The History of Lewknor Village
We're still compiling the history of the village and would be grateful for any contributions you may have. See also recent editions of the Grapevine.
The early history of the village of Lewknor is rather obscure. Its name derived from Leofecanora meaning Leofeca's slope while the 'nor' suffix means a 'spring'.
The first documentary reference to Lewknor was in a lawsuit c. 990 AD where it was referred to as Leofecan. In c. 1045 it was called Lurechenora.
Despite its small size currently, Lewknor gave its name to the "Lewknor Hundred" which from the 14th to 19th century, comprised, inter alia, the parishes of Aston Rowant, Kingston Blount, Chinnor, Sydenham, Stokenchurch and Wormsley.
The area known as 'The Knapp' above the village has revealed remains of an early Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Excavation during the construction of the M40 motorway confirmed that there was habitation in the area during the Roman period.
Two pre-Roman roads cross the area from North-East to South-West: the Chiltern Ridgeway at the top of the ridge while the Icknield Way runs along the foot of the steep escarpment. In part this was duplicated by the Lower Icknield Way running parallel about a mile further downhill. Nethercote Lane marks its line and it continues in the direction of Shirburn one way and in the other towards Aston Rowant and thence to Chinnor where the road to Princes Risborough still carries the name.
The area towards Nethercote Lane shows traces of very early habitation while Adwell Cop is a bronze age burial ground, still unexcavated.
It would appear that the Nethercote area was the main centre as can be gauged by the configuration of the land and of the outlines of buildings in the fields to the north of the church and adjoining Church farm and its buildings.
The location of Nethercote House (destroyed by fire in 1871) stressed the assumption. Incidentally Church Farm has a very fine old mediaeval barn.
Nethercote House and Moorcourt can both be traced back to the Domesday Book AD 1086. Manor House in 1598 was a large quadrangle building but now only a wing is left which is largely rebuilt. In the 17th century it was simply called 'The Place'.
A spring of water, known in 1716 as the Town pond, flows from near the church via South Weston to join the River Thame (which in turn flows into the River Thames). This stream formed a moat round Nethercote House, as it still does round Moor Court 'farm'. Before water and electricity were supplied to the village this spring was the main source of village water (it is recorded that the local 'launderess' had to get help to fetch forty buckets of water for each day's wash).
Later the town pond was developed as a watercress bed and the cress taken up to London for sale.
The village church was founded about 1146 AD - originally known as St Mary's, now St Margaret's. It contains some late Norman work. It is built of local flint with stone dressings and comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, porch, a north transeptal chapel and a western tower.
There are quite a few houses in the village built in flint (although some are recent imitations!) but only one thatched dwelling remains (Home 'farm').
There were originally two inns in the village - The Old Fox (now a private house) and The Leathern Bottel which remains substantially a 16th/17th century timber-framed building with brick filling. The front yard was originally enclosed with a front wall about 5 feet high with two spaces for vehicular entrance.
No doubt two inns were essential when the Watlington - Risborough road ran through the centre of the village, (it was diverted to the south side of the village when the M40 was built, thus cutting the village off from through traffic).
The school, which is mainly thatched, was built in 1836 on the site of some old cottages which the then vicar persuaded All Souls College, Oxford (who by this time owned most of the village) to buy for demolition in order to build the school.
Adrienne Phillips in New Zealand has recently discovered this lovely photograph of the class of 1880 in a book on Oxfordshire (click on image to enlarge):
In 1851 there were 12 working farms in Lewknor so the village inhabitants were mainly agricultural labourers. Among these were Home farm, Town, Knapp, Church, Hill, Field, Glebe, Moor Court - of these only Church Farm is still an all-embracing operation.
The farmers were served by the blacksmith at the 'Old Forge' (now a private house) opposite the Leathern Bottel, while their farm equipment was repaired/supplied by Farol Farm Services near the entrance to the village, which occupied the site of the village petrol pumps and garage.
The railway line from Watlington to Princes Risborough had a stop at Lewknor Halt - by the side of Hill Road. The line opened in 1872 and closed in 1957. There were 3 down and 3 up trains each day. In 1926 Sunday excursions began from Paddington to Watlington to see the bluebells in the woods on the hills. In 1908 the rail traffic was boosted by Chinnor Cement Works (now closed). Parts of the line are now used by Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway - run by volunteer enthusiasts. Due to the motorway the track to Watlington was severed but its course is still well marked.
The village shop and post office closed in 1999. An old advertisement for it as a Multimart refers to it "continuing 200 years of traditional service".The growth of Supermarkets and the motor car rendered the village shop inviable, although plans are in being to provide a replacement in a new housing development on the site of the former Town farm.
The village has just seen the completion of a new Community Centre on the playing field, which is the home for the football and cricket teams.
This short 'History of Lewknor' has been derived mainly from The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, O.U.P. Can you add to this history? We have some recollections gleaned from older members of our community but would be interested in more. If you can help in any way, please contact Derek Hazlewoood KB 353783, 2A Hill Road, Lewknor.
Two photos of Lewknor in the 1920's (click on image to enlarge):
ST MARGARET'S CHURCH Lewknor
The Church of St Margaret was originally dedicated to St Mary, and, down to the inclosure, part of 'Lewknor town field' was still known as St Mary's furlong. The adoption of St Margaret as patronal saint no doubt derives from the holding of the 'village wake' on St Margaret's day.
