Maids Moreton

TOWCESTER 9 MILES B>UCKINGAHM Maids Moreton 1 MILE Conservation Group

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Maids Moreton Conservation Group invites you to come for a walk round Maids Moreton, to look at the many interesting houses in the village, to learn a little of the history and to hear some stories of the past.

We are pleased to have transformed the Heritage Day 2016 walk into this booklet for the village and we thank many of the residents for their stories.

3 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

Map view of Maids Moreton Contents

ST EDMUND'S CHURCH A 6 OLD RECTORY s 7 MAIDS MORETON HALL c 9 THEWHITNEY BOX AND WHITNEY BOX COTTAGE D 10 2 CHURCH STREET e II WOODLAND COTTAGE F 12 HOLLY TREE COTTAGE F 13 THE RED HOUSE COTTAGE F 14 THE RED HOUSE FORMERLY THE ELMS F IS MYRTLE COTTAGE F 16 SIDEWAYS COTTAGE F 17 THE OLD SCHOOL F 18 GARDEN COTTAGE F 19 THE OLD BAKEHOUSE AND THE OLD BAKEHOUSE COTTAGE F 20 THE OLD HOUSE COTTAGE F 21 THE OLD HOUSE FORMERLY BLENHEIM HOUSE F 22 WOODBINE COTTAGE F 23 CHESTNUT COTTAGE F 24 STONELEYS F 25 THE OLD BAKERY F 25 MANOR PARK FORMERLY MORETON LODGE G 26 OLD PAGE'S COTTAGE H 27 PIGHTLE COTTAGE 28 THE WHEATSHEAF FORMERLY THE CHEQUERS AND THE STAR J 29 THE FORGE K 30 MAIDS MORETON HOUSE 32 CORNER COTTAGE M 33 SCOTTS FARMHOUSE N 34 UPPER FARM o 34 I AND 2 OLD BAKERY COTTAGES P 35 MEADOW BANK GUEST HOUSE FORMERLY THE BU CKINGHAM ARMS Q 36 THE OLD MANOR HOUSE, DUCK LAKE R 37 WELLMORE s 38

4 s MAIDS MORETON

St Edmund's Church generations who lived in the houses and Old Rector.1, cottages that follow in these pages trod Lhcir 15th century, grade I listed way at some time to St. Edmund's Church ,9thcen•m, - for festivals, funerals and thanksgiving. Perpendicular Gothic style

r·, - . J t Maids Moreton's church is the first - The exterior architecture is unusual in tIn IVJaids More on, one manor belonged to building featured in this booklet because that it is all of one period, except for a he Dlke\ ,ofBuckingbam, t,ind anotlier was for six hundred years it has been the small Victorian addition to the vestry. leased� by he Rev. W. A. U bwa.rr, fr.9111...All . focalpoint of the village. A rector or - The interior was considerably altered in Sou...ls-Co ...,,_ll ege,t.... Oxford. '· "t:;· t '.,_ tt curate has always been on hand to the 1880s. During· he 1800s the Andrewcs"JJ bwt a baptise babies, marry couples and bury - There is a fragment of wall-painting in familybecame associatedt with many'ci.ft; he the dead. These milestones in people's the Chancel. housest newJy buil in the village. Owrs� n lives have been recorded in the parish - The stained glass East Window is by his famt ily, the rc'ctory to the church ' , register since 1558. Victorian but there are some fragments w:s r��uil r�placing th� stone rectory of \ As today, not all parishioners have been of medieval glass which survived the . ____ •Jp_ell 600£jlhc nc"i\'Vinorian rectory \\'as \ devout Christians or even attended church English Civil War period. · de giieciry'the locally �claimed.' architect \ • tn, � _ . . . ..,,... t - but the church has always been there - The original west door (with holes t.,�r,f( ,Edward winfcn'I-far. ris and was comn' k ed . f ! ., . l'"l. . when needed. In fact, the St. Edmund's made by Cromwellian musket balls) is pA;j,IIt O. il,10 J Y 187_8. �ar:is_a�s-o·desigi1eµ. we see today stands on a site of an older preserved in the tower. the Uthwatt;st new maas'no r,h'nuse, namedt .- church. The current church building, our A booklet, with further information, is st� �t_f°lld.s�- as· wcll Fi�tc' Rec ory and parish church is by far the oldest building OfCO. el Lodge. . · .-� available in the church. . · in Maids Moreton, so almost all the . r {l'he· )ld t Recrm,- is built in1brick �nd oppris s \Hl Jr,dt a half �nrc:h \\'ith a -._steeply pitched iled roofand pwmincnt ' ....' . � , 2-hiinnev.<; ·Irregut la� wiud:lw, can be seent un the· fa :ide, wi h stone dressings similar u t .__.'\btids ,\1orcton Hall. Thccre is also a turre tto he right-hand side. The asymmctrv of he building is tvpical of the Arts and Craft moveml'.nt,. \\ hich \\·as gr;iduat]vb cc'on1ing · · l . . h I I ; Prommcnt at t1 c umc Pit c c.I1 nIstruc ItJOn t . The sunflower motif can be seen -on bo h the outsidte and u1s1d<.', c<1n <.'d ont \\"Olt \

