Oddington is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
about south of
Bicester
Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cherwell (district), Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an Eco-towns, eco town at North Wes ...
in
Oxfordshire, England
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. The village is close to the
River Ray
The River Ray is a tributary of the River Cherwell in south east England. It rises at Quainton Hill, Buckinghamshire and flows west through flat countryside for around to meet the Cherwell at Islip in Oxfordshire.
The Ray's catchment area i ...
on the northern edge of
Otmoor
Otmoor or Ot Moor is an area of wetland and wet grassland in Oxfordshire, England, located halfway between Oxford and Bicester. It is about above sea level, and has an area of nearly .
It is encircled by the "Seven Towns" of Otmoor: Beckley, Oxf ...
. The
2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 129.
History
The
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
is derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, possibly after the same person who gave his name to Otmoor.
Parish church
![Hamsterley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Hamsterley.jpg)
A mention of Oddington in a
Papal bull written in 1146 suggests that the village had a
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
by the middle of the 12th century. The present
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of
Saint Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
was built at the end of the 13th century and beginning of the 14th century. The
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es of the
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
are late 13th century, and the
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
is probably also from that century. Some features of the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
are early 14th century, but in 1821 the chancel was demolished and rebuilt.
Between 1884 and 1886, the church was
heavily restored under the direction of the architect
E.G. Bruton. The
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
and the north wall of the chancel were rebuilt, the
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
and north
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
were added and several windows inserted. Inside the church are two unusual monuments. The first is an early 16th-century
monumental brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...
in memory of Ralph Hamsterley, who had been parish priest and died in 1518. It is a cadaver monument, showing his corpse in its burial shroud, which is a style unusual for monumental brasses in England. Elsewhere there is an example from the late 14th century, also in memory of a parish priest, in the
parish church at Lytchett Matravers in Dorset.
![Oddington StAndrew BrowneGrave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Oddington_StAndrew_BrowneGrave.JPG)
The second unusual monument is a large
pietà
The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...
at the west end of the nave. It is decorated with
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
totems in memory of Māori servicemen killed in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The tower has three bells. The treble was cast in 1609, but the
bellfounder
Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting ...
has not been identified.
James Keene of
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
cast the tenor in 1626.
[ Thomas I Mears of the ]Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...
[ cast the youngest of the three bells in 1804.][ The ring was converted for chiming in 2012.] There is also a Sanctus bell, cast by an unknown founder in about 1614,[ but it is cracked.
]Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.
Early life
Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 ...
held the living
Living or The Living may refer to:
Common meanings
*Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms
** Living species, one that is not extinct
*Personal life, the course of an individual human's life
* Hu ...
of the parish from 1636. Sheldon already held the living of Hackney, received that of Ickford
Ickford is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary with Oxfordshire, about west of the market town of Thame.
The River Thame forms both the southern boundary of the parish and ...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
at about the same time as that of Oddington, and at some time also the living of Newington, Oxfordshire
Newington is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about north of Wallingford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 102.
Archaeology
Archaeological work in the grounds of Newington House in the early 1980s and the ...
. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, Sheldon was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
in 1663. The Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
scholar William Cureton
William Cureton (180817 June 1864) was an English Orientalist.
Life
He was born in Westbury, Shropshire. After being educated at the Adams' Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire and at Christ Church, Oxford, he took orders in 1832, became chapl ...
was curate of Oddington for a time in the 19th century. St. Andrew's is now part of the Church of England Benefice of the Ray Valley.
Transport
Railway
The nearest railway station is , from Oddington. It is served by Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains.
Chiltern Railw ...
trains to London Marylebone
Marylebone station ( ) is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone an ...
via and to Oxford via . The Buckinghamshire Railway
The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line.
Hist ...
between and passes through Charlton parish and was completed in 1851. The London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...
took it over in 1879 and opened at Oddington Crossing, northwest of the village, in 1905. The 1923 Grouping
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
made the L&NWR part of the new London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...
, which closed Oddington Halt in 1926. The LMS was nationalised as part of British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways in 1948, which ended passenger services in 1967 and reduced the line to single track. Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...
got BR to reopen the line in 1987 and Islip station in 1988. From 2014 to 2016, Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
rebuilt the railway as a main line linked to the Chiltern Main Line
The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull.
It is one of tw ...
by a junction at Bicester.
Bus
Charlton-on-Otmoor Services bus route 94 provides Oddington and neighbouring villages with a very limited Monday to Saturday service between Bicester and Oxford ''via'' Arncott
Arncott or Arncot is a village and civil parish about southeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,738.
There are two neighbourhoods: Lower and Upper Arncott. Upper Arncott is the larger neighbo ...
and Islip
Islip may refer to:
Places England
* Islip, Northamptonshire
*Islip, Oxfordshire
United States
*Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County
** Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town
**Central Islip, New York, a hamlet and census-d ...
. The H5 bus ("Stagecoach") runs hourly on weekdays only between Bicester and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington, Oxford, and will stop at the Charlton-on-Otmoor turn about one mile away.
References
Sources
*
*
External links
{{Authority control
Villages in Oxfordshire
Civil parishes in Oxfordshire
Otmoor