CELEBRATING THE BIRTHDAY OF 'BANBURY'S OLDEST RESIDENT' (WILLIAM KITE, 1952)

In February 1952, a local newspaper reported that 'Banbury's oldest resident', William Kite of 288 Broughton Road, celebrated his 98th birthday.

When asked how he'd achieved such a grand old age, Mr Kite replied: "Plenty of fresh air, me pipe, and the occasional pint"!

If anyone's connected to him and would like more info, feel free to comment below, and I'll send you a private message! There was some other stuff written about him in the article.

A PAINFUL ACCIDENT (LAUNTON, 1859)

On 1st September 1859, an accident occurred in the village of Launton.

Mr Samuel Malins - of Hungerhill Farm, Launton - was driving his wife and children home from a tea party hosted by the Reverend J Blomfield that evening, when their horse shied unexpectedly at something in the road, turning sharply and throwing Mr Malin's out of the cart.

Mr Malins unfortunately suffered one broken knee and another dislocated knee, which must have been very painful! Mrs Malins and the children were also thrown from the vehicle, but were not seriously injured. Luckily, Samuel Malins lived to tell the tale!

It was a nasty end to an otherwise enjoyable evening - 100 children, along with their parents and around 60 wealthy parishioners, had enjoyed tea, cake and entertainment in the Rectory garden, courtesy of the aforementioned Rev. Blomfield. A local newspaper reported: "The guests appeared delighted with the festivities, and the best of feeling prevailed".

COULD THIS BE YOUR 115 X GREAT GRANDFATHER?

No... That number wasn't a typo! Whilst excavating the site of the ancient Roman settlement of Alchester (which was once located somewhere between Bicester and Wendlebury), archaeologists stumbled across the tombstone of Oxfordshire's oldest named resident: Lucius Valerius Geminus.

Lucius was a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion, and had been born in what was then known as 'Forum Germanorum' ('the marketplace of the Germans') - a small frontier town at the foot of the Alps in northwest Italy.

Sometime during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, Lucius joined the army. He took part in several battles against the Germanic Chatti tribe - one of Rome's most powerful opponents - then went on to take part in the invasion of Britain in 43 AD, under the command of the future emperor, Vespasian.

He would have retired from military service sometime between 44 and 60 AD, as a legionary's average period of service was around 25 years in duration.

Lucius lived out his retirement at Alchester, and died there. We know that he must have left heirs (who probably still have living descendents in the area today!), because they are the ones who erected his tombstone, which read:

“To the souls of the departed: Lucius Valerius Geminus, the son of Lucius, of the Pollia voting tribe, from Forum Germanorum, veteran of the Second Augustan Legion, aged 50[?], lies here. His heir had this set up in accordance with his will.”

The tombstone - discovered in 2003 - was probably deliberately broken up during the 3rd century, and reused when Alchester's new town walls were built; Lucius' remains have never been found.

His tombstone is now housed at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, which is a fabulous place to visit (and is free to enter!).

Just think... Some of us may well be descended from Lucius! But alas, we shall never know...

Based on the math (which suggests that a new generation occurs every 20 or so years), this would make Lucius our 115 - 120 x great grandfather, which is absolutely mindboggling!

A TREAT FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN (SOULDERN, 1870)

In May 1870, the Oxford Times reported that 150 schoolchildren at Souldern were treated to "a plentiful supply of tea and cake, supplied by Mr and Mrs Hurlstone". The tables were presided over by Misses Hill, Hall, Aplin, Shipway, Bennett and Holloway, and Mrs Dungate.

After tucking into their scrumptious tea, the children then took part in an afternoon of sports and singing, before "returning to their homes highly delighted with their day's enjoyment".

THE BATTLE FOR ISLIP BRIDGE (ISLIP, 1645)

In 1645, during the English Civil War, occupying Royalist troops were beaten by Oliver Cromwell during this little-known skirmish.

Islip was considered to be of great strategic importance, due to its location on the River Cherwell.

A force of 3,000 Royalist troops took up positions on the ridge overlooking the river at Islip, causing the Parliamentary force to abandon their march to Oxford, which they intended to attack. In July of 1645, Parliamentarian Lord Fairfax ordered his men to demolish the bridge, which was described as having been 'new-built'.

