropriated tomb", Christ Church Library Newsletter Vol 6 Issue 2 (2010) p. 12

The Dyke, High Wycombe

The Dyke is an elongated artificial lake in High Wycombe created by the flooding of an old road within the former grounds of the Wycombe Abbey School. The Dyke and a wooded area next to it was donated to the Chepping Wycombe Corporation (later the council) by the Marquis of Lincolnshire in 1923. The Dyke is fed by streams and has a separate watercourse to the adjacent river Wye. 

Lillington

Nowadays Lillington is a suburb of Leamington Spa though until 1890 was a separate village which has existed since Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book [1]. Since incorporation into Leamington Lillington has been greatly expanded with a new centre at Crown Way. The old village centre was around the parish church of St Mary Magdalene which, although rebuilt in Victorian times, still has some medieval features.

Also in Lillington is the Midland Oak. This is an oak tree (the original tree has gone but a new tree has been grown from an acorn of the original) which is supposed to be the "centre of England"*.

Midland Oak park

St Mary Magdalene

Entrance of churchyard of St Mary Magdalene

Lillington

* Other centres of England are available.

[1] "Parishes: Lillington." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 6, Knightlow Hundred. Ed. L F Salzman. London: Victoria County History, 1951. 161-164. British History Online. Web. 9 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol6/pp161-164.

Church of St Dunstan, Monks Risborough

The Church of St Dunstan is the parish church of Monks Risborough. The church dates mostly from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries though was built on the site of an earlier church [1]. The church was restored in the 1860s.

The church, built mainly from flint, has a nave with North and South aisles, a chancel, a transept to the North (which may be the oldest part of the church) and a square tower. The church has a twelfth century Norman font of the Aylesbury type and may be from the original church.

As for Saint Dunstan he was a tenth century monk and abbott who rose to become Archbishop of Canerbury. He was canonised in 1029AD.

[1] "Parishes: Monks Risborough." A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 2. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1908. 256-260. British History Online. Web. 7 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol2/pp256-260.

Banbury Museum

Banbury Museum is small but has an interesting collection of artefacts from the town's industrial and civic past including the Civil War in Banbury and industries of Victorian Banbury.

Claverdon

The Warwickshire village of Claverdon is in the Stratford district and is about eight kilometres from Warwick on the road to Henley-in-Arden [1]. The manor of Claverdon (then Cleverdone) was recorded in the Domesday Book. Over the centuries it was owned by the Earls of Warwick, Kent and the Spencer family (of whom Diana was a notable member in recent decades).

The village currently has a population of just over one thousand two hundred. The village has no real notable industry, though is amid extensive farm land. The most notable building in the village is the parish church of St Michael and All Angels - the chancel arch may date from the fourteenth century though the rest is the result of nineteenth century rebuilding [2].

North-East of the village is Stone building: an isolated rectangular tower. Claverdon Hall dates from the seventeenth century though has been much altered in recent years.

A delightful old building, now a cooker shop

The parish church of St Michael and All Angels

The churchyard gate

Church entrance

Other residences

The Red Lion public house

[1] "Parishes: Claverdon." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3, Barlichway Hundred. Ed. Philip Styles. London: Victoria County History, 1945. 69-73. British History Online. Web. 3 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol3/pp69-73.
[2] Nikolaus Pevsner & Alexander Wedgewood, Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 233