Swyncombe intro - Victoria County History

More documents

Recommendations

Info

VCH Oxfordshire • Texts in Progress • Swyncombe (Apr. 2012) • © University of London • p. 8 additional cottages were built on the edges of commons or in the woods. 52 A lodge existed in Ewelme Park probably from the early 15th century, when the park was first created, and in the early 17th century it was briefly superseded by a short-lived but exceptionally large mansion house. Coates (or Bacon) Farm was established by the 16th century, and possibly from the Middle Ages. 53 In the mid 19th century Park Corner (including Digberry Lane) remained the largest of the hamlets, with around 25 of the parish’s 80 houses. Cookley Green and Russell’s Water each contained around 18 households, while the remainder lay dispersed at Swyncombe House, the rectory house, Ewelme Park, Lower Farm, Coates Farm, Seymour Green, and Down Cottages. 54 Thereafter the settlement pattern remained largely unchanged, the number of houses increasing only to 85 until the boundary changes of 1952. 55 Subsequent decades witnessed relatively little new development. 56 The parish war memorial on Cookley Green, around which settlement is loosely scattered. 52 TNA, E 315/388/1; below, social hist. (16th to 18th cents). 53 Below, manor (other estates); econ. hist. (farming in 16th to 18th cents). 54 OHC, tithe award and map; TNA, HO 107/881; HO 107/1725. 55 Census, 1951; OS Maps 1:25000 SU 68 (1960 edn); 1:25000 SU 69 (1959 edn); above (par. bdies). 56 OS Map 1:25000, sheet 171 (2009 edn); below, local govt.
VCH Oxfordshire • Texts in Progress • Swyncombe (Apr. 2012) • © University of London • p. 9 The Built Character Swyncombe’s vernacular buildings are broadly typical of the Oxfordshire Chilterns. Farmhouses and cottages of 17th- to 19th-century date are thinly scattered throughout the parish, built mostly of brick, flint, and clay tile. Though varying in size and style, none (with the exception of Swyncombe House and Ewelme Park) stands out as particularly distinctive. 57 The early 18th-century Park Corner Farm, flint-built with brick quoins and dressings, brick stacks, and a tiled hipped roof, is typical of the better tenanted farmhouses. Two-storeyed with attic gables, it has a three-bay front and a double-pile plan, its rooms lit by windows with 19th- and 20th-century sashes and casements. 58 In the 19th century it was covered with ivy, and its enclosed yards included brick and timber barns, stables, and sheds, variously roofed with tile, slate, or thatch. 59 Later outbuildings used ‘iron and other materials’. 60 On the same estate the 18th-century Ewelme Park Farm, of rendered brick with a tiled gabled roof, 61 was replaced by a larger brick and slated residence in the late 19th century. The original farmhouse was sub-divided for use as labourers’ accommodation, supplementing several tied cottages which were let on service tenancies into the mid 20th century. 62 On the Swyncombe manor estate, the 17thcentury Home Farm was extended and remodelled in the 19th century, though the flint, brick, and tile of its main ranges remained wholly characteristic. 63 Among the estate’s farm buildings, the 17th-century aisled barn of four bays with a queen-post roof at Coates Farm is particularly impressive. Built on a brick and flint base, it is weatherboarded with a tiled roof. 64 Timber and thatch were probably once more common on both estates, and at Lower Farm were used in the barns and stable mentioned in the late 18th century. 65 Other 18th-century farmhouses include Darkwood and Little Parkcorner (or Chear’s) Farms, built in different styles but using the same materials of brick, flint, and tile. Decorative features at Little Parkcorner Farm include segmental brick arches over windows and door, while Darkwood Farm has a notable M-shaped gabled 57 Above, vol. intro. (bldgs). For manorial and ecclesiastical buildings, below, manor (Swyncombe House; Ewelme Park House); relig. hist. (rectory house; church archit.). 58 Bldgs List, IoE 247569. 59 Sale Cat., Ewelme Park (1889): copy in Bodl. GA Oxon. b 92*; OHC, Ta. XI/ii/3. 60 Sale Cat., Parkcorner Farm (1956): copy in OHC, SC 212. 61 Bldgs List, IoE 247555. 62 Sale Cat., Ewelme Park (1889); OHC, Ta. XI/ii/3; TNA, MAF 32/919/233, no. 1; Sale Cat., Parkcorner Farm (1956). 63 Bldgs List, IoE 247559. 64 Ibid. 247565. 65 OHC, Brakspear X/1, p. 156; ibid. QSD/L/273, s.a. 1794.
Page 1 and 2: VCH Oxfordshire • Texts in Progre
Page 7: VCH Oxfordshire • Texts in Progre

Swyncombe intro - Victoria County History

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?