6 HOUSES WITH HISTORY MAIDS MORETON

was a widow and she decided to leave the Maids Moreton Hall old house and build a stylish residence called 'Southfields' nearby (now called 19th century The Manor). The Advertiser carried the advertisement for a sale by auction in 1881. Maids Moreton Hall was built in 1883 Although built in 1883, this building by Arnold Burrowes, a retired timber represents the Anglo-Saxon settlement merchant. The eldest of his eight children of Moreton which originally faced south was the redoubtable Margaret Eleanor towards the River Great Ouse. The first Beresford Burrowes, then aged seventeen. Moreton manor was situated roughly where In her twenties she became fascinated by Church Close is today, and the Hall marks the history oflace making, and during the the site where a new manor house was built 1890s she energetically revived lace making in the 1300s. This manor became known as in Maids Moreton. She became secretary of Greenham's after the family who possessed the Buc�ingham Lace Industry and also of it c.1400. In 1442 it was granted to All the North Bucks Lace Association, of which Souls College, Oxford, by Isabel Barton. Queen Victoria was Patron. She organised The manor house was rebuilt in the village women to make lace edgings to early 1700s by Edward Bate J.P., who was adorn fashionable shawls, dresses and a descendant of the Bate family which handkerchiefs.But bobbin lace could not provided so many rectors to St. Edmund's compete with cheaper machine-made lace, Church. The house ran north-south along and the First World War ended such finery. the western edge of the grounds, which The story of Miss Burrowes and the revival explains the old stone wall still bordering of Bucks bobbin lace can be followed at the road. There were extensive gardens, an Buckingham Old Gaol Museum and the orchard and stables. County Museum, Aylesbury. By 1851 Rev.Wi lliam Andrewes Towards the end ofWorld War II, the Uthwan was residing at the manor house as Hall became the county branch of the Rector of St. Edmund's with his wife and National Heart Hospital, and it is still used daughter. By 1879 Mrs Andrewes Uthwatt as a residentialcare home today.

9 8 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

2 Church Street 19th century

Two Church Street was purchased by Henry Clements at the Maids Moreton Estate sale in June 1928. On his death in 1953, it passed to his son Henry (known as Harry) who was married to Norah (nee Gammon). They had one son, Michael Henry, born in 1933. After Harry died in 1980 the property was sold outside the family.

The Whitney Box and the nursing staff,moved into theWhitney Box Whitney Box Cottage and named it as such in the early 1930s. Captain Whitney was also a local 17th century magistrate and apparently very much liked his drink. The current owner was told by a regular at the Wheatsheaf, that as a young boy he was often given sixpence for guiding the Captain home The two cottages were built a little earlier from the village watering holes. than the 1700 date shown on the plaque He was also known to the town sergeant built into the roof construction. The deeds and police constable, who would find his car show a date in the late 1670s. abandoned and obstructing the road in the We have been unable to find little history vicinity of the White Hart on most days, and other than that, in the days of the Heart would guide him home to Maids Moreton. Hospital next door in Maids Moreton Apparently he was regularly seen riding his Hall, the cottages were used as doctors' horse around the village. accommodation. Captain Whitney, a retired The original beams are understood to military officer,took on an administrative have come froman old ship and have been role at the hospital and his wife, who was on leftexposed in the bathroom and lounge. 10 11 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

Woodland Cottage Eales and his wife Susannah. John was a smallholder and coal merchant. 16th century, grade II listed Property deeds from 1884 until the mid-l 950's mention no property name, but locally it was known as 'Woodlands Farm', which maintained two fields nearby and 50 acres along the Bycell First indicated on an estate map of 1595, Road. The proprietors in the mid-20th this quintessential English thatched cottage century were known fortheir cart horses, was constructed in the latter years of the stabled in a yard at the back of the house. reign of Queen Elizabeth I, on a plot that Two very substantial cart horse shoes belonged to All Souls College, Oxford. remain on the premises as a memory of Believed originally to have been a farm those times. The picture shows the house house associated with All Souls manor in c.1955 with a Ford Consul parked house (opposite the church), its land once outside the gate. extended across the back of adjoining By the 1970s, the property had become Main Street properties. known as Woodlands or Woodland Cottage. In the 1851 census the head of the house is listed as a 25 year-old shoemaker, Henry Dewett. In 1884, Henry Dewett purchased the property from the Misses Ashwell of the Manor House for the sum of £170. Henry Dewett sold the property in 1887 to George Nicholls, a butcher and smallholder. George and his wife Grace and their four children were recorded as living here in 1891. In the 1930s and 1940s the owners were John

