Eynsham Unlocked: a Short History

was shipped through Eynsham. through shipped was stone. Much of the stone used to build the Oxford colleges colleges Oxford the build to used stone the of Much stone. sending and receiving goods such as coal, corn, salt and and salt corn, coal, as such goods receiving and sending wharf was an important connection to Oxford and London, London, and Oxford to connection important an was wharf middle ages, through to the mid-19th century Eynsham Eynsham century mid-19th the to through ages, middle earliest times – there was a wharf as early as 1302. From the the From 1302. as early as wharf a was there – times earliest The Thames provided Eynsham with a trade route from the the from route trade a with Eynsham provided Thames The Eynsham wharf Eynsham on 15 August. 15 on at Pentecost and and Pentecost at allowed Eynsham two fairs – – fairs two Eynsham allowed granted in about 1150 by King Stephen. Later, Henry II also also II Henry Later, Stephen. King by 1150 about in granted market controlled by the abbot. The first licence was was licence first The abbot. the by controlled market of its past and flourishing in the present. the in flourishing and past its of Eynsham became a market town with a regular Sunday Sunday regular a with town market a became Eynsham village – rooted in history, yet looking to the future; proud proud future; the to looking yet history, in rooted – village Market trading Market remains what it has always been: a traditional Oxfordshire Oxfordshire traditional a been: always has it what remains not a museum piece, but a living, vibrant village. Eynsham Eynsham village. vibrant living, a but piece, museum a not of the buildings in the village. the in buildings the of Eynsham has never lost its strong sense of community. It is is It community. of sense strong its lost never has Eynsham Oxfordshire and beyond. beyond. and Oxfordshire fragments of stone from the abbey can still be seen in many many in seen be still can abbey the from stone of fragments day. The abbey became wealthy, owning land throughout throughout land owning wealthy, became abbey The day. only the ruined west end was still standing. Carved Carved standing. still was end west ruined the only Village Hall, Scout Hall and Sports Centre. Centre. Sports and Hall Scout Hall, Village instructed the monks on how they should live from day to to day from live should they how on monks the instructed taken to build many of the houses in the village. By 1657, 1657, By village. the in houses the of many build to taken schools and, more recently, new facilities such as the the as such facilities new recently, more and, schools wrote his ‘Letter to the Monks of Eynsham’ in which he he which in Eynsham’ of Monks the to ‘Letter his wrote abbey buildings were used as a quarry and the stones were were stones the and quarry a as used were buildings abbey with new housing and conversions, secondary and junior junior and secondary conversions, and housing new with monks. Soon after the foundation of Eynsham Abbey Aelfric Aelfric Abbey Eynsham of foundation the after Soon monks. and the magnificent buildings gradually fell into decay. The The decay. into fell gradually buildings magnificent the and Since the end of the 1940s the village has expanded rapidly rapidly expanded has village the 1940s the of end the Since and make them understandable to the less well educated educated well less the to understandable them make and the abbey was handed over to the king in December 1538 1538 December in king the to over handed was abbey the residents and around 2,000 people working here each day. day. each here working people 2,000 around and residents perhaps best known for his ability to take difficult Latin texts texts Latin difficult take to ability his for known best perhaps With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, VIII, Henry under monasteries the of dissolution the With Today Eynsham is a thriving community, with over 4,500 4,500 over with community, thriving a is Eynsham Today order. The first abbot was the famous scholar Aelfric, Aelfric, scholar famous the was abbot first The order. of Cornwall, Eynsham Abbey was part of the Benedictine Benedictine the of part was Abbey Eynsham Cornwall, of The end of the abbey the of end The Eynsham now Eynsham Founded in 1005 by Aethelmar, Earl Earl Aethelmar, by 1005 in Founded country. the in abbeys Eynsham Abbey was, in its time, one of the most important important most the of one time, its in was, Abbey Eynsham The abbey The weaving sheds rather than houses. than