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Merton, Oxfordshire

January 01, 1970

Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 424.[1]

Merton
St Swithun's parish church
Merton
Location within Oxfordshire
Area7.07 km2 (2.73 sq mi)
Population424 (2011 Census)
• Density60/km2 (160/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSP5615
Civil parish
  • Merton
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBicester
Postcode districtOX25
Dialling code01865
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
WebsiteMerton Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire
51°51′18″N 1°09′50″W / 51.855°N 1.164°W / 51.855; -1.164

Archaeology edit

In 1978 a Middle Bronze Age spearhead was found at West End Farm on the northwestern side of the village.[2]

Manor edit

Just before the Norman conquest of England Hacun, a Dane, held the manor of Meretone[3] and also the nearby manor of Piddington.[4] The toponym is derived from the Old English for a tun, hamlet or settlement by the mere.[5]

The Domesday Book records that by 1086 Countess Judith of Lens, a niece of William I of England held the manor.[3] Countess Judith was betrothed to Simon I de Senlis but refused to marry him and fled England. William I confiscated her estates and allowed Simon to marry Judith's eldest daughter Maud. Simon received estates including Merton as the honour of Huntingdon.[3]

In 1152 or 1153 Simon's son Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton gave Merton to the Knights Templar. In 1185 the manor covered seven hides, making it their largest estate in Oxfordshire.[3] In 1312 Pope Clement V ordered the Templars' dissolution and their English estates were confiscated by Edward II, who granted Merton to the Knights Hospitaller in 1313.[3] In 1540 the Hospitallers were suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and surrendered Merton to the Crown, which left it in the possession of the Templars' tenant, William Mablyston of Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire.[3]

Harington baronets edit

In 1554 the Mablystons' lease expired and Robert Doyley of Chiselhampton and his son John acquired the manor.[3] John died in 1593 and his widow Anne married Sir James Harington in 1601.[3] In 1640 Sir James Harington, 3rd Baronet married Katherine, daughter of Sir Edmund Wright, Lord Mayor of London.[3] Sir James was a Member of Parliament from 1646 until 1655 and during the English Civil War he served as a major-general in the Parliamentarian army. After the English Restoration his baronetcy was forfeited for life in 1661[3] under the Indemnity and Oblivion Act. Sir James fled to the European mainland and died in exile.[3]

Sir James' father-in-law had remained a Royalist throughout the Civil War and Commonwealth, which helped Lady Katherine to claim she did not share her husband's politics.[3] In 1662 the Crown granted letters patent placing the estate in trust, and upon Lady Katherine's death in 1675 it passed to her and Sir James' eldest son Sir Edmund Harington, 4th Baronet.[3] The Harington baronets owned Merton until Sir James Harington, 6th Baronet ran up large sporting debts and in 1740 mortgaged Merton to Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet[3] of the neighbouring parish of Ambrosden. Sir James was a Jacobite who supported the Stuart claim to the United Kingdom.[3] In 1747, he joined Charles Edward Stuart in exile and in 1749 Sir Edward Turner (later Page-Turner) obtained Merton by foreclosing the mortgage.[3] The Page-Turner baronets (later Dryden baronets) retained Merton until 1930.[3]

Manor house edit

The Doyleys built the manor house in the latter part of the 16th century.[3] It is thought to have been L-shaped, but after Sir Edward Page-Turner bought the manor in 1749 he had the south wing demolished and the surviving wing turned into a farmhouse.[3] In 1838 the house's oak panelling was sold.[3] In 1860 the house was modernised and its Elizabethan porch, gables, stone roof and mullioned windows were all removed.[3] The house now has sash windows.[6] The original kitchen and stone-arched cellar survive, and the cellar includes a well.[3] A dairy wing was added late in the 19th century.[3] The house's 17th century square, two-storeyed dovecote also survives.[3] The house is now a nursing home.[6][7]

Church and chapel edit

 
St Swithun's parish church: chapel in the south aisle, with 14th century Decorated Gothic east window
 
St Swithun's parish church: monument to Elizabeth Poole (died 1621), now mutilated and neglected