Holly Tree Cottage Close towards Wellmore and nearly forty acres of arable land. The Newman, George 17th century, grade II listed and Johnson families who lived in this area were all dissenters who chose Methodist or Quaker forms of religion. Eventually HollyTree cottage was separated fromthe farm and the Johnsons (who had owned This was probably once the farmhouse the Buckingham Arms pub) retired here to for a prime property at the corner of run a beer house and small grocer's shop. Main Street and Foscote Road. The map By 1910 it was owned by the brewers of forthe Enclosure Act 1801 shows that Brackley, Hopcraft and Norris, and George William George held this homestead with Nichols ran the business. associated barnsand outbuildings within In the l 940's Holly Tree Cottage was a yard, and also the adjoining Carberry Kate Carter's offlicense. 12 13 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

In 1911, on the death of her mother, a The Red House Miss Susan Royds moved fromMoreton formerly The Elms Lodge to The Elms. �he was the person who started raising money for a new Parish 19th century Hall. Eventually she left Maids Moreton to go and live in India, where she married and became Mrs Susan Goldsmith. She wrote her memoirs about her colourful life. This large plot features on the All In the 1960s, Stowe School bought Souls College estate map of 1595. By The Elms and turned the large house into the late 1700s, George Butcher had accommodation for two families, dividing a farmhousehere, and the Butcher both the house and garden. familydeveloped a maltings, a forge, stables and a row of cottages. Only one cottage remains, having lost its thatch, and it is called Red House Cottage. By the late 1800s, the Andrewes-Uthwatt family owned the site, and they probably built The Red House as an investment in the 1880s.

century. The Red House Cottage was a The Red House Cottage grocer's and fishmonger's. The Red House Cottage may not look 19th century particularly old at firstglance, but ignore the modernfeatures and imagine it with thatch. It does in fact pre-date the Red House, and was one of a row of cottages. In the early 19th century this was a busy Susan Hatton grew up in Red working and trading area of the village. House Cottage, which was a general There was a large farmhouse on the store famed for its freshfish. Susan corner, along with outbuildings and barns, remembers two elderly sisters, the Miss maltings, stables, cottages and a forge Hastings, who lived in The Elms in the clustered together. 1940s. They were small and thin and Over the road was the Pheasant pub always dressed in black Victorian clothes and Woodlands farmhouse,with assorted with black button boots. Their small outbuildings and smallholdings behind. terrier dog, called Rags, invariably had a Trading continued here in the 20th ribbon bow tied on its head.

14 15 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

An interior old wooden door has initials Myrtle Cottage and a date carved in graffiti style: - AW . 17th century, grade II listed - 1797 JB Could this be the handiwork of Anthony Webb and Jacob Brittain, two village apprentices named in the Tiny as it is, this house was once two even 1798 Posse Comitatus? The Posse tinier cottages. The 'ghost' of the former Comitatus, or civil power, was a door to the second cottage is visible in survey of all men capable of acting in the brickwork. It can also be seen on the a military capacity who were not either cover photograph of Pamela Rayner's book Quakers, clergymen or already serving Memories of Maids Moreton. in a military unit. It is difficultto date such cottages with any certainty, as wood, stone and bricks were often reused from earlier structures. The thatcher who worked on Myrtle Cottage recently explained that the edging pattern was originally a technique forpinning the thatch into clay. As clay layers are no longer used, Church) was used to build the village it is now a purely decorative fe ature. Sideways Cottage school in the 1850s, and the cottage became the school teacher's home. 17th century, grade II listed When the Caton family moved here in 1924, Sideways Cottage had no water or electricity, and it was lit by oil lamps. Water had to be fetched from a pump at the This thatched cottage is built of wattle bottom of the street and the toilet was an and daub, stone, timber and brick. It was earth closet. extended in 2015. The rounded projection on Main Street was once an oven, but within living memory it has also been used as a bathroom. The stairs have been in three different places. It is said that the cottage was once a 'penny school'. Children paid a penny to the dame fortheir schooling. Another occupant taught girls dressmaking in the big room upstairs. And at one time, part of the kitchen was used as a shop. The property was a smallholding, with land stretching back to Maids Moreton Hall. Part of its land ( owned by Christ