The first documentary evidence for a church in Lewknor is in a grant confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1200, of some tithes and a pension from it to Abingdon Abbey. The foundation of the church cannot have been later than 1146, since it contains some late Norman work. The church is built of local flint with stone dressings, and comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, porch, a north transeptal chapel and a western tower. Until the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to have consisted of chancel, nave and transeptal chapels all dating from the end of the twelfth century. Of this late Romanesque church there remains the chancel arch, portions of the nave, the northern transeptal chapel, and the eastern respond of the arch to the southern transeptal chapel, now incorporated in the arcade of the fourteenth century aisle. The nave was lighted by lancets, of which two survive at the west end. Externally a portion of the corbel-table can be seen on the south side of the nave towards the west end.
The remarkable cylindrical font, carved with a pattern of linked roundels, dates from the early 12th Century, or possibly before.
The chancel was rebuilt on a larger scale in the 14th century. It is a fine example of 'decorated' architecture with a five-light east window and three three-light windows on either side. The priest's sedilia and Easter sepulchre are all framed by elaborately crocketted canopies, and the pointing hand carved on the arch of the Easter sepulchre is an unusual feature. The south aisle and porch were also added in the first half of the 14th century. The former is separated from the nave by an arcade of three arches. The battlemented tower was built in the 15th century.
A brass inscription which once marked the grave of Robert Knody, a fellow of All Souls, who held the vicarage for 47 years (1465-1512), is now fixed to the north wall of the chancel, and there is also a brass inscription to Robert Whitton (d.1611/12) and his wife Mary.
Early in the reign of Charles I the appearance of the east end of the church was altered through the erection of two large tombs, one on either side of the altar. They have recumbent effigies and were originally surmounted by canopies on red marble pillars. One, which has two children kneeling beneath, commemorates William Deane of Nethercote (d. 1621) and his wife Isobel (d. 1624); the other is the tomb of Mrs Deane's sister, Lady Dorothy Fleetwood (d. 1629), and of her husband Sir Thomas Fleetwood of Missenden (d. 1625). These tombs now stand at the west end of the chancel, but they have lost their canopies.
In the Jodrell chapel an immense wall-monument commemorates the death of Sir Paul Jodrell in 1728. The inscription gives details of his life and enumerates all the members of the Rolles family buried in the church since 1536. Another inscription records that the chapel was repaired by his son Paul Jodrell in 1734. A marble monument by P Bazzanti of Florence was erected in 1833 to Richard Paul Jodrell (d. 1831).
The following memorials are also in the church: A marble wall monument with a bust of John Scrope, Secretary to the Treasury (d. 1752); marble tablets to Frances Samwell (d. 1730); Prudence Lenten (d. 1731); Francis Fane (d. 1757); Mrs Charlotte Fane (d. 1758); Thomas Skeeler, vicar (d. 1736); Charles B Hawkins, vicar (d. 1835). There are brass inscriptions to members of the Fane family of Wormsley; Major John Fane (d. 1908); Col. John Fane (d. 1875); J H S Fane (d. 1908): and to Francis L Fane (d. 1954).
There are two very handsome chancel windows in the pre-Raphaelite style dated 1836 and 1868. In 1936 a stained glass window was erected in the nave to the memory of the Rev. M B Thurburn (vicar 1920-1934) and his wife.
The church owns an engraved silver chalice and paten cover, both of 1576, and a plain silver paten of 1658. (Not now kept in the church). At some time before 1822 a new roof was constructed. A drawing at that date shows that the roof of the medieval church was once high pitched and had been lowered. The marks of the old roof were then visible on the tower. In 1845 the chancel was completely restored at the charge of All Souls College, and was carried out with considerable care. The removal of the Caroline tombs from the east end set free the sedilia and revealed the credence table.
The old pews were taken out of the nave about 1836, and in 1844 the flat lead roof which had previously covered the nave was removed and replaced by a tiled roof of the original pitch. The church was refloored in 1883. The Jodrell chapel was restored in 1914 by Sir Alfred Jodrell. Electric light was installed in 1936. The organ was removed in 1949 from the south aisle to the west end of the church, so allowing the south aisle to be refurnished as a chapel as a thank offering for the preservation of the church and parish in the second world war. A few fragments of medieval stained glass have been worked in to the heads of the chancel windows, and the old floor tiles, which were once scattered in various parts of the church, have been brought together and laid down at the entrance to the vestry. One medieval monument remains - not in its original position - the stone effigy of a lady in wimple and long gown, now lying in the chancel. Her coat of arms perhaps show her to have been the wife of John Trumpeton, who was one of the jurors of the parish in 1341. On the chancel pavement there once lay the brass of the rector John de Aldebourne, who was still living in 1352, a half figure with amice, alb, and an undated inscription. The figure is now fixed to the south wall of the chancel, and a fragment of the inscription is on the north wall.
Before 1950, when a new treble bell was added, there were five bells, all of them with inscriptions such as 'Feare God', 'Hope in God', and 'Prayes God'. There is also a sanctus bell of 1744. The registers date from 1658.
The above information has been extracted from the Victoria History of the County of Oxford, O.U.P. Volume 8, pages 109-114. Thanks are due to the editor for permission to use it.