Emmington

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Emmington
Oxfordshire

Parish church of St Nicholas
Location
Grid reference: SP746018
Location: 51°42’38"N, -0°55’18"W
Data
Post town: Chinnor
Postcode: OX39
Dialling code: 01844
Local Government
Council: South Oxfordshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Henley

Emmington is a tiny village in the south-east of Oxfordshire, just under a mile north-west of Chinnor, and about four and a half miles south-east of Thame.

In 1931 the parish had a population of 41, since when it has not been individually recorded.

History

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Emmington:

William Peverel holds 10 hides in Emmington. Land for 5 ploughs. Now in demesne are 2 ploughs and six slaves and 10 villeins and 4 bordars with 5 ploughs. There are 12 acres of meadow. It was worth £6 now £7. Alwine held these two estates freely.

The Conqueror had granted a number of manors in Oxfordshire to Peverel, including Emmington and Crowell.</ref>

The Manor was held by the Sackville family from about 1200, until 1577, when Sir Thomas Sackville, (later Earl of Dorset), sold it to Sir George Peckham. In 1586, William Hampden (cousin and executor of John Hampden) acquired the Manor, and it was passed down through the Hampden family until 1665, when Richard Hampden sold it a London merchant, Henry Ashhurst. In 1805, the Manor was sold to the Wykeham family, and finally in 1929 was sold to Magdalen College, Oxford.[1]

Parish church

The nave of St Nicholas

Emmington has no church today open to worship. St Nicholas' church was closed in 1987, reopened for worship in 1991,[2] but then declared redundant in 2003 and closed. It is now privately owned. St Nicholas is a Grade II* listed building.[3]

The village had a parish priest since at least 1190.[4] Demolition work in 1873 discovered what was believed to be Norman masonry, suggesting that the original parish church was on the same site as the present Church of England parish church, St Nicholas. The building was largely rebuilt in the 14th century, and the belltower and several Decorated Gothic features survive from this time.[5] In 1874 the chancel and nave were partly rebuilt under the direction of the Gothic Revival architects Charles Buckeridge and John Loughborough Pearson.[5]

Emmington is in the parish of St Andrew, Chinnor, which is part of the Benefice of Chinnor, Sydenham, Aston Rowant and Crowell.

About the village

The Inn at Emmington

Emmington has no public house. However, just over the boundary in the parish of Sydenham is The Inn at Emmington, which is closer to Emmington than to the village of Sydenham.[6]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Emmington)

References

  1. A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 8 pp 91-98: Parishes: Emmington (Victoria County History)
  2. St Nicholas Church: Church Gazetteer St Nicholas Center
  3. National Heritage List 1368901: Church of St Nicholas (Grade II* listing)
  4. Lobel 1964, pp. 91–98.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 592.
  6. The Inn at Emmington