16 17 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

areas for older and younger children. An The Old School infants room was added in the late 1800s as Garden Cottage the change in brickwork shows. 19th century 19th century (maybe older) At the back was a playground for girls, another playground for boys, and two earth closet toilets. Sometimes the boys pushed nettles through a hole in the wall to In May 1853 Rev. Charles Travers, curate sting the girls' bottoms. Once they got the Documents refer to many people living of St. Edmund's Church, appealed forhelp teacher by mistake! here over the years, notably MrThomas to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, In 1 924 the schoolchildren made Nicholls in 1812. Oxford. A Church of village school national headlines when they went on strike A Conveyance of 1872 indicates was needed in Maids Moreton, along with to protest against a teacher who used the the property passed fromMrs Ann a site and funding. Christ Church provided cane too much. Belgrave to Messrs John Thomas & the site in Main Street and donations were The Old School became an annexe to Robert Salmon (farmers/butchers) given. Within a year, the school was ready, the new school in 1965, and housed the who subsequently bequeathed it to and by 1855 108 pupils were attending. village playgroup in 1975. It had paraffin their surviving brother, Mr John Robert The Bible and key carved above the stove heating, toilets that frozeover and the Salmon (silk agent ofWa rwick). former main entrance recall the key-shaped car character Gumdrop painted on the wall. 1899 deeds refer to three cottages; weathervane of St. Edmund's Church. In 1980 it was sold offby the local authority formerly two, which then sold for£180 by A screen divided the schoolroom into to become a private home. auction to Mr George Neeve (farmer) of ••:::,::lj Leckhampstead,whose son, James Richard Neeve (a tobacconist fromMaidenhead) then sold it on to Mr Stephen Valentine Clarke in 1914. Another Auction in 1923 refers to his Estate and reads "3 Desirable Cottages, situate in the main street of that favoured village, with frontgardens enclosed by iron palisading with side entrance, two containing a living room and 3 bedrooms respectively, and the other a living room, bedroom and cellar; barns, out-offices, and gardens therein, in the several occupations t' of Messrs S Daniels, Allen and Pargeter." Mrs Ellen Leah Mayo purchased the property from members of his family. It was then sold on to Mr Fredei;ick Bryant about 1928. Many occupants have owned, lived and worked here, including Mr Sydney Daniels (a Sexton) and his family who lived in "the cottage in the garden" at the back of the property.

18 19 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

the Duke of Buckingham & Chandos. He The Old Bakehouse is thought to have painted some of the and The Old Bakehouse decoration of the State Dining Room at Stowe. In his old age, Jones tutored young . Cottage Geo�ge Gilbert Scott of , who Possibly 18th century became a renowned architect. George Ward founded the bakehouse at the back of the courtyard in the I 840s. The distinctive Wards signboard panel is still visible on the sidewall. The freshly baked labourers and laundresses (1860s-1900s) Before becoming a bakery, the house bread was passed through a hatch (which The Old House Cottage and Miss Burrowes' chauffeur/gardener belonged to the Newman family who were still exists) to the cottage at the front. 17th/18th century, grade II listed Mr Marsden. Gill and Bob Bilbrough ran a shoemakers and Methodists. In 181O, George Ward the Elder (18I 9-93) ran pottery here (I 970s). Elizabeth Newman married Robert Jones the bakery until his retirement in the 1890s. From 1859-61, Thomas Dunham, of Buckingham. The Old Bakehouse In his will he set up a charity donating coal Inspector of Police, lived here. Dunham Cottage was probably built for them by to the poor of the village. was well respected as the village constable. her father, William Newman. The artistic George Ward junior ( I 840-1911) kept This small thatched cottage has a large Despite efforts to retain his services locally, talents of Robert Jones had been spotted the bakery until his retirement in the early inglenook fireplace and exposed beams. he was moved on afterthree years to be by the Te mple-Grenville family at Stowe, 1900s. In his will, he requested his estate of Until the 1950s it had a bare earth floor.A stationed in South Bucks, where a glorious who arranged for him to study under Sir numerous properties to be auctioned in aid bathroom lean-to was added in the 1920s, career unfolded - most notably solving the Joshua Reynolds. Eventually Jones was of the villages of Maids Moreton and Akeley and a new wing was built to the side in the notorious Denham murders of 1877, when commissioned to work at Stowe, including charities. The 191 7 sale realised the grand 1970s, which was further extended in 2008. a deranged man killed a blacksmith, his drawing a gigantic pineapple grown by sum of£1770. The cottage was once surrounded by the wife, their two young children and a babe in Old House farmyard. Both the cottage and arms, his mother-and his sister, on the eve the farmyard were sold offin 1971. When of the sister's wedding. The shocking case, St George was built on the farmyard, the and Superintendent Dunham's spectacular carcasses of a diseased flockof chickens pursuit of the culprit with a dramatic arrest were unearthed, creating a memorable in Oxford, caused a sensation. stench across the village! Between 1860s-1904 several The cottage had a bare earth floor in generations of the Colton family lived the 1950s, was a chicken farm in the 60s, here: John Colton (labourer), wife Harriett a pottery in the 70s and a student share in (laundress) and children Frederick and the 80s. Some say that the cottage was once Lucy. John and Harriett's son, Frederick, used as a hen house! was pupil-teacher at the village school next door for a fe w years, then trained Former cottage residents include retired as a joiner and carpenter. He was also Wheatsheaf publicans Elizabeth and a talented and versatile musician. He William Griffin (1840s), Sarah and conducted a village brass band, which Henry Welch (groom at The Old House would march up and down Main Street, farm,1850s),police inspector Thomas and he performed piano, brass, violin and Dunham (1860s), the Colton family of sang at many village events.