The Church of England parish church of Saint Swithun is Decorated Gothic, built early in the 14th century.[8] It has a south aisle, linked with the nave by an arcade of four bays.[3] Late in the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave.[3] The chancel windows and one window in the south aisle are also Perpendicular Gothic.[8] The font is much older than the church, dating from late in the 12th century.[3]

St Swithun's had a north aisle but it was demolished in the 15th or 16th century.[8] Its arcade of three bays was blocked up and remains in the north wall of the nave.[3] The tower had a spire but it became unsafe and in 1796 it was removed.[8] St Swithun's most notable monuments are wall-mounted ones in the chancel commemorating John Doyley (died 1593) and his wife, Elizabeth Poole (died 1621) and Richard Harrington (died 1712).[9] The Poole monument has strapwork and Tuscan columns but is significantly mutilated[8] and in want of restoration.

A turret clock for St Swithun's was made late in the 17th century.[10] Its original dial had only an hour hand.[10] In 1867 this was replaced with a new dial that has both hour and minute hands.[10] Some time after 1989 a new turret clock was installed; the 17th century original is now displayed in the nave.

The Gothic Revival architect Charles Buckeridge restored St Swithun's from 1865[8] until 1872.[3] St Swithun's had been decorated with medieval wall paintings, once brightly coloured but by 1823 described as "dim with age".[3] During the restoration work it was found impossible to remove the layers of whitewash covering them.[3] St Swithun's is a Grade I listed building.[11]

In the Edwardine Inventory of 1552 St Swithun's had three bells and a Sanctus bell.[3] In 1795 the bell tower had a ring of seven bells but the churchwardens obtained permission to sell five of them to pay for a new lead roof for the church.[3] By the 1950s there were only two bells: one cast by Richard Keene of Woodstock in 1694 and the other cast in 1887.[3]

In 1565 the Crown sold the advowson and rectory to William Petre, who in 1572 gave both to Exeter College, Oxford.[3] Since 2000 the ecclesiastical parish of Merton has been part of the Ray Valley Benefice.[12] A Congregational chapel was built in 1890.[3] It was still in use for worship in 1953.[3]

Economic and social history edit

 
The Plough public house, which has ceased trading
 
St Swithun's parish church: late 17th-century turret clock, now displayed in the nave

The Knights Templar established a watermill in the parish.[3] The earliest known record of it is from 1156 to 66.[3] West of St Swithun's is a rubblestone tithe barn that may have been built in the 15th century[13] or early 16th century.[14] It has a queen post roof and is thatched.[13] In the late 20th century it was converted into four homes.[14]

There were small enclosures of land in the parish in the 14th and 16th centuries but an open field system of farming prevailed until 1763.[3] In the 1761 Parliamentary election Sir Edward Turner entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Penryn in Cornwall. In 1762 Sir Edward got Parliament to pass an Inclosure Act for the parish of Merton.[3] This extinguished all common land rights in Merton and assigned most of the land to Sir Edward.[3]

In 1814 one of the earliest National Schools to be established under the auspices of the National Society for Promoting Religious Education was opened in Merton.[3] A new stone-built school building, complete with lodging for the matron, was completed in 1829.[3] Ownership and management of the school were transferred to the vicar and churchwardens in 1870.[3] The school was enlarged in 1872 and 1893.[3] The number of pupils then declined and in 1913 the school was closed and 12 pupils were transferred to Ambrosden.[3] In 1930 the house and school were sold and became a private home.[3]

Merton used to have a public house, the Plough Inn, whose building is partly Tudor. In the 2000s the owners closed the pub, and in the 2010s it was converted into housing. Since the Plough's closure the village has held real ale festivals at least once a year in its village hall.[15]

 
Charlton Services bus on route 94 at its terminus outside Balliol College, Oxford

Buses edit

Charlton-on-Otmoor Services bus route 94 links Merton with Oxford via Gosford. There is a limited service from Monday to Friday only.[16] Stagecoach in Oxfordshire route H5 links Merton with the John Radcliffe Hospital via Islip and Barton, and with Bicester via Ambrosden.[17] Buses run hourly from Monday to Saturday.[18] Merton has no bus service on Sunday or on public holidays.

