Since 1932 Chislehampton has been part of the large Civil Parish of Stadhampton, but for the greater part of its history it has been a small Independent Parish & Township, which contained 939 acres in 1881. Chislehampton appears not to have acquired full Parochial status until 1763.
The Ancient Parish, lying some 5½-miles Southeast of Oxford, has no natural Boundaries except on the East where the River Thame divided it from Stadhampton. Its Southern & Eastern parts are low-lying, but Northwards the ground rises fairly steeply from 175-ft at Chislehampton Bridge to 290-ft at Hill Farm in the North-west corner. The Parish lies mainly on Kimmeridge Clay, with an outcrop of Gault and a small deposit of Plateau Gravel on the high ground to the North-west. Leland’s description of the Land between Haseley & Chislehampton as ‘fruitful of corn & grass, but barren of wood’ could also have been applied to Chislehampton itself in the 16thC. It ceased to be quite as true a picture after 1694 when Great Copse was 1st Planted. This wood covered 22.1 acres in 1743 and 23-acres in the 20thC. Until recently, when some of the trees were cut down, it was notable for the largest Rookery in the British Isles.
The layout of the Roads is much the same as in the 17th & 18thCs. The Principal Road runs Southwards from Oxford and crosses the Thame by Chislehampton Bridge: it is shown as a Gated Track on a Map of 1628 and the Bridge is called Doyley Bridge. In 1664 John Doyley was Licensed to Inclose part of this Road so as to enlarge his Mansion provided he made another Highway through his Lands, and the new ‘Oxford Lane‘, Hedged as far as Gotham Hill Ground, is shown on an Estate Map of 1743. The inhabitants were bound to keep it in repair. The Road to Abingdon, ‘Abingdon Lane‘, is also shown on the Map of 1628 & in 1743 it was hedged & gated at both ends.
Chiselhampton Bridge is an important Historical Site on the River Thame – Chiselhampton has long been important as a crossing over the River Thame. A Bridge has existed since at least 1398, when a Presentment complained that “the King’s Road” at “Cheselhampton Brygwey” was Flooded so that “men with horses & carts cannot pass thereby” At that time it had Timber Spans built on Stone Piers. A 1628 Estate Map recorded the Bridge as “Doyley Bridge“.
When Built it determined the Site of the Village of Chiselhampton, and the River has since marked the Boundary between Chiselhampton & Stadhampton. The earliest recorded date of the Bridge is 1444, when the men of Chiselhampton were Granted Pontage (the Right of Toll for Bridge upkeep) for it. It has been rebuilt over the years with Stone Arches, altered by multiple repairs, extended, and in 1899 widened with Steel Troughing. It is now 54M long and has 8-Stone Arches of which the Southern 4 are substantially 16thC. The Bridge played an interesting role in the Civil War – in 1642 King Charles’s Court was at Oxford, so control of the Bridges on the River Thame became vital to their Defence. In 1643 the Bridge was Gated – nobody was allowed to cross it apart from on Market Days and other minor exceptions.
Chislehampton Bridge is now 178-ft long and has 8-Arches & 5 Stone Pillars. About 40-ft to the South there is a subsidiary Bridge of 1-Arch, which spans a small tributary of the River Thame. The Main Bridge over the Thame has been of importance from an early date. In 1444 the ‘good men’ of Chislehampton were Granted Pontage for 5-yrs to be applied by the Survey & Control of Drew Barentine & Richard Quatremain. In 1500 the Bridge was described by John Leland. He wrote that he rode over 3-little Bridges of wood and then over a ‘Great Bridge’ over the Thame. There were ‘5-Great Pillars of Stone, upon the which was Laid a Timber Bridge’. As the Masonry in the North-east side of the existing Bridge seems to date from the late 16thC the Timber Structure was probably replaced by a Stone Bridge at that date. Repairs have been frequent: in 1690, for example, John Saunders was Employed as Mason and repaired it with Freestone from Headington Quarry; in 1702 Richard Darling underbuilt one of the Main Arches at a cost of £14; in 1714 John Saunders was again employed at a cost of about £18. Further work was done at intervals in the following Centuries. A John Saunders executed some substantial repairs in 1762. He let Cramps into the 6th & 7th Arches and rebuilt the West side for a length of 36-ft; in 1800 work costing over £43 was done; in 1823 John Turrill, Mason, who was regularly employed until at least 1830, submitted an estimate of over £70 for repairs; and in 1849 George Wyatt of Oxford repaired it at a cost of £234. The firm of Richard Wyatt & Son had already been at work on the Bridge in 1821. ‘Extensive repairs’ were again necessary in 1877 when the County Surveyor reported that the Masonry was ‘in a very critical state’. In about 1899 the Bridge was widened by some 9-ft with steel troughing which was shored up with Timber in the middle of the Spans in 1938; the Stonework was repaired in 1938 & 1941.
The Siting of the Village was evidently dictated by the River Crossing: it lies just to the North of it. It was once probably even more of a Riverside Village than it is now for the 1st Element in its name is derived from the Old English ceosel, cisel meaning ‘Gravel, Shingle’, and its only surviving Medieval Building, Camoise Court Farm, stands on Gravel beside the Thame. The original Manor-House & Church, moreover, lay close to the River before they were rebuilt at a higher level. The earliest known form of the name, found in 1147, is ‘Chiselentona‘, but ‘Chislehampton‘ occurs in the late 12thC. The colloquial name is ‘Chisleton‘.
The Medieval Village was never large and some early Inclosure had perhaps reduced its size by the 17thC. An Estate Map of 1628 marks only the old Doyley Mansion & Dovecot, the Medieval Church & 3-Farmhouses. These were no doubt the Principal Houses but there must have been many more for 13-householders were listed for the Hearth Tax of 1662 of which 5 were substantial Farmhouses Taxed on 3 or 4-hearths. The Green & the Pound are shown on the 1628 Map at the Junction of Abingdon Lane & Oxford Lane. Several of these 17thC dwellings remain. They are timber-framed and have red Brick fillings. Many are Thatched.
A Survey of the Doyley Estate in Chislehampton made in 1746 gives a more detailed picture of the Village. The Manor-house, its Outhouses, and its grounds occupied 10½-acres. There were 5-Farmhouses of which 2 were newly built. Of the old Farmhouses, Camoise Court Farm and its outbuildings was in very bad repair, and a Brick & Timber Farmhouse and another Stone & Thatched one were in ‘midling’ repair. There were also 12-Cottages and a good new Brick House & Malthouse Barn, Stable & Close. The last is likely to be the present Coach & Horses Inn, a picturesque Public House by the Bridge, although the Interior of the House is probably earlier than the Outside.
Soon after this Report the Doyley Estate was sold to Charles Peers and a period of building activity followed: the present Georgian Church was built in 1763 by Peers and its Churchyard was laid out; the old Doyley Mansion was pulled down and replaced by Chislehampton House & Church Farm, a 2-Storeyed House with Attics of Chequer Brick, was probably built. Little change, however, seems to have taken place in the size of the Village: the Census of 1811 recorded 21-Houses. The peak of 28-Houses recorded in 1851 was not reached again until the mid-20thC. In 1931, the last Census to give figures for Chislehampton alone, there were 27-Houses, but there have been additions since. Early 19thC building included Marylands Farm, a pleasant Building of Red Brick (now roughcast) with wide Eaves and a Slate Roof, and the Lodge to the Peers Park. In the 20thC 6-well-designed Brick Houses have been put up by Mr Peers & Mr Chaundy of Camoise Court Farm.
There are 2-Houses of special Architectural interest: Camoise Court Farm and the Manor-house. Camoise Court Farm is the oldest Fouse in the village. It lies on the River Thame 200 yards West by South of Chislehampton Bridge, and incorporates part of a 14thC House that was once the Property of Sir Richard de Louches of Great Milton. He was Licensed to crenellate his Chislehampton house in 1318. Later the property passed, as did the Great Milton Lands, to the famous Sir Thomas Camoys and so acquired its name. The central Block of the present Farmhouse is the Medieval part, and there are traces of the Medieval Moat. The House is built of coursed rubble on a North & South axis with Gables at each end; it has a square projection at the Southeast angle, which is thought to have been the Garderobe; its Walls are of Medieval thickness. At present there are 2-Storeys & Attics, but the original House appears to have consisted of a low Ground Floor Room and a Solar above that was open to the Roof; a possible Hall, West of it, perhaps of Timber, has been re-placed. The original Wall-plate with roll-mouldings is visible and there is a deeply splayed window of 14thC date about 8-ft from the Ground in the South wall. It is of 2 trefoiled ogee-headed lights. A window of the same date and on the same level but in the East Wall was recently covered up. The chamfered Entrance to what seems to have been a Garderobe also remains. The 14thC Gable above the Room contains a Cradle Roof of 3-Bays of which the 2 King-posts and curved Braces with Roll-moulding can be seen.
A straight joint on the North front, to the West of the 14thC opening (2 original Jambs remain), marks the building of 2-Storeys & an Attic, probably in the early 17thC, to the West of the central Block. It was built of coursed rubble to match the old House, but the West side was rebuilt in Brick in about 1880. An early-17thC Brick Fireplace was discovered in 1956. In the early 19thC a new Entrance to the House was made —a Doric Porch with fluted Columns under a flat Roof.
Farmhouse, probably originally a Fortified House. Early 14thC & 17thC. Coursed squared limestone rubble & some Chequer Brick; old plain-tile Roofs with Brick Stacks. Double Range with Garderobe Annexe & subsidiary Wing. 2-Storeys plus Attic. Double-gabled Front, with lower Range extending to left, has irregular fenestration, mostly sashes but with a 3-light Ground-floor casement to left, and a leaded cross window with a Keyblock flat Arch to right at 1st-Floor; Gables have small leaded casements. The Doorway to right of centre has a canopy on Doric Columns and there is a 2nd Doorway to left of centre. The right return Wall has late 19thC Brick Bay windows. The rear of the 14thC left Range has an Arched window at 1st-Floor with 2 ogee-headed lights and a tracery light. A 2-Storey Block attached to the left rear angle of the Range was probably a Garderobe Wing and has 2 narrow windows with internal splays. 18thC windows to rear. Double-span Roof has a large central Ridge Stack. Interior: 17thC Range to right of through passage has a large open Fireplace with a Timber Bressumer. 14thC Range has, at Ground-floor, a longitudinal Beam carried on a Samson Post with solid Brackets; 1st-Floor has the roll-moulded Wall Plates and Tie Beams of the 3-Bay Wagon Roof which is now above a later Attic Floor. The 2 Crown-Post Trusses have Octagonal Posts with the remains of moulded Capitals and roll-moulded 4-way Arched Braces. The Range was probably the Solar of a vanished Hall and probably dates from the “Licence to Crenellate” Granted to Sir Richard de Louches in 1318. The Property later passed to Sir Thomas Camoys. The Site is Moated.
The Great House, ‘Chisleton’ House, is a handsome red-Brick Mansion standing in its own Park on a slight eminence overlooking the River Thame. It was built, probably between 1766 & 1768, by Samuel Dowbiggin of London, a Member of the Joiners’ Company. The designs for the House are dated 1766 and the date 1768 can be seen on the Rain-water Heads of Cast Lead. Dowbiggin’s Employer was Charles Peers, who had bought the Estate in 1748. The building is Rectangular in Plan, and has 3-Storeys and a Basement. Built of locally made red-Brick, it has an Ashlar Base, chamfered Stone Quoins and a Stone Entablature with bracketed cornice, and a hipped Roof covered in Slates. All the windows have moulded Stone Architraves. The West Front has a slightly projecting feature of 4-Ionic Pilasters, a low Parapet & Coping and central Pediment with a Cartouche of the Peers Arms & flanking Palms carved in a Stone Tympanum. The House is entered by Steps and through an Entrance Porch with Doric Columns in antis added about 1820.
An Elevation of the East Front by Dowbiggin shows Balustrades & Balls instead of the present plain Parapet. That the Architect’s Design was carried out is proved by an old Water-Colour showing the Balustrades. The South Front has Twin 3-sided Bays of 2-Storeys; the Ground-floor windows were altered in the early 19thC when the Sills were brought down to Floor level.
The Interior of the House is interesting: an Entrance Hall & Top-lit Staircase Hall are run together as a single unit, an unusual feature for the Period. The Staircase, which is of the Cantilevered kind, has delicately turned Balusters & Handrail and a particularly elegant Curve. The Balustrading is continued round the Hall on the Upper Floors forming Galleries with the Rooms opening off them. Some of the early-18thC Furniture that belonged to Sir Charles Peers, a one-time Lord Mayor of London and the father of the Builder, has been preserved. There is also a collection of Armorial China, specially dispatched from Canton for Sir Charles in 1731.
From the Ground Floor of the plain East front Central Steps descend to a wide Flat Terrace with an Orangery to the North. There are the remains of a small formal Landscape Garden: on the axis of the House there was a short Avenue of Elms, formerly continued on the West side of the House, which is crossed by another Path running from the Entrance to the Walled Kitchen Garden towards a Statue at its North end. The Orangery was built in 1790. It is 5-sided with uprights of Cast Iron and an Umbrella Roof. The glass consists of small panes. The Lodge in the Park, standing near the Bridge, dates from about the same period or a little later. It has 1-Storey & Attics, but the 2 Dormer windows are Lunette shaped. The Slate Roof has wide eaves. The Stables lie to the North of the House and the Kitchen Garden, on the East side near the River, marks the Site of the Doyleys’ House.
Doyley was Descended from a Norman Baron established in Oxfordshire under William the Conqueror. His Ancestors had acquired Chiselhampton Manor by 1536 and prospered at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry Doyley, a younger son, sat for Wallingford in 1601 & Doyley’s great-grandfather represented Oxfordshire in 1604. They were strongly Puritan in sympathy. Doyley’s father was Governor of Newport Pagnell for Parliament during the Civil War, and was elected for Oxfordshire as a Recruiter. He was secluded at Pride’s Purge and did not again hold Local Office until January 1660. He probably died later in the year.
This House may have been built at the end of the 16thC when the Doyleys lived in the Parish. Sir John Doyley, Sheriff in 1585, who was buried in Stadhampton Church in 1623, is the most likely Builder of the House. An Estate Map of 1628 shows its East Front as a 4-Gabled building with a central porte-cochère. It faces the River, has an Orchard in Front & an Outer Court. Behind the House is a Dove-house and the Medieval Church. According to tradition the Mansion was partly destroyed in the Civil War, but in 1665 it was still a substantial House for which 16-Hearths were returned for the Hearth Tax. An Estate Map of Stadhampton of 1741/2 has a drawing of the West front of the House, which shows a 2-Storey building of 8-Bays and E-shaped in Plan. The short Gabled Wings at each end are of one Bay, and there is a central projection of 2-Bays, flanked by 2-tall Chimneys. A Map of 1743 drawn for Sir Thomas Doyley depicts a Facade with 4-Gables and a large Stableyard kind of Entrance. It shows formal Gardens laid out by the River and Great Orchard Yard, the outer Court of 1628. The House has 2-Storeys & Attics and an irregular arrangement of windows. A Survey of the Estate made about the same time describes it as ‘a very old inconvenient Building part Brick, part Stone’. The Surveyor added that the Outbuildings were ruinous and that they and the House would ‘scarce pay for pulling down and yet were not good enough to keep up’. There was a good new-built double Dove-house of Brick and a large walled Garden. The Coppice called Home Ground was ‘laid out into walks as a pleasure ground’ with Ash trees. Part of the House was then occupied by a Farmer. Nothing now remains of this Mansion, except the Bricks in the walls of the present Kitchen Garden.
Because of the strategic importance of its Bridge in the Battle for Oxford, Chislehampton was in the centre of the Fighting during much of the Civil War. The only alternative route across the River Thame was at Wheatley Bridge. By March 1643 both Bridges had been provided with Gates and there was no Passage for man or horse ‘but on Market Days and sometimes in the day time’. The King’s Forces made great preparation there to prevent Parliamentary Forces crossing. On 13th June 1643 the Bridge was said to be down, though passable on Horseback. But a few days later Prince Rupert crossed over it with 1,700 men and returned the same way after his Victory at Chalgrove on 18th June. Shortly afterwards the Bridge was reported to have been broken down by Royalist Forces, which Stationed between 60 & 100 men on Chislehampton Hill to command the Passage of the River Thame. A Watch was constantly kept on the Bridge by a Guard of about 40 men of the Forces Stationed at Abingdon.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 