| Eynsham | |
|---|---|
 St Leonard's parish church | |
  Eynsham Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Population | 4,648 (parish, includingBarnard Gate) (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP4309 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Witney |
| Postcode district | OX29 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Eynsham Online! |
| |
Eynsham/ˈɛnʃəm/ ⓘ is a village andcivil parish in theWest Oxfordshire district, inOxfordshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) north-west ofOxford and east ofWitney. The2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648.[1] It was estimated at 5,087 in 2020.[2]
Eynsham's name is first attested in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, which took its present form in the later ninth century, asEgonesham. (TheChronicle portrays the settlement as one of four captured by aWest Saxon named Cuthwulf in 571 CE following theBattle of Bedcanford. The historicity of the battle is, however, in doubt.) The name is thought to derive from theOld Englishpersonal nameÆgen, in itsgenitive formÆgenes, combined with the wordhamm ("river-meadow"). Thus the name once meant "Ægen's river-meadow".[3]
Eynsham grew up near the historically important ford ofSwinford on theRiver Thames flood plain. Excavations have shown that the site was used in theBronze Age (3000–300 BCE) for a rectilinear enclosure edging a gravel terrace.[citation needed] Evidence has been found of 6th–7th-century Saxon buildings[4] at New Wintles Farm,[5] about three-quarters of a mile (1 km) from the present parish church. There is evidence that Eynsham had an earlyminster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th centuries.[4] In the reign of the early ninth-century Mercian kingCenwulf, Eynsham was the site of aroyal manor of three-hundredhides.[6]: 32
In 1005 Aethelmar, kinsman ofAethelred II founded aBenedictine abbey on the site of the earlier minster. The first abbot wasÆlfric of Eynsham, a prolific writer inOld English.[7] TheDomesday Book of 1086 includes a paragraph on the settlement, then known as Eglesham.[8] By 1302 Eynsham had a wharf handling cargo that included hay, straw, malt, grain andtimber, beside the laterTalbot Inn on Wharf Stream, a tributary of the Thames. By the medieval periodEynsham Abbey was among the largest in the area. It succumbed to theReformation in 1538 and few remains can be seen today. After the dissolution, its estates were granted to Sir George Darcy.[8]
By 1790 a newly completedOxford Canal was trading with Eynsham Wharf, mainly to sell coal from theMidlands.[9] From 1792 the Oxford Canal employed awharfinger at Eynsham[10] and in 1800 bought the lease of the wharf.[11] It consolidated its position by buying the Talbot Inn in 1845 and the freehold of Eynsham Wharf in 1849,[12] perhaps in response to therailway mania that was taking traffic from canals and navigations.Eynsham Lock, on the Thames just above the confluence with Wharf Stream, was the lastflash lock on the Thames, not rebuilt as apound lock until 1928. The village suffered several fires in its history.[13] Among the worst were a Whit Monday morning one in 1629,[13] which destroyed 12 houses[14] and another in 1681 that destroyed 20.[13] By the early 19th century the parish had its ownfire engine in a parish fire station on the ground floor of the early 18th-century Bartholomew Room, where it remained up to 1949.[15]
The Bartholomew Room was built in 1703 from an endowment of John Liam Bartholomew in 1701 to found a parishcharity school.[15] Its lower storey wasarcaded, presumably as market premises,[15] but the arcades were walled up in the later 19th century.[15] While some parts of the ground floor continued to serve as the fire station; others were turned into a village gaol.[15] From 1928, a local Roman Catholic congregation used the upper room for its services.[16] In 1983 the parish council bought and restored the building.[15]
By the mid-18th century, Swinford had a ferry, but the main road was in poor condition. Heavier road traffic between Oxford andWitney preferred to pass further north viaBladon, where the better-maintainedOxford–Woodstock and Witney–Woodstock roads met. When the latter became aturnpike in 1751, the road via Eynsham and Swinford ferry was included as a branch.[15] In 1769 theEarl of Abingdon openedSwinford Toll Bridge to replace the ferry. The Witney–Woodstock road ceased to be a turnpike in 1869, but the Witney–Oxford road remained one until 1877.[15] Eynsham was a major coaching stop on theLondon–Fishguard road.[citation needed] Since 1922 this has been numbered as theA40. There is a planned expansion of the A40 between Eynsham and Witney into a dual carriage way, with work expected to commence in 2023 should planning permission be granted.[17] In 1936 a bypass for the main road was built north of the village and the road over Swinford bridge renumbered as B4044.
TheWitney Railway between Witney andYarnton opened through Eynsham parish in 1861.The station was on the south side of the village. TheGreat Western Railway took over the line in 1890 and enlarged Eynsham station in 1944.British Railways closed the line to passenger trains in 1962 and in 1970 to goods traffic. The track was dismantled. The station has since been demolished and a business park built there. In February 2015 the Witney Oxford Transport Group proposed reopening the station as an alternative to improving theA40 road as proposed byOxfordshire County Council. The case centred on the severe traffic congestion on the roads to and from Oxford.[18]
Local industries include gravel extraction and a factory for superconducting magnets,Siemens Magnet Technology Ltd.[19]
TheChurch of England parish church,St Leonard's, was built the 13th century. In the 15th, the nave was rebuilt, aclerestory and north aisle were added and a west tower was built.[20] There areMass dials on the south wall. The building was restored three times: byWilliam Wilkinson in 1856,Harry Drinkwater in 1892[20] and over eight years in the 1980s.[citation needed] The west tower has aring of six bells. James Keene ofWoodstock cast the third in 1653. Richard Keene cast the fifth in 1673.John Taylor & Co ofLoughborough cast or recast the treble, second, fourth and tenor bells in 1895. The church also has aSanctus bell that Mears and Stainbank of theWhitechapel Bell Foundry cast in 1924.[21] St Leonard's is aGrade II* listed building.[22]
TheBaptist church in Lombard Street was opened in either 1808[23] or 1818.[24]
In 1895 Herbert May founded aRoman Catholic mission at his home, Newland Lodge.[16] The lodge burnt down in 1897, after which Mass was said at the Railway Inn until May had a new house built for him.[16] The mission closed when May moved to Oxford.[16] In 1928 the Roman Catholic parish of Witney leased the upper storey of the Bartholomew Room, making it St Peter's Chapel.[16] Building of a new Roman Catholic church began in the 1930s but was delayed by the Second World War and completed only in 1967.[16]
Eynsham Primary School[25] is a community primary school. Eynsham'sBartholomew School[26] is the county secondary school for the district. As a specialist technology college, it draws pupils mainly from primaries at Eynsham, Standlake, Stanton Harcourt, Freeland, Cassington and Hanborough.[26]
Eynsham Football Club plays in theOxfordshire Senior League Division One.[27] Eynsham Sports and Social Club plays in Witney and District Football League Division Three and its reserve team in Division Four.[28] Eynsham Cricket Club[29] plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association League Division Three.[30]
Eynsham has aWomen's Institute[31] and aMorris dancing troupe.[32]
In order of birth:
Godden, Malcolm (1885–1900)."Ælfric of Eynsham".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved25 November 2014.
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