20 21 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

children. Ellen continued to live here until Woodbine Cottage her death in 1912. Woodbine and Rustic Cottages were 17th century, grade II listed combined into one house c.1928 by the Stanley family, who had moved there from the Wheatsheaf. The daughter of the family, Lorna, was born at the pub, and was aged This thatched timber-framed building has 10 when they moved to Wo9dbine Cottage. its gable end facing Main Street. In the She remained here until old age. 17 th century it was part of Christ Church manor. The Enclosure Award of 1803 lists Lawrence Baldwin as owning the property, along with an orchard. In the 19th century, at the back a brick extension was added which was called Rustic Cottage. From the 1860s,Woodbine Cottage was Residence ofThe Old House included: home to the Bonner family. Mr Frederick The Old House 1840s:Thomas and Elizabeth Box. Parsons Bonner was a solicitor's clerk from formerly Blenheim House His family were bankers of Buckingham London. On the occasion of his funeral in butThomas himself went bankrupt in 1887, his widow Ellen was photographed 17th/18th century, grade II listed the 1820s. At this time Richard Scott of outside the cottage with their thirteen Maids Moreton was as wealthy as the Box family, and he offered this house to Thomas to rent. Both Thomas and The original stone farmhouse, built c. l 700s, his wife were buried in St. Edmund's now forms the back half of the house. churchyard in the 1840s. The brick-built frontsection was added 1850s: Amelia Gilbert & daughter in 1923 by Miss Margaret Burrowes Constantia. Amelia was widow of Rev. (known forher eccentricity as 'Dotty' William Gilbert, curate at St. Edmund's Burrowes). She changed its name from Church, who died in 1832 aged only 35.Their Blenheim House to The Old House taking servant George Welch lived in the house with the name of her previous residents Old them, while his son (a gentleman's groom), Church Farm. The property had a large lived in The Old House Cottage next door. plot with a farmyard (now St George), a 1860s: Mary Scott. Widow of a farmer workers' cottage (now Old House Cottage) fromAynho, also her children Richard and orchards (now Hall Close). The railings and Emily. were made by Roberts Iron Foundry at 1923-36: Miss Margaret Burrowes. Deanshanger. A water pump once stood Miss Burrowes organised the revival of within the curved indentation in the garden lacemaking in the village. Her chauffeur/ wall on the right. It was one of three pumps gardener lived in the Old House Cottage. in Main Street. Most old dwellings had l 930s-50s John & Beatrice Hedley - their own well too. veterinary business.

22 23 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

The Old Bakery Stoneleys 18th century 17th century

An old bakery, originally built in 1756, and Stoneleys Cottage was built around 1800. one of many within the village of Maids Its original walls were two feet thick and Moreton. The cottage was originally split made of solid stone. It consisted of just one into two separate cottages, with the working room up and one room down. There were bakery in one section, and the shop in the cobbles in front of the house. second of the cottages. After a severe fire Electricity was installed in the 1950s, in the shop, the bakery closed, and became during which time Mrs Caton moved into a single cottage with lacemaking being the cottage. Mrs Caton's granddaughter carried out commercially upstairs. During and local resident, Judith Fenables, renovation many of the lace bobbins were remembers her grandmother being rather discovered under the floorboards in the frightened of the electricity and worrying upstairs rooms. The cottage still retains some that the main switch - a lever - had not of the original features with the baker's oven, been turned offwhen they left the house, and the flour hatch still clearly visible. even just to go the short distance to Between 1851 and 1891 it was occupied Stanley's Stores on the Main Street. by Samuel Grant and his family and the house In previous years, the house next door

MMN.6 The Village. MAIDS MORETON was known as Grant's the Bakers. Outside was once a place where residents would he prided himself on the rick of faggots he take their food to be cooked, as only a few used to heat the oven, never, ever using coal. houses possessed an oven.

