| Ickford | |
|---|---|
 St. Nicholas' parish church | |
  Ickford Location withinBuckinghamshire | |
| Population | 680 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP6407 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Aylesbury |
| Postcode district | HP18 |
| Dialling code | 01844 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Ickford parish council |
| |
Ickford is a village andcivil parish in theunitary authority area ofBuckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary withOxfordshire, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of themarket town ofThame.
TheRiver Thame forms both the southern boundary of the parish and Ickford's part of the county boundary with Oxfordshire. A stream that is a tributary of the Thame bounds the parish to the west and north.
The villagetoponym is derived fromOld English meaning "Icca's ford". TheDomesday Book of 1086 records it asIforde.[3] From the 12th to the 14th centuries it evolved throughYcford,Hicford,Hitford,Ikeford andIckeforde[3] before later reaching its present form.
The Domesday Book records thatMiles Crispin held fourhides of land at Ickford.[3] Crispin was linked withWallingford Castle, and through him themanor of Ickford became part of theHonour of Wallingford.[3] In the 13th century the Appleton family were the lower lords of this manor.[3] It is not recorded who held this manor before theNorman Conquest of England.[3]
It is recorded that before the Conquest a second manor at Ickford was held by Ulf, a man ofHarold Godwinson.[3] The Domesday Book recordsRobert, Count of Mortain as holding this second manor, with theBenedictineGrestain Abbey as hismesne lord.[3] By 1359Wilmington Priory inSussex, an English cell of the abbey, was the mesne lord.[3] By 1377William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, who had succeeded to some of the de Mortain lands, was Ickford's overlord.[3]
Towards the end of the 12th century Bartholomew de Ickford was the lower lord of one of Ickford's manors, apparently that belonging to Grestain Abbey.[3] By the time his great-grandson John held the manor in 1302–03, the family carried the surname "atte Water".[3] William atte Water died in 1313, by which time the family held both manors and they seem to have been merged.[3]
Members of the Appleton and Ickford families granted lands at Ickford toGodstow Abbey in Oxfordshire and thePriory of St Frideswide, Oxford.[3] In the 14th century the atte Water family gave land toBisham Priory inBerkshire.[3]Bradwell Priory also claimed the atte Waters had granted it land at Ickford.[3] In the 16th century the Bisham Priory lands passed to Thomas Tipping, who from 1585 held the"manors of Great and Little Ickford".[3] He died in either 1595[4] or 1601[3] and is commemorated by a large monument in the parish church.[3] Thomas's great-grandson SirThomas Tipping, who inherited the estate in 1627,[3] was a moderateParliamentarian in theEnglish Civil War. His son, alsoThomas Tipping, inherited the estate in 1693[3] and was created abaronet in 1698. In 1703 he obtained an Act of Parliament that allowed him to sell the estate.[3]
In Little Ickford, Manor Farm or the New Manor House is a timber-framed building with a 16th-century south range and a 17th-century north block and staircase.[4][5] The walls of one of the ground floor rooms in the north block has late-17th-century decorative painting now largely concealed behind early-18th-century panelling.[4][5] The house is aGrade II* listed building.[5]
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Nicholas dates from the late 12th or early 13th century.[6] Thenave was built in about AD 1210, with a porch in the middle of the south side.[3] Relatively narrow three-bay north and southaisles were added in about 1230, with the south aisle absorbing the original porch and taking the porch's south wall for the limit of its width.[3] The north aisle has oneNorman andEarly English Gothic 13th-centurylancet windows, one of which has a laterrere-arch with cuspedspandrels, each with a carved rosette.[3][6]
The chancel has two 13th-century lancet windows in its north wall.[3] Near the westerly of these windows is a rectangular recess that may have been asquint.[3] In its south wall are another lancet window and a 13th-century doorway.[3] TheDecorated Gothic east window is 14th-century[3] and has reticulatedtracery[6] withogees. The south wall of the chancel has at its east end a window from about 1350 that is said to have been brought from elsewhere, and towards the west end a 15th-century window with a depressed head.[3] Some of thestained glass windows are 20th-century work byNinian Comper.[4]
Thebell tower is substantiallyNorman[6] but the upper stages were remodelled in the 14th century.[3] The tower has asaddleback roof.[6]
In the nave some of the seats are 16th-century and there is awest gallery fronted with 17th-century panelling.[3] Thepulpit and itstester are also 17th-century.[3][4]
Restoration work was carried out on the building in 1856, 1875 and 1907.[3] Thelarge stone monument to the first Thomas Tipping used to be in the northaisle, but in 1906 was moved to its present position in the chancel.[3] St. Nicholas' is aGrade I listed building.[7]
The west tower has three bells. The treble was cast in about 1599, possibly by George Appowell[8] ofBuckingham.[9] Ellis I Knight ofReading, Berkshire[9] cast the tenor in 1623.[8] George Chandler ofDrayton Parslow[9] cast the youngest of the main bells in 1716.[8] There is also aSanctus bell, cast byWilliam Taylor'sOxford foundry[9] in 1847.[8]
ThePuritan ministerCalybute Downing held theliving of the parish from 1632[3] but it was then conferred onGilbert Sheldon[3][6] in 1636. Sheldon already held the living ofHackney, received that ofOddington, Oxfordshire at about the same time as Ickford, and at some time also that ofNewington, Oxfordshire. After theRestoration of the Monarchy, Sheldon was consecratedArchbishop of Canterbury in 1663. St. Nicholas' is now part of theBenefice ofWorminghall with Ickford,Oakley andShabbington.[10]
Ickford had a bridge over the River Thame by 1237, when repairs were ordered with oak fromBrill Wood.[3] In that century the bridge was variously recorded asWodebrugge orWidebrugge.[3] Countyboundary stones set into the present bridge of three stone arches suggest that it was completed in 1685.[3][4] The bridge is ascheduled monument.[12]
Therecusant dramatic poet William Joyner lived at Ickford in the 17th century.[3]
Thevillage hall was designed by the architectsDale and Son of Oxford and built in 1946.[13] The building is of fivebays separated by arches vaulting from the floor. Its extensive roof and almost all of its walls are hung with woodenshingles,[13] possibly in response to the shortage of many types of building material after theSecond World War. The hall was built entirely by a small party of volunteers from the parish:[13] an achievement commemorated by a painting over the fireplace in the hall.
Ickford has a 15th-centurypublic house, the Rising Sun. A second pub, the Royal Oak, ceased trading in about 2000.[15] Ickford also has avillage shop andpost office.
Ickford Combined School is acommunityprimary school for children between four and eleven years old and has about 115 pupils. The school also serves the adjoining parishes ofWorminghall andShabbington. The school was opened in September 1906 and has a sports hall, which was opened in February 2006.[16] There is a pre-school and an After School Club at the school.
Much of the parish is agricultural but being close toOxford and junction 8A of theM40 Ickford is increasingly a commuter village.[citation needed]
For more than 60 years an annualtug of war with neighbouringTiddington has been held each summer across theRiver Thame.[citation needed]
Media related toIckford at Wikimedia Commons