Mixbury
| Mixbury | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' parish church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP609340 |
| Location: | 52°0’5"N, 1°6’51"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 370 (2011) |
| Postcode: | NN13 |
| Dialling code: | 01280 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cherwell |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Banbury |
Mixbury is a village in Oxfordshire, about two and a half miles south-east of Brackley in Northamptonshire.
The name of the village is recorded in the Domesday Book as Missberie, which may be from the if from the Old English mixen beorg,[1] meaning "dung-hill".
History
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Roger d'Ivry held a manor of 17 hides at Missberie.[1] The manor was part of the Honour of St Valery by 1213, when Robert de St. Valery gave Mixbury's mesne lordship to the Augustinian Osney Abbey.[1] The abbey retained Mixbury until it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1539.[1]
Nearby stood Beaumont Castle, built about 1100. It no longer stands, but its earthworks remain at the north end of the village.[2][3]
An open field system of farming prevailed in the parish until 1730. Evidence suggests that it may have begun with two fields, but by the latter part of the 17th century it had been reorganised as a more efficient three-field system. The fields were Middle Field, Sandfield and West Field.[1] Mixbury's inclosure act was passed in 1729 and the inclosure award was made the next year. This is by far the earliest inclosure act for an Oxfordshire parish: the next was not passed until 1758.[4] The area enclosed under the act was about 2,000 acres; land enclosed before 1729 by agreement without the need for an act had been about 445 acres.[5]
The main road between Buckingham and Banbury passes through the parish south of the village. It was made into a turnpike in 1744.[1]
The rector had the village school built in 1838.[1] In 1928 it was reorganised as a junior school and older pupils were transferred to the school at Fringford.[1] It was reorganised as an infants' school in 1948 and closed in 1955.[1]
The original village consisted of thatch-roofed rubblestone cottages clustered between All Saints and the stream.[6] In 1874 they were demolished under an order of the Court of Chancery and replaced with two rows of brick-faced semi-detached estate cottages laid out as a model village along the road leading south from the church.[6]
Railways
In 1847–50 the Buckinghamshire Railway built its branch line]] to Banbury Merton Street through the northern part of the parish along the Great Ouse Valley. Fulwell & Westbury station was built on the line about a mile north-east of the village.
The Great Central Main Line from Nottingham Victoria to London Marylebone was built through the eastern part of the parish in the 1890s and opened in 1899. The nearest station was Finmere for Buckingham, about two miles south-east of Mixbury.[1] Buckingham already had a railway station on the Buckinghamshire Railway, and was almost five miles from the Great Central station, so the name was later shortened to the more appropriate "Finmere".
In 1961 British Railways closed Fulwell and Westbury station to passenger traffic. In 1960s the Beeching Axe fell: the Banbury and the Great Central Main Line closed – Finmere station and the Banbury branch line in 1963, and the Great Central Main Line in 1966.
Parish church
The Church of England parish church, All Saints, dates from the 12th century.[2] The south doorway is Norman, dating from about 1170.[2] Early in the 14th century[1] all the windows were replaced with Decorated Gothic ones.[2] A south aisle of three bays and a west tower were added at the same time.[1] The Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added later.[2] The chancel was restored in 1843 and the remainder of the church was restored after 1848.[1]
All Saints' is a Grade II* listed building.[7]
The west tower has three bells.[8] The treble bell was cast in 1577 by John Appowell[9] of Buckingham,[10] the tenor in 1609 by Robert Atton[9] of Buckingham[10] and the second in 1627 by Bartholomew Atton[9] of Buckingham.[10] Ringing now is very restricted for safety reasons.[9] The church clock is of unknown date, but appears to be late 17th century.[11]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Mixbury) |
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. 251–262
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 710.
- ↑ The Gatehouse website page for Beaumont Castle, Mixbury
- ↑ Gray 1959, p. 113.
- ↑ Gray 1959, p. 538.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rowley 1978, pp. 138–139.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1192977: Church of All Saints (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Bicester Branch: Mixbury
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Mixbury All Saints". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=MIXBURY.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Dovemaster (25 June 2010). "Bell Founders". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/founders.php.
- ↑ Beeson & Simcock 1989, p. 47.
- Beeson, C.F.C.; Simcock, A.V. (1989). Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400–1850 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. p. 47. ISBN 0-903364-06-9.
- Blomfield, James Charles (c. 1890). Part V: History of Fringford, Hethe, Mixbury, Newton Purcell, and Shelswell. Deanery of Bicester. Elliot Stock & Co: London.
- Gray, Howard L (1959). The English Field Systems. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; Merlin Press. pp. 113, 538.
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 6 pp 251-262: Parishes: Mixbury (Victoria County History)
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2page 710