Chestnut Cottage running a 'dame school'), and next door Emily Johnson was described as a lace 17th century, grade II listed maker. When, in the 1970s, the two cottages were combined into one, lace bobbins were foundunder the floorboards. During the First World War, Bessie and George Jones, who lived in the right-hand This thatched cottage was part of the Christ cottage, lost two sons, Walter and Charlie, Church manor site. The original timber­ within seven weeks of each other. framed building is on the leftend, and - d.Walter 23 August, Jones r9r6 at the Somme, in the 18th century a second cottage was aged 28. built as an extension along the street. The 1851 census shows Caroline Woodward - d.Charles 9 October Jones, r916 in Flanders, aged 23. living there as a school mistress (possibly 24 25 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

Manor Park occupied a farm which had Scotts Lane as an alternative entrance to their farmyard. formerly Other relatives lived in Scotts Farm at the Moreton Lodge top end of the village. Eventually the farm of 1715 lost its 18th century central significance when sections of land were sold or leased off. The big house was rented out to wealthy residents such as Henry Smithson and Henry Smith (no relation), until Baroness Kinloss, the eldest Manor Park housing estate is the site of one daughter of the last Duke of Buckingham, of the three Moreton manors listed in the came to live there because in 1890 she let Domesday Book. The manor was granted Stowe to the Comte de Paris. Baroness to Oseney Abbey, Oxford, in the 1200s, and Kinloss reputedly brought with her a copper at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the beech tree that had been planted at Stowe 1500s it was re-granted to Christ Church, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's visit in Oxford. It was probably William Scott the 1844. It is a feature in Manor Park today. Elder who, as a tenant of Christ Church, The last resident of Moreton Lodge was built a substantial farmhouse on the Mr Richardson, who owned Buckingham's property in 1 715, which was the year after paint factory. At his death the whole site his marriage. Opposite William in Main was developed for housing with the name of Street, more members of the Scott family Manor Park.

Old Page's Cottage daughter (Annie) married Elizabeth's son (Thomas). The couple emigrated to 16th century, grade II listed Australia, takingtheir newborn son, Albert, with them - but leaving two year-old Sarah behind. Little Sarah was raised by her grandmother Betsey, and her grandfather known as 'Pop' Page. She never saw her Village tradition tells that this is the oldest parents again. This story came to light cottage in Maids Moreton, but don't believe in 2012 through family letters of Sarah's the story that it is listed in the Domesday descendants living in Banbury. Book! However, a village map of 1595 As for Henry 'Pop' Page, in 1910 he was shows a dwelling on this spot, and maybe it discovered dead still holding his carpentry is this cottage. saw. He was 80 years old. A year later his tools The cottage is probably named after were auctioned off- including hammers, Henry Page, a carpenter. In 1873, as a chisels, planes, axes, a spoke shave and a widower, he married Elizabeth Linford, plumb bob. His family had been_ carpenters a widow. Each had a young child from for generations,and were first mentioned in their first marriage. In due course Henry's the church register in the 1600s. 26 27 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

There were three manors in Maids Pightle Cottage Moreton. Their origins go back to the Anglo-Saxons and, later on, the Danes. 17th century, grade II listed The area around St Edmund's Church was probably settled by the Angles, and it's likely that Main Street dates from the Danish Viking era. 'Pightle' means 'enclosure' and the word A Viking-style knife was found in summer firstoccurs in the 1200s. The village map 2015 during the archaeological dig led by of 1595 shows a dwelling on this spot: the Maids Moreton Conservation Group. It is farmhouse of a large enclosure stretching now on display at the Old Gaol Museum. north along Main Street. Pightle Cottage was a post officeat the Part of the inglenook fireplacein the beginning ofWorld War II run by Mr. Frost. cottage contains stones believed to have The firstpost officein Maids Moreton was come from a 13th century chapel attached opened in 1855 under Miss Susanna Goode, to the medieval manor house nearby. after and the last post office in Shop Te rrace which Manor Park is named. closed in 2003.

One tenant even traded as a blacksmith The Wheatsheaf whilst dispensing ale. Old photographs show a magnificent fo rmerlyThe Chequers chesmut tree which grew outside the pub and The Star opposite the blacksmith's forge. In the summer, horses waiting to be shod were 17th century, grade II listed tied to the tree.Villagers used to remember the lines of Longfellow's poem Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands - and to imagine it was describing the A public house has traded in this building Wheatsheaf and the forge. since 1680. The Wheatsheaf, however, was It is said that the ghost of Elizabeth not always its name. It was originally the Griffin is present in the pub. She was the Chequers until 1783, then was renamed wife of landlord William Griffin who was The Star until 1805, when finallyJohn a tenant at the pub from 1806-27. A fe w Crabtree renamed it the Wheatsheaf. This mediums have visited the pub recently was another property which belonged to and commented on her presence in the the manor held by Christ Church, Oxford. snug area of the bar, which is apparently The college's court book records that the where she sits in her rocking chair Attwood family ran an alehouse here from overseeing the goings-on in the pub. at least 1680. Many of the locals believe her presence At one time the pub contained the is not the only one: sightings of a dog village grocery store. This innkeeper was and another cloaked person have also also the local carpenter and coffin-maker. been reported.