rather sheds weaving thought that they may have been used as workshops or or workshops as used been have may they that thought that supported a thatched roof. As they were quite small it is is it small quite were they As roof. thatched a supported that buildings consisting of a shallow pit with a post at each end end each at post a with pit shallow a of consisting buildings excavations in and around Eynsham. They were small small were They Eynsham. around and in excavations operation in 1970. in operation sunken floored buildings or SFBs - have been found in in found been have - SFBs or buildings floored sunken picturesque streets. picturesque in 1962 and the line ceased ceased line the and 1962 in Chronicle for 571. Several Saxon buildings - known as as known - buildings Saxon Several 571. for Chronicle Street and has survived to be one of Eynsham's most most Eynsham's of one be to survived has and Street Witney. The station closed to passengers passengers to closed station The Witney. documented reference to Eynsham was in the Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon the in was Eynsham to reference documented But his legacy lives on: the road is still called Newland Newland called still is road the on: lives legacy his But with the construction of a railway line to to line railway a of construction the with tile and pottery have been found in the area. The first first The area. the in found been have pottery and tile abbey into debt and was eventually deposed by the bishop. bishop. the by deposed eventually was and debt into abbey the river. In 1861, the railway came to Eynsham, Eynsham, to came railway the 1861, In river. the land may have been occupied as a number of Roman coins, coins, Roman of number a as occupied been have may land abbot, he was no good as a businessman: he plunged the the plunged he businessman: a as good no was he abbot, collected today – 5 pence from every car that crosses crosses that car every from pence 5 – today collected under the site of the abbey. During the Roman period the the period Roman the During abbey. the of site the under merchants to Eynsham. Sadly, whatever his merits as an an as merits his whatever Sadly, Eynsham. to merchants were granted the tolls tax-free, for ever. The toll is still still is toll The ever. for tax-free, tolls the granted were Bronze Age enclosure ditch, over 3,000 years old, was found found was old, years 3,000 over ditch, enclosure Age Bronze Adam hoped to move the market here and attract rich rich attract and here market the move to hoped Adam which was opened in 1769. The Earl and his successors successors his and Earl The 1769. in opened was which Thames at a point where it was relatively easy to ford. A A ford. to easy relatively was it where point a at Thames borough called Terra Nova, or New Land, to the north. north. the to Land, New or Nova, Terra called borough of this the Earl of Abingdon built Swinford toll bridge bridge toll Swinford built Abingdon of Earl the this of because of its position on the gravel terrace above the River River the above terrace gravel the on position its of because abbey fishponds to the south of the abbey and a new new a and abbey the of south the to fishponds abbey in 1636 and John Wesley nearly drowned in 1764. Because Because 1764. in drowned nearly Wesley John and 1636 in Eynsham’s first inhabitants probably chose to settle here here settle to chose probably inhabitants first Eynsham’s wealth through property development. He created the the created He development. property through wealth sometimes hazardous - some Welsh sheriffs drowned there there drowned sheriffs Welsh some - hazardous sometimes Eynsham In the 1200s Abbot Adam attempted to increase the abbey's abbey's the increase to attempted Adam Abbot 1200s the In The crossing of the river Thames at Swinford was was Swinford at Thames river the of crossing The The new lands new The Tolls and trains and Tolls What's in a name? Further aeld It's first mentioned as 'Egonesham' in the Anglo-Saxon By road: Oxford 6 miles, Witney 6 miles, chronicle, but over the centuries the name of the village has Woodstock 7 miles, Abingdon 10 miles Eynsham changed many times. Up until the 19th century most maps By bus: Regular services from Oxford and Witney mark it as 'Ensham', but then the spelling was changed, by (every 15 minutes on weekdays) either the Post Office or the Ordnance Survey, to Eynsham. By river: Eynsham is a short walk from Swinford Lock Despite the 'y', it is pronounced 'en-shum'.

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