Known at Domesday as Lawelme. The Manor belonged, at Domesday, to the Gands; passed to the Chaucers & the De la Poles; and belongs now to the Earl of Macclesfield, and gives him the Title of Viscount Parker of Ewelme.
Ewelme, in Oxon, is a very attractive Village with a Row of Cottages ½-mile long, which have before their Doors a sparkling Stream dammed here & there into Watercress Beds. At the top of the Street on a steep Knoll stand the Church & School & Almshouses of the mellowest 15thC Bricks, as beautiful & structurally sound as the Pious Founders left them.
These Founders were the unhappy William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his good wife the Duchess Alice. The Duke inherited Ewelme through his wife Alice Chaucer, a Kinswoman of the Poet, and “for love of her and the Commoditie of her Landes fell much to Dwell in Oxfordshire,” and in 1430-40 was busy Building a Manor-Place of “Brick and Tymbre and set within a fayre Mote,“ a Church, an Almshouse & a School. The Manor-Place, or “Palace,” as it was called, has disappeared, but the Almshouse & School remain, Witnesses of the munificence of the Founders. The poor Duke, favourite Minister of Henry VI, was Exiled by the Yorkist Faction & Beheaded by Sailors on his way to Banishment. Some 25-yrs of Widowhood fell to the bereaved Duchess, who finished her husband’s Buildings, called the Almshouses “God’s House,” and then reposed beneath one of the finest Monuments in England in the Church hard by.
A detached Tract, called Hollops, surrounded by the Parishes of Nettlebed, Bix & Swyncombe. A Palace was built on it, in 1424, by the De la Poles; was the place of Margaret of Anjou’s Confinement for several years; was also the place where Henry VIII. spent his Honeymoon with Jane Seymour; was likewise the Residence of Prince Rupert, during the time he spent in Oxfordshire; and is now represented by only slight remains.
Ewelme (St Mary), a Parish, in the Union of Wallingford, Hundred of Ewelme, County of Oxford, 2-miles (East) from Benson; containing 663-Inhabitants. This place, from a very clear & copious Spring that rises in the Village, obtained the Saxon Appellation of Æwhelme, signifying “a Spring of Water;” of which its present name is a modification. William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who obtained the Manor by marriage with Alice, daughter & Heiress of Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey Chaucer, the Poet, in whose Family it had been for many years, erected the present Church and a Noble Mansion, of which latter only some of the Outoffices now remain. The Parish comprises 2346-acres, whereof 53 are Common Land or Waste. The Living is a Rectory, annexed to the Regius Professorship of Divinity in the University of Oxford & valued in the King’s Books at £21-10s-5d: the Tithes have been commuted for £704-18s.
Ewelme Tithe Award Map 1841
The Church, which is beautifully situated on Rising Ground, and was backed by a Row of fine Elms, is a spacious & interesting Edifice, in the early & decorated English Styles, with a Low Embattled Tower. There are some handsome Monuments, one of which, to the Memory of the Duchess of Suffolk, who died in 1475, is elaborately embellished; the Chaucer Monument, an Altar-Tomb, is ornamented with numerous Shields of Armorial Bearings & Inlaid with Brasses on which are the Effigies of a Knight & his Lady, in the Costume of the 15thC. On the South Wall of the Chancel are Monuments to 2-sons of Charles Howard, 2nd Earl of Berkshire. In the Churchyard are Memorials to the Descendants of Sir Matthew Hale. A Hospital, called God’s House, was Founded by William de la Pole & Alice his wife, about the year 1446 & Endowed with 200-Marks per annum, for 13-Poor Men & a Master. It was valued, in the 26th year of Henry VIII, at £20 per annum, but was not Dissolved & the Mastership was Annexed in 1617 to the Regius Professorship of Medicine in the University of Oxford, under which it still Exists, for a Reader & 12-Poor Men. It possesses a Rent-charge of £200, issuing out of the Estates in this County belonging to Hampton Court.
An Urn containing Roman Coins was Found on the Common, near the Line of the Iknield-Street, which may be Traced in the Parish; and another Urn was discovered on Harcourt Hill, nearly 2-miles from the Village.
Suffolk’s nickname “Jackanapes” came from “Jack of Naples“, a slang name for a Monkey at the time. This was probably due to his Heraldic Badge, which consisted of an “Ape’s Clog”, i.e. a Wooden Block chained to a Pet Monkey to prevent it escaping. The phrase “Jackanape” later came to mean an impertinent or conceited person, due to the popular perception of Suffolk as a Nouveau Riche upstart; his great-grandfather had been a Wool Merchant from Hull.
Periodic repairs to all the Buildings were noted from the 16thC, including unspecified (but probably largely cosmetic) alterations to the Cloisters & Walkway, renewed fenestration & reordering of the Cottage Interiors & Almshouse Masters Accommodation, while a Clock was mentioned c.1567–1723. Nonetheless, the fundamental layout remained unaltered until a major remodelling in 1970, which reduced the original 13-units to 8. The School (largely Derelict in the early-19thC) was reordered as a National Schoolroom c.1830 and subsequently as a Primary School, necessitating new Stairs and other internal alterations. The former Schoolmasters House (linked to it by a low Service Range by the 1820s) became part of the School in 2010, and New Classrooms were added on the East in 1999.