28 29 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

blacksmith's anvil to be buried when he died. James Marriott, born in 1824, appears to have taken on the forge fromFinch and was also an apprentice blacksmith with both Robert Webb and John Finch. James Marriott, also the publican from c.1851 to 1861, continued to live at the Wheatsheaf while also working at the forge. He was still blacksmithing in his sixties. Richard Roberts was related to the iron , iµh1, 'rhe space between them led to a foundry Roberts familyof Deanshanger. )llll'dcn behind. The remains of a window He ran several forges including Maids h1oking out into the gap are still visible Moreton and Akeley. He went on to work in insidc 1hc workshop. Later, a connecting Weedon, Northants, and eventually retired Nl'C I inn was built which became a second to Passenham. coll agc. In the l 980s, the two cottages Amos Pickering lived in the Forge wcrc combined into one and renovated. Cottage with his family from about I 863- By 185 J, John Scott Finch was living at 70. They moved to Buckingham where 1hc Forge with his wife Sarah, a baby and Amos ran a forgeon the corner of Nelson t1n apprentice. In 1853, Sarah and John Street and School Lane. Amos was a local Finch emigrated fromMaids Moreton to hero for rescuing drowning people from the 1 hc USA, with three children under the river in Buckingham,but he had bad luck age of 4. Three days after arriving in New in business and health and he died in 1900, Yo rk, their fourth child was born. With their aged 53, frompneumonia. 4 young children, the Finches journeyed John Roberts (behind the railing in the l,000 miles north-west fromNew Yo rk photo) lived here for 77 years until his The Forge when a fine was levied 'for a smith's shop and settled in a small community, Green death at the age of 90 in 1947. He mended and penthouse standing on the Lord's Lake, Wisconsin, to become farmers.Their children's hoops and let them roast a 18th century waste'. Thomas Attwood, who was landlord little girl Angelina died there at the age of sausage on a hot shovel. He only had one of the Wheatsheaf opposite from 1782 to 5, but the other three children grew up to good eye, having lost the other to a stray 1798, had to pay the fine of 6d. raise their own families.Two of the boys spark. His sons, George and Harry, worked "The Lord's waste [ground]" is the eventually settling as farmers another 600 alongside their father until his death. parcel of land from Corner Cottage along miles west in Woodville, Nebraska. A very The Harris Brothers, agricultural From at least the 1700s, it was probably to Cobblers, including the present forge long way fromMaids Moreton! engineers, firstrented the workshop necessary to have a blacksmith's forge location, which was at one time used as the RobertWebb bought or re-built the forge from Ethel Roberts, the daughter of John opposite the alehouse on Main St. village pound for holding stray animals. in 1835. He died in 1846 and was buried Roberts, then they bought both cottage Accommodation, a workshop and room for The present-day premises originally alongside his firstwife and children near and workshop after her death in I 947. The horses in the street led to encroachment consisted of two separate buildings: the church tower. An ancient anvil found business has so farpassed between brothers, into the plot behind. This was referred to in a small cottage on the left, plus the buried behind the forgeis thought to have their children and a nephew during its a court baron held at Stowe in the 1780s, workshop with attached stable on the been his; some say there was a tradition fora seventy years of tradingto date. 30 31 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

on the Lord's waste' (later the forge, now Corner Cottage Harris Bros. in Main Street). In the 19th century, the property was 171 h ccntm·y, grade II listed divided into three tiny cottages, each front room only eight feet wide. The village post officewas here from the late 1800s to the 1920s, and then again from ( :rn111:r Collage is shown on the All Souls post-war to the early 1960s, when Mrs l'NHIIC 111up of l 595 as an isolated dwelling Stockley ran it from her half-cottage l'tl'Clcd on 'Lhc Lord's waste'. At a court called Underthatch. The letterbox was in a large upstairs playroom and Major l111r,111 held ac Stowe in the 1780s, occupants situated in the wall on the left. Corner Miller also took a cinefilm of the village. It Maids Moreton House tll 1hc property were fined 6d for continuing Cottage was home to the Philpott family lasted about half an hour and he showed 19thcentury '1111:ronchmcnts', as was Thomas Attwood from 1920 to 2012. Recently it has been it in the village hall. Ethel McKenzie in 'l'or II smith's shop and penthouse standing carefully restored. Pam Raynor's book remembers: 'There's the women walking up the street with their Sunday dinners taking them to In 1890 twenty seven acres of farmland the bakehouse to be cooked, Yo rkshire near the top of Main Street was sold by puddings, potatoes and meat in a tinand it Mrs Rogers to Henry Bull of Castle House, cost threepence to be cooked. I was in the Buckingham. The entrance to the new film fetching dinner back for my mum. Also property was through a former farmyard, my grandfather was on it coming down the still with its thatched farmhouse, cottage churchyard path with the keys in his hand. and barn, and which is now Wa lnut Drive. A lot of Moreton people were on it. There Several walnut trees surrounded the yard. was Rose Hussey's wedding and Rocky Down a driveway Henry Bull built a Jones out walking with his wife as though Victorian residence with seven principal they were courting. There was somebody bedrooms and four for servants, a turret at the village pump getting water and Jim and many windows with beautiful views Tomkins coming up We llmore hill with his across the Ouse Valley. Conifers and shrubs cows, also children playing in the street with were planted. The heated greenhouses and their hoops. It was a really good filmand I orchards were claimed to produce 1000 do wish we could see it again.' pounds of fruit annually. The house was bought by Dietmar and In the 1920s Major and Mrs Miller, the Margaret Garbe in 1956 and has now been occupants, allowed the Brownies to meet turned into offices.