References edit

 
St Swithun's parish church: blocked 14th-century arcade of former north aisle
  1. ^ "Merton Parish". nomis. Durham University for the Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. ^ O'Connor, Brendan (1979). "A Middle Bronze Age Spearhead from Merton". Oxoniensia. XLIV. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society: 92–93.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av Lobel 1957, pp. 221–234
  4. ^ Lobel 1957, pp. 249–258.
  5. ^ Arkell 1942, p. 2.
  6. ^ a b Historic England. "The Manor House Nursing Home (Grade II) (1193403)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  7. ^ . Embrace Group. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 700
  9. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 700–701.
  10. ^ a b c Beeson 1989, p. 46.
  11. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Swithun (Grade I) (1369750)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. ^ "The Ray Valley Benefice". St. Nicholas, Islip. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  13. ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 701.
  14. ^ a b Historic England. "Numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 the Tithe Barn (Grade II) (1369749)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  15. ^ . Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  16. ^ "94 - (Arncott) - Ambrosden - Islip - Oxford". bustimes.org. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Oxfordshire Dayrider Gold and Megarider Gold zone" (.pdf). Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. 4 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  18. ^ "H5 Bicester – Graven Hill - Ambrosden – Islip – Barton – Headington" (PDF). Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

  Media related to Merton, Oxfordshire at Wikimedia Commons

  • Merton Parish Council

January 01, 1970
merton, oxfordshire, merton, village, civil, parish, near, river, about, miles, south, bicester, oxfordshire, england, 2011, census, recorded, parish, population, mertonst, swithun, parish, churchmertonlocation, within, oxfordshirearea7, population424, 2011, c. Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray about 4 miles 6 4 km south of Bicester in Oxfordshire England The 2011 Census recorded the parish s population as 424 1 MertonSt Swithun s parish churchMertonLocation within OxfordshireArea7 07 km2 2 73 sq mi Population424 2011 Census Density60 km2 160 sq mi OS grid referenceSP5615Civil parishMertonDistrictCherwellShire countyOxfordshireRegionSouth EastCountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townBicesterPostcode districtOX25Dialling code01865PoliceThames ValleyFireOxfordshireAmbulanceSouth CentralUK ParliamentBanburyWebsiteMerton Parish CouncilList of places UK England Oxfordshire 51 51 18 N 1 09 50 W 51 855 N 1 164 W 51 855 1 164 Contents 1 Archaeology 2 Manor 2 1 Harington baronets 2 2 Manor house 3 Church and chapel 4 Economic and social history 5 Buses 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksArchaeology editIn 1978 a Middle Bronze Age spearhead was found at West End Farm on the northwestern side of the village 2 Manor editJust before the Norman conquest of England Hacun a Dane held the manor of Meretone 3 and also the nearby manor of Piddington 4 The toponym is derived from the Old English for a tun hamlet or settlement by the mere 5 The Domesday Book records that by 1086 Countess Judith of Lens a niece of William I of England held the manor 3 Countess Judith was betrothed to Simon I de Senlis but refused to marry him and fled England William I confiscated her estates and allowed Simon to marry Judith s eldest daughter Maud Simon received estates including Merton as the honour of Huntingdon 3 In 1152 or 1153 Simon s son Simon II de Senlis Earl of Huntingdon Northampton gave Merton to the Knights Templar In 1185 the manor covered seven hides making it their largest estate in Oxfordshire 3 In 1312 Pope Clement V ordered the Templars dissolution and their English estates were confiscated by Edward II who granted Merton to the Knights Hospitaller in 1313 3 In 1540 the Hospitallers were suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and surrendered Merton to the Crown which left it in the possession of the Templars tenant William Mablyston of Ludgershall Buckinghamshire 3 Harington baronets edit In 1554 the Mablystons lease expired and Robert Doyley of Chiselhampton and his son John acquired the manor 3 John died in 1593 and his widow Anne married Sir James Harington in 1601 3 In 1640 Sir James Harington 3rd Baronet married Katherine daughter