Heythrop 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 authorit ...

just over east of

Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as 5 ...

. 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 Dunthrop. The 2001 Census recorded the parish population as 93.

History

Heythrop had a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

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, ...

of Saint Nicholas, but 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 ...

has been demolished and only 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. Ov ...

has been preserved as a mortuary chapel. The chapel's west doorway was the south doorway of the former nave. In 1657 an attempt to merge the

Benefices A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

Enstone Enstone is a village and civil parish in England, about east of Chipping Norton and north-west of Oxford city. The civil parish, one of Oxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Enstone, with the hamlets of Cha ...

and Heythrop was abandoned in the face of local opposition. In 1923 the incumbent of Heythrop ceased to live in the parish and in 1964 it and Enstone were finally merged. In 2001 the Benefice of

and Heythrop merged with that of

Ascott-under-Wychwood Ascott-under-Wychwood is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode valley about south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 560. Toponym The village is one of three named after the hist ...

Chadlington Chadlington is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode Valley about south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village has five neighbourhoods: Brookend, Eastend, Greenend, Millend and Westend. Archaeology There is a bowl barrow about wes ...

, and

Spelsbury Spelsbury is a village and civil parish about north of Charlbury and about southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village is on a narrow hill between the Coldron and Taston brooks overlooking the River Evenlode and the ancient Wychwo ...

to form the Chase Benefice. Heythrop House in

Heythrop Park Heythrop Park is a Grade II* listed early 18th-century English country house, country house southeast of Heythrop in Oxfordshire. It was designed by the architect Thomas Archer in the Baroque style for Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury. A fi ...

was built from 1706 onwards by the architect

Thomas Archer Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque archit ...

for

Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury, KG, PC (15 July 16601 February 1718) was an English politician who was part of the Immortal Seven group that invited Prince William III of Orange to depose King James II of England during the Glorious R ...

. It was gutted by fire in 1831 and restored to designs by the architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1871 for Albert Brassey. It was a Jesuit college from 1922 until 1969 and a training college for the

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

from 1969 until 1999. Brassey rebuilt Heythrop as a model village in the 1870s and 1880s. He encouraged the growth of the church congregation such that it outgrew its Norman building. In 1880 he had a new Church of England parish church of St. Nicholas built by the Gothic Revival architect Sir Arthur Blomfield. The south doorway incorporates 13th century mouldings from the demolished nave of the old church. Albert Brassey had the rectory built at about the same time. It remained in the Brasseys' ownership, and when the incumbent ceased to reside in the parish in 1923 it was renamed the Dower House and let as a private house. Former UK Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

was a pupil at Heythrop Primary School. The Heythrop Zoological Gardens is located near the village.

History

References

Sources and further reading

External links