32 33 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

Upper Farm

17th century, grade II listed .,.

The date 1624 is carved into a chimney stack of the farmhouse, and some mullion windows retain their stone hoodmoulds. The thatched roof has been replaced by tiles, which sweep low at the back of the building. The property was purchased by Rev. William Long for £1700 freehold from the Stowe estate in 1758. Under the Enclosure Act of 1801 dozens of field strips belonging to the farm, but scattered around Scotts Farmhouse the parish, were amalgamated into large fields conveniently close to Upper Farm. 18th century, grade II listed In the 19th century the Andrewes Uthwatt family inherited the farm, but in 1928 their entire estate in Maids Moreton was auctioned. In 1933 the Dancer family, existing tenants, In 1900, the Tom(p)kins brothers' sale This timber-framed farmhouse once had bought Upper Farm fromMajor Andrewes I and 2 Old Bakery of the property referred specificallyto the a steep thatched roof. The Scott family and they worked the land until 1975. In the Cottages car park/well area as being Duck Lake. are recorded in Maids Moreton from the 1990s a big barn was pulled down to make This substantiates the All Souls estate map 17th century, grade II Listed 15th century, and a direct line can be way for three houses called Dancers Place. of 1595, which refers to Duck Lake Well, traced for 350 years. Possibly William Scott A large house needed servants. One such, and also old wills of people who once lived (1663-1749) rebuilt the farmhouse, which a William Shakespeare, appeared on the at the top end of the village (Duck Ley belonged to Christ Church manor. In 1851, 1841 census. Later in 1861, two servants and 1558, Duck Lake 1826). The 'lake' may the farm comprised 100 acres where six a nurse were employed by the Salmon family. Known as The Old Bakery, the business refer to an early pond, for it was common extra men were employed as agricultural was run by the Gibbs family who first for villages to keep ducks as another labourers. The house and farm buildings appear in the 1891 census. People from source of food. were sold for development in 1993. the village would bring their food to The interesting features of the cottage William's nephew, also named the bakery on Sundays forcooking in are the large inglenook stone and brick William (1718-1800), lived 'in the the still hot ovens. Thomas John Gibbs fireplace and bread oven. The Listing refers Middle of the To wn' (now The Leys), later became an agent for the Prudential to the internal exposed wall, ceiling and and Scotts Lane led to his farmyard.His Assurance and bought the three cottages fireplace timbers. will bequeathed £ l 00 for a charity to be with land at the back. He may even A spooky little oak stairway leads into set up for 'apprenticing poor Children, have built cottage number three, which the roof space, where presumably some of inhabitants of Maidsmorton'. originally was two dwellings. the fa mily members slept.

34 35 MAIDS MORETON HOUSES WITH HISTORY

days, when it was the centre ofa manorial I h• Old Manor House estate that had connections with Stowe manor. By 1300, this site and about a I 11t1 1f1th/17th century, quarter of the village belonged to Oseney I I 11111 II u,.icd Abbey, Oxford, and, after the Reformation, to Christ Church, Oxford. By then, the .. two sisters - the Maids of Moreton - had rebuilt St. Edmund's Church, and legend I 111� 11111•11 lw 1111:

36 37 MAIDS MORETON

We llmore 19th century

Wellmore was - and perhaps still is - a distinct community fromthat of Maids Moreton. Historically, it was also a poorer one. The lower end of senlements tended to be less desirable because ofthe natural disadvantages of waste water or effluent flowing downhill towards them. There was once a row of cottages behind a thatched house, on the bank on the left of the road. These fe ll into disrepair and were pulled down in the mid-20th cenrury to be replaced with the properties that we see today. Wellmore had its own well (no longer visible), and a shop/post office in the house behind the 'red row' of I 9th-century terraced conages which are still there today.

38