Radley 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 northeast of the centre of Abingdon,

Oxfordshire 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 parish includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Lower Radley on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. It was part of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is home to Radley College, a famous boarding

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

for boys from the age of thirteen to eighteen that consists of 690 pupils.

Parish church

The

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 James the Great was built in about 1290. The church is built of stone, but unusually its roof is supported by wooden pillars installed by a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Abbot of Abingdon The Abbot of Abingdon was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictines, Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire (present-day Oxfordshire), England. The following is a list of abbots of Abin ...

, who was told in a vision to ''"seek hemin the forest"''. The present south

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 ...

dates from the 14th century but 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

were rebuilt in the 15th century. The windows contain Royal

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

from the latter part of the 15th century and from the

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...

. In the tower is a stained-glass portrait believed to represent

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufo ...

. The church is missing both its north aisle and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

, which were destroyed during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The south doorway is 15th century, but an inscription on the present door states that it was made in 1656. In the chancel, there is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

to the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

, Sir William Stonehouse (died 1632), made by Nicholas Stone. The canopy over the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is said to have originally stood behind the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

's chair in the House of Commons and was given to the church by a local man, Speaker

William Lenthall William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the English Civil War, Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before ...

, in 1643. If so, it is the canopy from under which Parliamentarian soldiers dragged Lenthall at the end of the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. St. James' is a Grade II* listed building. The tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of six bells. Abel Rudhall of Gloucester cast five of them including the tenor in 1754. Mears and Stainbank 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 present treble bell in 1952. St. James' also has a Sanctus bell that Henry I Knight of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

cast in 1617. The former vicarage next to the church was built in the 15th century. Past incumbents of the parish have included the future bishops Charles Gore (1893–95) and James Nash (1895–98).

Radley Hall

Abingdon Abbey held the manor of Radley until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, George Stonehouse built a house in Radley Park, but in 1727 the Stonehouse family replaced this with a new

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, Radley Hall. Early in the 19th century the house was leased for a time as a

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

school, and from 1847 it was leased to William Sewell who founded Saint Peter's College, Radley. The school is now generally referred to as Radley College. FirstGreatWestern @ Radley

Wick Hall

Wick Hall is located between Radley and Thrupp Lake, off Audlett Drive. It is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

country house, built in about 1720 for the Tomkins family. The decoration includes Flemish wood panelling, taken from Exeter College chapel. The house was acquired by the Dockar-Drysdale family in 1850, and extended for them by

Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...

in the 1870s.

Railway

In 1844 the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

opened an extension from Didcot to Oxford, passing through Radley parish. In 1873 the GWR opened

Radley railway station Radley railway station serves the villages of Radley and Lower Radley and the town of Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, England. It is on the Cherwell Valley Line between and , measured from . History The station was formerly a junction station f ...

southwest of the village. It is now served by

trains.

Radley Lake

South of the village are current and former gravel pits. The disused pits have flooded, forming a number of lakes. In 1985 the Central Electricity Generating Board began filling some of these lakes with waste ash from Didcot Power Station. In June 2005 Npower applied for permission to fill in two more lakes. Npower soon withdrew Bullfield Lake from its proposal, but continued with its proposal for the larger Thrupp Lake. Local opposition formed into a protest campaign called Save Radley Lakes. In December 2008 Npower finally announced that it ''"no longer needed"'' Thrupp Lake and withdrew its application. Radley StJames Font

Amenities

Radley has a Church of England primary school, a village hall and a Women's Institute. There is a public house, the Bowyer Arms, controlled by Greene King Brewery. Radley Cricket Club plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division Three.

History society

Radley has a local history society which has produced a number of publications and maintains an archive of local material. ''Radley vicarage'' by Radley History Club, 2005. A report of a 'buildings record' survey and archive research undertaken to determine the history, construction, and later development of this 14th-century building ''The history of Radley'' by Patrick Drysdale … [and others] Radley History Club, 2002. History of the village from prehistory to the present.

Notable residents

Included among Radley's former residents are: Dr. Gary Botting, now an extradition lawyer in Canada, who attended the Church of England Primary School and began collecting moths in Radley in 1948.Heather and Gary Botting, ''The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984) Preface, p. xii.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * *

External links

{{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Populated places on the River Thames