Ipsden 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

, about southeast of Wallingford. It is almost equidistant from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

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 ...

Saint Mary the Virgin Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke. It is said to have been the replacement for an earlier church that fell into disrepair in that century. The north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

of the present church was built in the 12th century and retains a Norman window. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

arch is 13th century and the present south doorway is 14th century. There had been a south aisle but this has been lost and its arcade blocked up.

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

windows occupy the south wall 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 ...

where the arcade had been. The chancel east window is also Perpendicular Gothic. The south porch was added in 1634 and the belfry in the 19th century. It is of five bays and built of red brick with a pattern of blue bricks. St. Mary the Virgin parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a

benefice 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 ...

that also includes the parishes of Checkendon, North Stoke, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Woodcote. The date of the

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

has been disputed: the former

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

(DoE) dated it to 1643 but the architectural historians Jennifer Sherwood and Sir

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

considered 1700 to be more likely.

Ipsden House

Ipsden House was built in the 17th century. It was remodelled in the 18th century, probably 1764 which is the date on the rainwater heads, and one wing was gothicised in 1800. In the grounds is a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

that the DoE dated to the 15th century but Sherwood and Pevsner consider to be 17th century. Early in the 19th century Ipsden House was the home of John and Anne-Marie Reade. Their son

Charles Reade Charles Reade (8 June 1814 – 11 April 1884) was a British novelist and dramatist, best known for the 1861 historical novel '' The Cloister and the Hearth''. Life Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, to John Reade and Anne Marie Sco ...

, born at Ipsden in 1814, became a novelist and dramatist. In 1823 their second daughter, Julia Susanna, was married to the missionary Allen Francis Gardiner (1794–1851). Their other son, John Thurlow Reade died in India in 1827, and there is a pyramidal stone monument to him in a field around north of Ipsden House. Another member of the family, the historian and explorer William Winwood Reade (1838–75), is buried in St. Mary's churchyard. Between 1930 and 1939, Ipsden House was the home of novelist Rosamond Lehmann and her husband Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford. Close to the house is a small

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

ical in style. It is not ancient but was created in 1827.

Braziers Park

Braziers Park was built late in the 17th century: a date-stone in the cellar says 1688. It was gothicised and ornamentally castellated in about 1799 by the builder and architect Daniel Harris. It is now a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Since 1950 it has been the premises of an educational trust, the Braziers Park School of Integrative Social Research. Since 2008 Braziers park has hosted the annual

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

festival.

Other historic features

Ipsden Farm Barn

Ipsden Farm, just west of the village, has an 18th-century barn built of brick on an L-shaped plan with roofs that are tiled and hipped. The barn is unusually large, being built of 24 bays and having five entrance porches. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Richard Boyle

The Olympic rower Richard Boyle was born at Ipsden in 1888.

Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden (born Erich Roll; 1 December 1907 – 30 March 2005) was a British academic economist, public servant and banker. He was made a life peer in 1977. Biography Roll was born in Nowosielitza, Austro-Hungarian E ...

(1907–2005) lived at Ipsden.

Ipsden Well

This well is situated next to the church and dates from 1865. It was presented to the community of Ipsden by an Indian gentleman named Maharaja Sir Deonarayun Singh, a year after the well at Stoke Row opened. It remained in use until piped water arrived in 1948.

Amenities

Ipsden has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and village store. Ipsden had a former

village school One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...

in a part of the village called Newtown. It is now a pre-school for children 3–5 years old. Ipsden has a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

, an amateur dramatic company and a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

club. The parish includes the hamlet of Hailey, immediately north of Ipsden village. Hailey has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, the King William IV.Ipsden Village: The King William Pub
/ref> The parish includes Well Place, which used to have a zoo but has now closed down.

References

Sources

External links

{{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire District