Stratton Audley
| Stratton Audley | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 St Mary and St Edburga, Stratton Audley | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP608260 |
| Location: | 51°55’48"N, 1°7’1"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 434 (2001, with Godington) |
| Post town: | Bicester |
| Postcode: | OX27 |
| Dialling code: | 01869 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cherwell |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Banbury |
Stratton Audley is a village about two and a half miles north-east of Bicester in Oxfordshire.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Robert D'Oyly held five hides of land at Stratton.[1] Like many D'Oyly manors, Stratton later became part of the Honour of Wallingford.[1] The Honour of Wallingford became part of the Earldom of Cornwall and thence in the 15th century a number of former Wallingford manors became part of the Duke of Suffolk's Honour of Ewelme.[1]
The Audley family became tenants of the manor by marriage in 1244 and built a moated castle there by 1263.[2] The castle does not survive, but its remains were excavated in 1870.[2]
The present manor house was originally 16th century.[3] It was altered in the latter half of the 17th century and partly rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries.[3]
There was some enclosure of land in the parish in the 16th century, and by 1779 the enclosed land totalled 300 acres.[1] Arable farming continued on an open field system until Parliament passed an inclosure act in 1780 to enable all Stratton Audley's open fields and common lands to be enclosed.[1]
A school was opened in 1808 supported by Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet, who provided a house and salary for the schoolmaster.[1] New premises for the school were completed and opened in 1837.[1] It was affiliated to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.[1] In 1929 it was reorganised as a junior school and senior pupils were transferred to the school at Fringford.[1] It became a voluntary controlled school in 1951 and was still open in 1954.[1]
Parish church
The parish church, St Mary and St Edburga, dates from the 12th century but was largely rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Decorated Gothic bell tower was added late in the 14th century.[1]
The church has a Jacobean pulpit and elm table, the latter dated 1636.[1] There is also an oak tower screen, which was made in the 20th century by the Oxford Diocesan Surveyor T. Lawrence Dale.[1] The church is a Grade I listed building.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Stratton Audley) |
References
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 6 pp 324-333: Parishes: Stratton Audley (Victoria County History)
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2