of Sir Edmund Wright Lord Mayor of London 3 Sir James was a Member of Parliament from 1646 until 1655 and during the English Civil War he served as a major general in the Parliamentarian army After the English Restoration his baronetcy was forfeited for life in 1661 3 under the Indemnity and Oblivion Act Sir James fled to the European mainland and died in exile 3 Sir James father in law had remained a Royalist throughout the Civil War and Commonwealth which helped Lady Katherine to claim she did not share her husband s politics 3 In 1662 the Crown granted letters patent placing the estate in trust and upon Lady Katherine s death in 1675 it passed to her and Sir James eldest son Sir Edmund Harington 4th Baronet 3 The Harington baronets owned Merton until Sir James Harington 6th Baronet ran up large sporting debts and in 1740 mortgaged Merton to Sir Edward Turner 2nd Baronet 3 of the neighbouring parish of Ambrosden Sir James was a Jacobite who supported the Stuart claim to the United Kingdom 3 In 1747 he joined Charles Edward Stuart in exile and in 1749 Sir Edward Turner later Page Turner obtained Merton by foreclosing the mortgage 3 The Page Turner baronets later Dryden baronets retained Merton until 1930 3 Manor house edit The Doyleys built the manor house in the latter part of the 16th century 3 It is thought to have been L shaped but after Sir Edward Page Turner bought the manor in 1749 he had the south wing demolished and the surviving wing turned into a farmhouse 3 In 1838 the house s oak panelling was sold 3 In 1860 the house was modernised and its Elizabethan porch gables stone roof and mullioned windows were all removed 3 The house now has sash windows 6 The original kitchen and stone arched cellar survive and the cellar includes a well 3 A dairy wing was added late in the 19th century 3 The house s 17th century square two storeyed dovecote also survives 3 The house is now a nursing home 6 7 Church and chapel edit nbsp St Swithun s parish church chapel in the south aisle with 14th century Decorated Gothic east window nbsp St Swithun s parish church monument to Elizabeth Poole died 1621 now mutilated and neglected The Church of England parish church of Saint Swithun is Decorated Gothic built early in the 14th century 8 It has a south aisle linked with the nave by an arcade of four bays 3 Late in the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave 3 The chancel windows and one window in the south aisle are also Perpendicular Gothic 8 The font is much older than the church dating from late in the 12th century 3 St Swithun s had a north aisle but it was demolished in the 15th or 16th century 8 Its arcade of three bays was blocked up and remains in the north wall of the nave 3 The tower had a spire but it became unsafe and in 1796 it was removed 8 St Swithun s most notable monuments are wall mounted ones in the chancel commemorating John Doyley died 1593 and his wife Elizabeth Poole died 1621 and Richard Harrington died 1712 9 The Poole monument has strapwork and Tuscan columns but is significantly mutilated 8 and in want of restoration A turret clock for St Swithun s was made late in the 17th century 10 Its original dial had only an hour hand 10 In 1867 this was replaced with a new dial that has both hour and minute hands 10 Some time after 1989 a new turret clock was installed the 17th century original is now displayed in the nave The Gothic Revival architect Charles Buckeridge restored St Swithun s from 1865 8 until 1872 3 St Swithun s had been decorated with medieval wall paintings once brightly coloured but by 1823 described as dim with age 3 During the restoration work it was found impossible to remove the layers of whitewash covering them 3 St Swithun s is a Grade I listed building 11 In the Edwardine Inventory of 1552 St Swithun s had three bells and a Sanctus bell 3 In 1795 the bell tower had a ring of seven bells but the churchwardens obtained permission to sell five of them to pay for a new lead roof for the church 3 By the 1950s there were only two bells one cast by Richard Keene of Woodstock in 1694 and the other cast in 1887 3 In 1565 the Crown sold the advowson and rectory to William Petre who in 1572 gave both to Exeter College Oxford 3 Since 2000 the ecclesiastical parish of Merton has been part of the Ray Valley Benefice 12 A Congregational chapel was built in 1890 3 It was still in use for worship in 1953 3 Economic and social history edit nbsp The Plough public house which has ceased trading nbsp St Swithun s parish church late 17th century turret clock now displayed in the nave The Knights Templar established a watermill