Thorpe Mandeville 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 ...

West Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire is a unitary authority area covering part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, created in 2021. By far the largest settlement in West Northamptonshire is the county town of Northampton. Its other signific ...

, England about northeast 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 neighbouring Oxfordshire. The hamlet of Lower Thorpe is just north of the village. The village's name means 'Outlying farm/settlement'. The village was held by Richard de Amundevill in 1252. The population of the parish has grown slowly over the centuries. It was recorded as 137 in the 1801 Census, 178 in the

1991 Census A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 1991, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 21 April 1991. This was the 19th UK census. ''Census 1991'' was organised by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in England and Wales, t ...

, 194 in the 2001 Census and 327 (including Edgcote) in the 2011 Census.

Manors

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 records the village as ''Thorp''. "Mandeville" is a corruption of ''Amundeville''. Richard de Amundeville was

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 ...

in the 13th century. In 1346 a house and of land at Thorpe Mandeville were listed amongst the estates of the Augustinian

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

Chacombe Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north-east of Banbury. It is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell, to the north by a tributary and to the south-east by the ...

. The Kirton family lived at Thorpe Mandeville

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 ...

from 1554 to 1685. Thomas Kirton (1537–1601) of Thorpe Mandeville was

Common Serjeant of London The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of Lon ...

. The current ironstone manor house was built early in the 18th century. The south front of the house is of five bays and is in the style of

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 ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building 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 Ir ...

Parish church

By the end of the 11th century Thorpe Mandeville 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, ...

, which was included in the early endowments to a

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wi ...

priory of the

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

La Charité-sur-Loire La Charité-sur-Loire (before 1961: ''La Charité'') is a commune in the Nièvre department and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Geography La Charité-sur-Loire lies on the right, eastern bank of the river Loire, about 25 km n ...

that had been founded at

Preston Capes Preston Capes is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. The population at the 2001 census was 188, including Canons Abbey and increasing to 216 at the 2011 census. The village's name means "Priest Farm/Settlement". The ...

in 1090 and moved to

Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...

shortly thereafter. The present Church of England parish church of Saint

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, built of local

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

, dates largely from the early part of the 14th century. The 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, par ...

has

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

windows and an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

of three bays. 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 windows dating from about 1300, the middle of the Decorated Gothic period. The chancel was restored in 1872 under the direction of the architect Albert Hartshorne. High on the east wall of the west tower is a small stone relief of a man under a

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...

. On the north wall of the north aisle is a 14th-century painting of Saint Christopher carrying

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. On the west wall of the north aisle is a

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, hist ...

to Sir Thomas Kirton (died 1601) and his wife Margaret (died 1597). The church is a

Grade I listed building 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 ...

. The

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

has a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed ...

and three bells. Henry I Bagley of

cast the second bell in 1636. John Briant of Hertford cast the treble bell in 1790. Robert Taylor, who had foundries at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and St Neots, cast the tenor bell in 1826. The parish is now part of the benefice of

Culworth Culworth is a village and civil parish about north of Brackley in West Northamptonshire, England. Culworth is also about northeast of the north Oxfordshire town of Banbury. The village stands on the brow of a hill about above sea level. The ...

with

Sulgrave Sulgrave is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Brackley. The village is just south of a stream that rises in the parish and flows east to join the River Tove, a tributary of the Great Ouse. The villag ...

and Thorpe Mandeville and

Chipping Warden Chipping Warden is a village in Northamptonshire, England about northeast of the Oxfordshire town of Banbury. The parish is bounded to the east and south by the River Cherwell, to the west by the boundary with Oxfordshire and to the north by f ...

with

Edgcote Edgcote is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Chipping Warden and Edgcote, on the River Cherwell in south-west Northamptonshire, England. The parish was bounded by the river to the north and by one of its tributaries to the ...

and

Moreton Pinkney Moreton Pinkney is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, about north of Brackley. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 371. The villages name means 'Moor farm/settlement'. It was held by the family of Pinchengi ...

Social and economic history

Thorpe Mandeville had a

Church of England school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some count ...

that was built in 1864 and enlarged in 1898.Thorpe Mandeville: State school (''sic.'')
/ref> It was closed in 1967 and the building has been the

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

since 1970. The Hill, about west of Thorpe Mandeville village, is a house designed by C.F.A. Voysey and built in 1897–98 for a member of the Hope Brooke family. In 1900 the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

completed a line linking its new main line at Culworth Junction with the Great Western Railway at Banbury Junction. The link line passed through the northern part of Thorpe Mandeville parish. In 1911 the Great Central opened west of Thorpe Mandeville and in 1913 it added at Culworth north of Thorpe Mandeville. British Railways closed both halts in 1956 and closed the line between Culworth Junction and Banbury Junction in 1966. The planned

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

railway line will pass through the area. The

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Select Committee on the bill to construct the line reported that the hamlet of Lower Thorpe would be virtually destroyed by the construction of a viaduct. The Three Conies Pub

Amenities

The village has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, the Three Conies, that is controlled by the Hook Norton Brewery. Thorpe Mandeville is on an important former

drovers' road A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; ot ...

called Banbury Lane. The Three Conies was built in the 17th century as a drovers' inn, providing overnight accommodation for drovers and their livestock.

Manors

Parish church

Social and economic history

Amenities

References

Further reading