Throughout the course of the war, the village was occupied several times by soldiers from both sides. The bridge was rebuilt shortly after the end of the Civil War, and in 1675, it was described as having six arches.

THE OTMOOR RIOTS (OTMOOR, 1805)

Otmoor was once nothing but miles of open marshland, where the inhabitants of the surrounding villages - known collectively as the 'Seven Towns of Otmoor' (Charlton-on-Otmoor, Noke, Oddington, Horton-cum-Studley, Beckley, Fencott & Murcott) - enjoyed what was known as 'commoner's rights'; this meant that they were free to graze their livestock on the moor.

In 1805, this situation changed, when the local gentry decided that they'd profit more by fencing off the area, draining it and selling it off in small lots. Understandably, this made the local villagers very angry.

The Reverend Samuel Crawley, rector of Oddington, wrote in 1830: "From time immemorial up to 1805 Otmoor was a free common of 4000 acres, and the inhabitants of Beckley, Horton, Charlton, Fencot, Murcott, Oddington, and Noke had the right of grazing cattle, sheep, and horses. Enormous flocks of geese and ducks were also reared. In 1805 an act for draining and allotment was obtained, and canals made across the swamp, and the Ray brook widened. In 1830, Otmoor was enclosed and the inhabitants of the various villages lost their rights of free pasturage. Hence the riots which broke out in that year. The 5th Dragoon Guards were quartered at Oxford to quell the riots, and there was a detachment of the 1st Life Guards at Oddington, and the officers lived at the Rectory. Mr Serle, son of Rector Serle, told me last year, when he called upon me, that he could distinctly remember, as a little child, seeing the swords and the helmets in the Rectory hall, and the officers at their dinner. Trees were felled by the rioters, gates broken up, the canals cut in order to flood the enclosed lands, and much damage done. Many rioters were imprisoned, among whom I find the names of John Ward, of Noke, and George Savage and Richard Sergeant, of Charlton. Fortunately, there was little bloodshed. In this way, the inhabitants were unjustly deprived of their rights of free pasturage - a sad pity."

As Reverend Crawley recalled, hordes of agricultural labourers stood up to their rich counterparts, breaking fences and deliberately tampering with the new drainage ditches in an attempt to make their grievances known. It was said that the rioters donned women's cloaks and wore black scarves over their heads, patrolling the moor each night 'armed with billhooks, hatchets, pitchforks and staves'.

Authorities attempted to bribe people in the locality to give up the names of those responsible, leading to the following well-known rhyme:

"I went to Noke, and nobody spoke.
I went to Brill, they were silent still.
I went to Thame, it was just the same.
I went to Beckley, they spoke directly."

There are also several other versions of the rhyme.

Everything came to a head on September 6, 1830, when about 1,000 people walked the seven mile circumference of Otmoor in broad daylight, destroying every fence in their way.

The Riot Act was read to them, and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry was summoned. But they refused to disperse, and 66 rioters were arrested, 41 of whom were loaded aboard wagons to be taken to Oxford gaol, escorted by 21 yeoman. The men were not restrained, so, when a large mob from the St. Giles Fair in Oxford attacked the escort with stones and bricks, the prisoners escaped.

 

DYING WOMAN'S WISHES CAUSE A RUCKUS IN LAUNTON (1844, LAUNTON) 

In July 1844, the dying wishes of a woman called Rebecca Savin caused a bit of a ruckus in Launton!

Rebecca had been a member of the Wesleyan Church for thirteen years, but on her death bed, she expressed a wish to be buried beside her relatives and friends in St Mary's churchyard. When Reverend Allies was informed of this, he was incensed with rage! He not only refused to allow Rebecca to be interred at St Mary's, but also refused to have anything to do with her burial whatsoever, due to her being a Dissenter!

It was proven to Rev. Allies that the deceased had been baptised at St Mary's, but still, he was adamant that "no Dissenter should be allowed to mingle with his church-people"!

Rebecca's friends and family pleaded with the Reverend to fulfill her wishes, and in the end, he relented - although he felt that she ought to be buried at the extremity of the churchyard, which - in his opinion - was "the only place fitting for her sort"! He also made it known that he felt that she should be carried to St Edburg's in Bicester, where the Reverend there might be more sympathetic to the "Dissenter's cause".

