Prescote is a

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 ...

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 ...

about north of

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

in Oxfordshire. Its boundaries are the

River Cherwell The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire. The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...

in the southeast, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Cherwell called Highfurlong Brook in the west, and Oxfordshire's boundary with

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in the northeast.

History

Prescote's

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 ...

probably means "priest's cottage", referring to a cottage either owned by a priest or more likely inhabited by one. Legend associates Prescote with

Saint Fremund Saint Fremund, also known as Freomund, was a ninth-century saint, hermit and martyr in Anglo-Saxon England. He is venerated at both the village of Prescote in Oxfordshire, where he is patron saint, and at Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire. Legend an ...

, a

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

n prince held to have been martyred in the 9th century AD. The manor of Prescote is not listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086, but had appeared by 1208-09, when the

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

was the feudal overlord. Prescote comprised two manors that were held separately until 1417-1419, when

John Danvers Sir John Danvers (c. 1585–buried 28 April 1655) was an English courtier and politician who was one of the signatories of the death warrant of Charles I. Life Danvers was the third and youngest son of Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey, Wiltshire, ...

(died 1449) of Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, acquired both of them. In 1796, his descendant Sir Michael Danvers, 5th Baronet (1738–1776) died without a male heir and left Prescote to his son-in-law Augustus Richard Butler. In 1798, Butler sold the estate to the Pares family, who in 1867 sold it to

Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone (25 September 1796 – 17 November 1883) was a British banker and politician. Background and education Loyd was the only son of the Rev. Lewis Loyd and Sarah, daughter of John Jones, a Manchester banker. H ...

. In 1883, Baron Overstone died without a male heir and left his estates to his daughter, Harriet, Lady Wantage. On her death in 1920, Prescote was sold to A.P. McDougall, whose Midland Marts company opened a cattle stockyard in 1921 beside railway station. By 1964, Prescote belonged to Anne Crossman, the wife of

Richard Crossman Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...

M.P., a descendant of the Danvers family. Prescote

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

has traces of a mediaeval moat, but a date-stone over the door of the present house indicates that it was built in 1691 by Sir Pope Danvers, 2nd Baronet (1644–1712). The house was extended early in the 19th century. The house at Prescote Manor Farm, about northeast of the Manor House, is dated 1693. Prescote had a mill on the River Cherwell, called ''Boltysmylle'' in 1482 and Boltes Mill in 1613. By 1654, there was a "Prescote Mill", which may be the same as the earlier Boltes Mill. By 1703, the mill was in disrepair but its remains were still recorded as extant in 1797-98 and 1823. Today only its mill stream survives. The mill's decline may be linked with the manor's transition from arable to sheep farming. In 1547, a Danvers leased land at Prescote to a shepherd, and in 1797 it was reported that most of the of the farm attached to Prescote Manor was ''"old inclosed"'' pasture.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * {{Cherwell Hamlets in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire