Draft Bicester Conservation Area Appraisal November 2009

5.2 Development5.2.2 Tradition has it that the religious5.2.1 The modern settlement evolved fromAnglo-Saxon farmers who settled on theCornbrash, a flaggy type of limestone,either side of a ford over the River Bure andclose to the existing Saxon Minster of StEdburg’s. The first group of farms wereestablished in the vicinity of what becamethe Manor of King’s End followed by a latersettlement on the east side of the Burewhich became the Manor of Market End.The Shamblessettlement at King’s End was founded byBirinus, the seventh century Bishop ofDorchester and subsequently destroyed bythe Danes about 912. The nuns ofMarkyate, Bedfordshire obtained land hereat the beginning of the 13th century andtheir grange and the cottages of theirtenants constituted most of the settlement.By 1316 the Manor was known as King’sEnd and in 1377 a license to grant a threeday annual trade fair was granted.Markyate Priory was dissolved in 1536 byHenry VIII’s First Suppression Act and in1542, ‘the Manor of the nuns place’ wassold into private ownership. In 1584 theManor was conveyed to the Coker family,whose origins were in the west country.Bicester House remained in the ownershipof the Coker family for nearly four centuriesuntil the 1970s, during which time the familyplayed a leading role in the life of the town.NNCrockwellManor ofKings EndManor ofMarketEndSite of nuns ofMark Yate PriorySaxon MinsterAugustinianPriorySaxonEarly 15th-16thNNRailway16th –17thFigure 7: Development maps918th –19th