Undeterred, Rebecca's loved ones went to see the parish clerk, and paid the fees for a grave to be dug in the section of the churchyard closest to her relatives - which went against the wishes of the Reverend Allies! He apparently "endeavoured to prevent the grave being dug, but could not, nearly all appearing against him".

Rev. Allies sent for two constables, hoping that they'd put a stop to this "madness", but unfortunately for him, they turned on him rather than Rebecca's kin! Apparently, Rev. Allies had "become quite maniacal" in his rage, so the policemen ordered him to comply, lest he be arrested!

On the day of Rebecca's burial, Rev. Allies was forced to officiate, though he did only the bare minimum required. I daresay that his blood pressure rose considerably when he heard the mourners singing hymns from a Wesleyan book whilst her coffin was lowered into the ground!

The vast majority of the mourners "expressed their disgust at Rev. Allies' unfeeling and intolerant conduct", but ultimately, Rebecca and those who cared about her won! I like to think that, if there is some sort of afterlife, Rebecca was smiling and chuckling down at the sight of the clearly incandescent Reverend that afternoon!

THIS LITTLE PIGGY... (1864, BICESTER) 

In 1864, the inhabitants of Bicester were forced to abide by a new piece of legislation, which expressly forbade the washing of pigs on footpaths... Was swine-scrubbing along public rights of way endemic during the 19th century?! 🤔 It certainly conjures up some rather amusing images in my mind! 🤣🐷

This immediately reminded me of the old phrase 'hogswash', but I did a bit of digging, and it would appear that it didn't actually stem from this law... It is actually derived from the term 'hoggeswash', coined much earlier in at least the 14th century (if not before), used to describe the swill/slops full of kitchen leftovers which were routinely fed to pigs!

(Image courtesy of Pinterest).

FROM BRABANT TO BICESTER (15th CENTURY) 

By the early 15th century, at least one foreigner had settled in Bicester: his name was Hans Taillour 'of Merebek'! He had originated in the Brabant region of the European Low Countries (now part of Belgium and the Netherlands, having been divided up into several individual provinces)!

I wonder if the long lines of Taylor families that are known to have lived in Bicester throughout the centuries were descended from Hans? Sadly, we will never know!

BICESTER UNION WORKHOUSE STATISTICS (BICESTER, 1846)

In May 1846, the following statistics were published in the Banbury Guardian newspaper, concerning Bicester Union Workhouse; all statistics relate to the previous month (April):

Able men: 10

Temporarily disabled men: 4

Old and infirm men: 29

Male youths from 7 to 15: 49

Boys from 2 to 7: 36

Able women: 42

Temporarily disabled women: 25

Old and infirm women: 39

Girls from 7 to 15: 92

Girls from 2 to 7: 30

Infants below the age of 2 years: 29

The following amount of poor relief was paid out to non-inmates, too:

Week ending 2nd April: £80, 18s, 4d

Week ending 9th April: £90, 8s

Week ending 16th April: £88, 3s

Week ending 23rd April: £113, 12s, 1d

Week ending 30th April: £86, 8s, 7d

The workhouse could comfortably accommodate 300 inmates, and the master at this time was Mr G. Mansell.

It's quite interesting to note the difference in statistics between males and females!

CHEEKY RHYMES (BICESTER, 1915)

During the First World War, a newspaper called 'Truth' regularly published 'Freak Pronunciation Limericks', which proved quite popular!

Here's a couple of examples:

"There was a young lover of Bicester,
Who popped to a lady and kicester (kissed her),
But he felt very flat,
When she said: "none of that,
Though I'll always of course be your sicester (sister)!""

"There was a young soldier at Bicester,
Who exclaimed to his girl as he kicester (kissed her),
"If I ever come back, I may well do a slack",
But Lord! At the front, how he micester (missed her)!"

"In the dark, a young fellow of Bicester,
Proposed to a girl, and then kicester (kissed her),
When she turned on the gas,
He said, "what an ass!
I've been and proposed to the sicester (sister)!""

The above were published on 12th May 1915.

I managed to find a transcription from some manorial records, made during the time of King Edward II (who reigned between 1307 and 1327). Source: https://archive.org/stream/manormanorialrec00honeiala/manormanorialrec00honeiala_djvu.txt

Other references to Bicester and surrounding villages are made, too - simply search the page using your browser!

"EXTENT OF THE MANOR OF NONNESPLACE, IN BICESTER,
BELONGING TO THE NUNNERY OF MARKET GATE [Markyate?],
l8 EDWARD II.

Free tenants of inheritance.

John le Veche and Agnes his wife hold a messuage and
curtilage l which is between the land sometime Emma Bart-
lett's and John Baker's land. They hold also an acre of land
whereof half an acre lies under Buchomway between Hugh
Elyot's land and William Hamond's land, and the other half
acre lies in the land called Grasscroftfurlong and extends
towards Chesterton between Walter Langley's land and
William Hamond's land, and they pay for the same one half."

Messuage = land, usually with a dwelling on it.

Curtilage = area of land attached to a house, forming one enclosure.

 

THE RELOCATION OF THE SHEEP MARKET FROM SHEEP STREET TO FALLOWFIELDS (BICESTER)

Both of these photos were taken on 5th August 1910. The first shows a horse fair taking place on Sheep Street; the second shows the sheep fair taking place on a spot known as 'Fallowfields' (I've included screenshots from Google Maps to show roughly where this was located!). The sheep fair moved to the new site, which during this time was right on the edge of Bicester, shortly before.

(Images courtesy of 'Bicester & Chesterton in Old Photographs').

NICHOLAS JURDAN AND THE MEDIEVAL HOSPITAL AT BICESTER (BICESTER, 1355)

In 1355, a hermit called Nicholas Jurdan obtained the King's license to "found again" ("de novo fundare" in Latin) a hospital at the St John the Baptist Chapel, which was located close to Victoria Road/behind The Bell pub, Bicester. It would appear that Jurdan was the warden of the hospital, and that it was to be endowed, meaning that the King would allocate a certain amount of funding towards it. Sadly, no other documents pertaining to this medieval hospital have survived.

Here's some interesting information regarding medieval hospitals in England: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/medieval-hospitals-england

 

DID YOU KNOW...?

Parish registers were introduced on 5th Sept 1538 by Thomas Cromwell, the advisor to King Henry VIII, after he took a trip around Europe and realised that other countries did this. Thomas had the key role in establishing the Church of England after the King left the Church of Rome (the Catholic Church).

AN EMIGRATION OF PAUPERS (BICESTER, 1830)

In 1830, 71 adults and 40 children from the Bicester area were selected to undertake a journey to New York, USA, as part of a scheme which aimed to reduce the number of paupers relying on Poor Relief in the parish.

Although this was partly to alleviate pressure on already strained resources, the Committee genuinely wanted to help these paupers to achieve a better life elsewhere. The scheme paid for each person's passage to America, plus clothing and other provisions, along with a little money to help them begin their new lives. It was a fantastic opportunity for those who stood little chance of affording it by themselves.

They travelled by cart from Bicester to the Liverpool docks (a journey which took 5 whole days), but some - apparently too anxious to take a leap of faith - decided to turn back, leaving them no other option but to depend upon Poor Relief once they returned to Bicester.

Those who didn't turn back boarded a ship called The Warren, and set sail to New York. The full details of those who made the voyage are held at the archives in Oxford, although little is currently known about what happened to the intrepid travellers after they arrived.

The snippet below was published in the Northampton Mercury in May 1830.

The average crossing time during this period was around 6 weeks, although this varied, depending upon the weather/the type of ship used. If they encountered bad weather or adverse winds, the journey could take as long as 14 weeks.

The Warren caught fire and subsequently sunk in 1852, but luckily, the Captain and most of his crew were saved by a passing ship. They were sailing from Warren, Rhode Island, USA to the North Pacific.

THE 18TH CENTURY SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC (BICESTER, 1707)

In 1816, John Dunkin published his book 'The History and Antiquities of Bicester'. He included this interesting snippet, concerning a smallpox epidemic which struck the town in 1704:

"[the smallpox] had raged so dreadfully that the market was entirely deserted".

He also mentioned: "The marketplace was covered by grass, and bore the appearance of a meadow".

John was correct, however, he got the year wrong; the epidemic had begun in 1707, not 1704. The burials of smallpox victims were recorded in the Bicester parish registers with an asterisk (*) beside them.