| Hailey | |
|---|---|
 St John the Evangelist parish church | |
  Hailey Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Population | 1,208 (parish, including New Yatt) (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP3512 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Witney |
| Postcode district | OX29 |
| Dialling code | 01993 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Welcome to the Parish of Hailey, West Oxfordshire |
| |
Hailey is a village andcivil parish about 2 miles (3 km) north ofWitney,Oxfordshire. The village comprises three neighbourhoods:Middletown on the main road between Witney andCharlbury,Poffley End on the minor road toRamsden andDelly End on Whiting's Lane. The parish extends from theRiver Windrush in the south, almost to the village ofRamsden and the hamlet ofWilcote in the north, and it includes thehamlet ofNew Yatt. The2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,208.[1]
The OldManor House at Poffley End was a small house built of Cotswold stone in the 15th century, and was enlarged to its present size in the 16th and 17th centuries.[2] It is aGrade II* listed building.[3] Delly End has aterrace of 17th century cottages. Swanhall Farm, east of Poffley End, was built in about 1700. Hailey Manor at Delly End is anashlar-fronted earlyGeorgian house of sixbays.[2][4]
AChurch of England parish church was built in 1761[2] and extended in 1830.[5] It was demolished and replaced by the presentGothic Revival parish church of StJohn the Evangelist in 1866–69. It was designed by the youngGothic Revival architectClapton Crabb Rolfe, whose father Rev. George Crabb Rolfe was theperpetual curate. C.C. Rolfe applied his own interpretation ofFrench Gothic architecture. TheOxford Diocesan ArchitectG.E. Street condemned his initial designs as"needlessly eccentric", so Rolfe modified them. But Sherwood andPevsner describe the result as"still odd... a fantastic Gothic in colourful materials with bulbous forms and freakish detail". They single out the bell-turret as"particularly bizarre".[6] Thefont, sited in the northaisle, is from the preceding Georgian parish church.[2] St John's is a Grade II* listed building.[7] Its parish is part of theBenefice of Witney, which also includesCurbridge.[8]
AMethodist chapel was built in 1908.[2] It is now a private house.[5]
| Hailey Inclosure Act 1821 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
.svg) | |
| Citation | 1 & 2 Geo. 4. c.46Pr. |
The ancientWychwoodroyal forest included the whole of Hailey, and the northern part of the parish was mostly woodland, wood-pasture andheath. But from the 13th century onwardsassarting reduced the woodland in the north and east of the parish. The endings of localtoponyms including Delly, Hailey and Poffley all come fromleah,Middle English for a "clearing".[9] The southwest of the parish was farmed on anopen field system. Villagers seem to have enlarged the open fields by assarting in the 13th and 14th centuries, and by the early 17th century their combined area was 470 acres (190 ha).Parliament passed theHailey Inclosure Act 1821 (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c.46Pr.), which was implemented in 1822–24.[9]
From the early 13th century there was afulling mill on the Windrush in the south of the parish. It was run down in the latter half of the century, seems to have ceased trading by 1318 and may have been demolished. In the 1580s Thomas Box of Witney bought Burycroft, the land next to the former mill site, and had a newleat dug and mill built. By 1589 it was in production, and it has been called New Mill ever since. From the early 17th century, trades including fulling or tucking,broadweaving and clothing are frequently recorded in Hailey.[9] By the middle of the 18th century,blanket-making dominated Hailey's wool trade as it did Witney's.
By the early 19th century more families seem to have worked in trade and industry than in agriculture. In the early history of the trade many weaversworked at home, but in the 18th and 19th centuries New Mill increasingly dominated Hailey's cloth trade. This was despite fires damaging the mill in the late 18th century and in 1809, 1818 and 1883.[9] The Early family of Witney blanket-makers were renting at least part of the mill by 1818 and operating the whole premises by the 1820s. Legally the mill was in two parts, and in 1830 the Earlys bought one partcopyhold and the other partleasehold. Earlys bought thefreehold in 1894 and continued blanket-making there until the mid-1960s. It has since been converted to other trades.[9]
Mr T. Harris had a smithy at Witheridge Farm, south of Hailey. Upon his death in February 1960 many of his tools were donated to TheMuseum of English Rural Life.[10]
Hailey Primary School[11] was founded by the charitable bequest of a local farmer's widow, Joan Smith, in 1661. It had 18 pupils in 1802, 28 in 1815 and 30 in 1835. By the 1820s Joan Smith's endowment paid for the education of only 16 of the pupils, and the parents of the remainder had to pay fees. In 1815 the school hoped to adopt the plan of theNational Schools as soon as it could recruit a suitable teacher.[12] By 1847 the school had 45 pupils and was accommodated in a run-down cottage in the village. John Williams Clinch of Witney, who was a banker and brewer, gave land next to the Lamb and Flag Inn on which to build a new school. The architect wasWilliam Wilkinson of Witney, who was George Crabb Rolfe's brother-in-law.
The new building was completed in 1848 and had capacity for 79 pupils.[12] In 1876 the school had 73 pupils — close to full capacity — so before 1880 capacity was increased to 108. By 1889 it had 107 pupils and needed to expand again. School inspectors called for an infants' classroom, and this was added in 1892. The architect was Clapton Crabb Rolfe, who had designed the parish church and was William Wilkinson's nephew.[12]Oxfordshire County Council took over the school in 1903 and reorganised it as a junior school in 1930. Thereafter Hailey children of secondary school age went to Witney Central School. The school in Hailey became Hailey Church of EnglandVoluntary Controlled School in 1978.[12]
Hailey has an 18th-centurypublic house: the Lamb and Flag.[13] The name is a reference to the parish church being dedicated to St John the Evangelist, whoseGospel of John is the source of theLamb of God as a traditional symbol ofChrist. Hailey Cricket Club[14] plays in the Oxford Cricket Association League.[15] Witney Rugby Football Club[16] has its ground in Hailey.