in the parish 3 The earliest known record of it is from 1156 to 66 3 West of St Swithun s is a rubblestone tithe barn that may have been built in the 15th century 13 or early 16th century 14 It has a queen post roof and is thatched 13 In the late 20th century it was converted into four homes 14 There were small enclosures of land in the parish in the 14th and 16th centuries but an open field system of farming prevailed until 1763 3 In the 1761 Parliamentary election Sir Edward Turner entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Penryn in Cornwall In 1762 Sir Edward got Parliament to pass an Inclosure Act for the parish of Merton 3 This extinguished all common land rights in Merton and assigned most of the land to Sir Edward 3 In 1814 one of the earliest National Schools to be established under the auspices of the National Society for Promoting Religious Education was opened in Merton 3 A new stone built school building complete with lodging for the matron was completed in 1829 3 Ownership and management of the school were transferred to the vicar and churchwardens in 1870 3 The school was enlarged in 1872 and 1893 3 The number of pupils then declined and in 1913 the school was closed and 12 pupils were transferred to Ambrosden 3 In 1930 the house and school were sold and became a private home 3 Merton used to have a public house the Plough Inn whose building is partly Tudor In the 2000s the owners closed the pub and in the 2010s it was converted into housing Since the Plough s closure the village has held real ale festivals at least once a year in its village hall 15 nbsp Charlton Services bus on route 94 at its terminus outside Balliol College OxfordBuses editCharlton on Otmoor Services bus route 94 links Merton with Oxford via Gosford There is a limited service from Monday to Friday only 16 Stagecoach in Oxfordshire route H5 links Merton with the John Radcliffe Hospital via Islip and Barton and with Bicester via Ambrosden 17 Buses run hourly from Monday to Saturday 18 Merton has no bus service on Sunday or on public holidays References edit nbsp St Swithun s parish church blocked 14th century arcade of former north aisle Merton Parish nomis Durham University for the Office for National Statistics Retrieved 4 January 2021 O Connor Brendan 1979 A Middle Bronze Age Spearhead from Merton Oxoniensia XLIV Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society 92 93 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av Lobel 1957 pp 221 234 Lobel 1957 pp 249 258 Arkell 1942 p 2 a b Historic England The Manor House Nursing Home Grade II 1193403 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 8 April 2016 Manor House Embrace Group Archived from the original on 20 April 2016 Retrieved 8 April 2016 a b c d e f Sherwood amp Pevsner 1974 p 700 Sherwood amp Pevsner 1974 pp 700 701 a b c Beeson 1989 p 46 Historic England Church of St Swithun Grade I 1369750 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 8 April 2016 The Ray Valley Benefice St Nicholas Islip 17 August 2013 Retrieved 4 January 2021 a b Sherwood amp Pevsner 1974 p 701 a b Historic England Numbers 1 2 3 and 4 the Tithe Barn Grade II 1369749 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 11 August 2011 Merton Village Website Archived from the original on 8 March 2022 Retrieved 13 July 2022 94 Arncott Ambrosden Islip Oxford bustimes org Retrieved 4 January 2021 Oxfordshire Dayrider Gold and Megarider Gold zone pdf Stagecoach in Oxfordshire 4 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 H5 Bicester Graven Hill Ambrosden Islip Barton Headington PDF Stagecoach in Oxfordshire 4 January 2021 Retrieved 4 January 2021 Bibliography editArkell WJ 1942 Place Names and Topography in the Upper Thames Country a regional essay PDF Oxoniensia VII Oxford Architectural and Historical Society 1 23 Beeson CFC 1989 1962 Simcock AV ed Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400 1850 3rd ed Oxford Museum of the History of Science p 46 ISBN 0 903364 06 9 Lobel Mary D ed 1957 A History of the County of Oxford Victoria County History Vol 5 Bullingdon Hundred London Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research pp 221 234 Sherwood Jennifer Pevsner Nikolaus 1974 Oxfordshire The Buildings of England Harmondsworth Penguin Books pp 700 701 ISBN 0 14 071045 0 External links edit nbsp Media related to Merton Oxfordshire at Wikimedia Commons Merton Parish Council Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Merton Oxfordshire amp oldid 1211616758, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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