Souldern
| Souldern | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Church of the Annunciation, Souldern | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP522314 |
| Location: | 51°58’48"N, 1°14’28"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 370 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bicester |
| Postcode: | OX27 |
| Dialling code: | 01869 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cherwell |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Banbury |
| Website: | www.souldern.org |
Souldern is a village in Oxfordshire about seven miles northwest of Bicester and a similar distance southeast of Banbury. The parish is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell and to the east by field boundaries. Its northern boundary is Ockley Brook, a tributary of the Cherwell that forms the county boundary with Northamptonshire. The parish's southern boundaries are the main road between Bicester and Adderbury and the minor road between Souldern and Somerton.
The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 370.
Souldern's name is from the Old English Sulh-þorn meaning "Thorn-bush in a gully".[1]
Churches
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church, St Mary, are 12th century. The church was enlarged and altered at various times between about 1200 and 1500. The mediæval chancel fell into disrepair in the 18th century and was demolished after 1775. In 1896–97 the Gothic Revival architect Ninian Comper rebuilt the chancel and in 1906 George Frederick Bodley dismantled and rebuilt the Norman tower and tower arch.[1][2]
From 1161 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 the Benedictine Eynsham Abbey owned the advowson of the parish, but after 1623, the Bishop of Lincoln granted it to St John's College, Cambridge, which still owned the advowson in 1955.[1]
The parish had a rectory that was built before 1638 and had fishponds well-stocked with carp by 1723. The poet William Wordsworth stayed there in 1820. Afterwards he wrote the sonnet A Parsonage in Oxfordshire, and in another sonnet called the house "this humble and beautiful parsonage".[1] In 1890 this historic house was demolished and replaced with a new one designed by the Gothic Revival architect Edward George Bruton.
Roman Catholics
The manor of Soudern was owned by recusant families in the Elizabethan period and later: John Stutsbury was recorded as a recusant in Souldern in 1577 and 1592, and John Weedon and his wife were fined for recusancy in 1603. The Kilby and Cox families were recusants also. The number of Roman Catholics recorded in Souldern was nine in 1643, 21 in 1676, 19 in 1690 and 25 in 1703. for the remainder of the 18th century the number fluctuated between 10 and 14.[1]
The manor-house had a Roman Catholic chapel hidden in the attic, before Parliament lifted the strict laws against such practices in 1778. In 1781 Souldern's hidden chapel ceased to be used. The attic chapel was used again from 1852 until 1869[1] or 1870[2] when it was succeeded by Saint Joseph's chapel, created in a Gothic Revival style by Charles Hansom, by adding a brick extension to convert the manor house's stone-built coach house.[2]
Methodists
In 1851 a stone-built Methodist Reform chapel was completed in Souldern.[1] In 1857 most Methodist Reform congregations merged with the Wesleyan Association, but Souldern chapel was one of a minority that rejected the merger and together founded the Wesleyan Reform Union instead.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 does not mention Souldern. Early in the 12th century Jordan de Say, who owned the manor of Kirtlington, seems also to have owned Souldern. Through his daughter, Eustachia, was joined to the Honour of Richard's Castle in Herefordshire, remaining with the family until about 1196, when Margaret de Say married Robert Mortimer.
By 1590, the manor, was divided and held by John Stutsbury and Robert Weedon (families later united by marriage, reuniting the manor). The Stutsbury and Weedon families were recusants and during the Civil War the Parliamentarians confiscated the Weedons' estates. The Crown restored the estates after the Restoration, which then stayed in the family until John Weedon died in 1710.
Souldern Mill on Ockley Brook is half a mile west of the village. The oldest known record of it is from 1279. By the latter part of the 17th century there were two mills, but the second mill did not survive. The mill was independent of Souldern Manor, and being on the county and parish boundary with Aynho it may have served both villages. It may be the mill that was referred to as "Aynho Mill" in 1797. A watermill between the two villages was still working in 1920.[1]
The parish's open field system of farming was ended at a relatively early date. Early in the 17th century the lord of the manor wished to terminate all common land rights but the Souldern's freeholders opposed him and the case went to court. The judge advised the parties to accept the arbitration of the Recorder of Banbury, Sir Thomas Chamberlayne, who ruled that the parish be "measured, divided and inclosed". The parish was duly surveyed and in 1613 the division and awarding of land was ratified by the Court of Chancery.[1]
Souldern's economy was unusually diverse for a village. In the 17th century it included two tailors, a weaver and a mercer. At a later date there were three tailors and a milliner. At one time Souldern had three lace-making schools and in 1851 there were more than 30 lace-makers in the parish, but the trade declined towards the end of the 19th century.[1]
Numerous houses in Souldern are built of local pale Cotswold limestone and date from the Great Rebuilding between the mid-16th and mid-17th centuries, some with stone-mullioned windows on the lower floor and attic dormers upstairs. The Court and The Hollies are two L-shaped houses from about 1600. The Barn and Greystones are rectangular in plan and probably early 17th century in age. The Hermitage was built in the 16th century, extended in the 18th century, and its 17th-century staircase is said to have come from The Court.[1]
In 1641 during the Civil War, Royalists ordered the parish to send carts and provisions to Charles I King Charles I at Oxford. In 1643 six regiments of Parliamentarian troops from London were billeted in the parish.[1]
The main road between Bicester and Banbury was made into a turnpike in 1791.[3] The section through Souldern parish between Bicester and Aynho ceased to be a turnpike in 1877.[3]
The Oxford Canal was built through the western part of the parish in 1787.[4] Souldern Wharf is about a mile and a half west of the village.
Building of the Oxford and Rugby Railway between Oxford and Banbury began in 1845. By the time the line opened in 1850 the Great Western Railway had taken it over.
About the village
In 1735 Souldern had one licensed public house. By 1784 there were two: the Bull's Head and The Fox, and by the 1850s these had been joined by The Crown. By 1939 the only survivor was The Fox,[1] which now trades as the Fox Inn.[5]
Sport
- Football: Souldern Football Club
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Souldern) |
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Lobel 1959, pp. 301–312
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 768–769.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Turnpike Trusts in England". Turnpike Roads in England & Wales. Alan Rosevear. http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/English%20turnpike%20table.htm.
- ↑ Compton 1976, p. 37.
- ↑ The Fox Inn at Souldern
- Compton, Hugh J (1976). The Oxford Canal. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 37. ISBN 0-7153-7238-6.
- Hitchman, Robert A (1984). A Third Journey from the Turnpike. Souldern: Robert A Hitchman. p. 31.
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 6 pp 301-312: Parishes: Souldern (Victoria County History)
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2