Less than 2-yrs after the Final Settlement of the St John’s Almshouse, William de la Pole met with his gruesome end, Journeying as a Banished Man to France. Suffolk took a Ship to head into Exile on 1st May 1450, the date appointed for the beginning of his 5-year Expulsion by the King. As his Craft crossed the Channel a huge Ship of the Royal Fleet, The Nicholas of the Tower, intercepted him. William Lomner wrote to John Paston on 5th May that men of the Nicholas Boarded Suffolk’s Ship and “the Master badde hym, ‘Welcom, Traitor,’ as men sey”. He described Suffolk’s Fate, continuing “and thanne his Herte Faylyd hym, for he thowghte he was desseyvyd, and yn the syght of all his Men he was drawyn ought of the Grete Shippe yn to the Bote; and there was an exe, and a stoke, and oon of the lewdeste of the Shippe badde hym ley down his Hedde, and he should be fair ferd wyth, and dye on a Swerd; and toke a rusty Swerd, and smotte off his Hedde withyn halfe a doseyn Strokes.” As the sun rose on the morning of 2nd May 1450, it revealed a grisly sight on Dover Beach. A Headless Body lay on the sand, dried blood staining the butchered Neck. Beside the Body, atop a Stake, the vacant eyes of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk stared out over the Sea where he had met his Fate. As his empty eyes stared out across the Channel toward the Land where his Fortune had been made, he would never again look upon the Country that had turned its back on him, nor would he see the bitter Civil War that followed.
The following is the Letter written by an Eye-witness to Sir John Paston, describing what then happened: “In the sight of all his men he was drawn out of the Great Ship into the Boat, and there was an Axe & a Stock. And one of the lewdest men of the Ship bade him lay down his head and he should be fairly ferd (dealt) with, and die on a Sword. And he took a Rusty Sword and smote off his Head with half-a-dozen Strokes, and took away his Gown of Russet and his Doublet of Velvet Mailed, and laid his Body on the Sands of Dover; and some say his Head was set on a Pole by it, and his men sit on the Land by great circumstance and Pray.” The Writer says, “I have so washed this Bill with sorrowful Tears that uneths ye shall not read it.” The Countess survived his Fall and lived to be Great & Powerful once more. Her son became the Brother-in-law of Sovereigns, and her Grandchildren were Princes & Princesses.
The Tudor connection in Ewelme really began in or shortly after 1449 when a high born 6-yr-old girl named Lady Margaret Beaufort entered the Household of the Duke & Duchess of Suffolk, betrothed to their equally young Heir, John de la Pole. Lady Margaret had an impressive Pedigree, being a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, the 3rd son of Edward III, and it was she who was destined to give birth to the 1st Tudor Monarch. Probably due to the Duke’s dramatic Downfall in 1450, King Henry VI annulled the Betrothal in 1453 & in 1455 married her at the age of 12, to his half-brother, Edmund Tudor. Margaret gave birth to the future King Henry VII in January 1457, 4-months short of her 14th Birthday & 2-months after her husband died of Plague.
Duchess Alice, who was confirmed by the King in all the Possessions of her Husband, survived him for 25-yrs and died aged 71. Her Alabaster Tomb is beautifully preserved in Ewelme Church. The Duchess lies under a Canopy of Stone carved with Angels & Saints, in her Mantle of Estate, with the rare Ornament of the Garter around her left Arm, while below, 8-Angels, on either side of the Tomb, hold Shields blazoned with all the Heraldic Bearings of her House. The most memorable feature of the Tomb is the Cadaver, set beneath the Tomb Chest. It is the only life-size Cadaver of a Woman that has remained intact in England, and the only Cadaver in the Country made in Alabaster. Tucked under the Tomb, the Cadaver’s Privacy seems an important aspect of the Tomb’s Design. Rather than a stark warning of the transience of Earthly Glory, it is a 2nd Corpse contemplating the Paintings of Saints above it. Effigy Photographs by C B Newham
Bound as she was to the House of Lancaster, she had turned in time to Worship the Rising Sun of York and had found an Alliance for her son, which was to turn out to be Fatal. Her son, Duke John, contrived to Escape the Perils that followed from his marriage to Elizabeth Plantagenet. Edward IV held him in high favour, Richard III nominated his eldest son in the succession to the Throne, & he himself assisted at the Coronation of Henry VII. But the Ruin of his House was at hand, and Ewelme was to know the De la Poles no more. John’s eldest son, the Earl of Lincoln, had fallen at Stoke Field (Notts), Fighting for the Pretender Lambert Simnel. The 2nd Son fled and was later Executed in the Tower. The 3rd son, Richard, Fell at the Battle of Pavia. This was the end of the De la Poles.
In 1525, Henry VIII gave Ewelme & the Title Duke of Suffolk to Charles Brandon, who was married to the King’s sister Mary, the former Queen of France. They became the grandparents of the ill-fated 9-days Queen, Lady Jane Grey. In 1535 Henry claimed Ewelme back from the Widowed Brandon which proved beneficial for Ewelme when Henry VIII was breaking from Rome in 1536. As he had become the Patron of Ewelme Rectory he did not dissolve the Chantry at Ewelme, and thus the Suffolk’s Foundation was left Untouched to Prosper. Henry VIII also enlarged the old Hunting Park to cover 895-acres stretching from Ewelme to Park Corner (Swyncombe) at the Top of the Chilterns. He Built a Hunting Lodge where Ewelme Park (Swyncombe) now stands, which Commanded wide views over the natural Amphitheatre of the Valley below. There is an area to the East of Ewelme still known as Huntinglands.
How often Henry Vlll visited Ewelme and with whom is uncertain, but it is Recorded that he held a Privy Council in Ewelme on 25th & 26th August 1540 whilst on Honeymoon with his New Queen, Katherine Howard. The Village Pond is known as Kings Pool to this day, as Legend has it that Katherine playfully pushed him in. Another version is that he bathed his Ulcerous Legs in the Pure Spring Water.
In 1542 the Capital Mansion or Palace is described grandly. –
“The Base Court of it is Fair and is Builded with Brick & Timber. The inner part of the House is set within a Fair Moat and is Builded richly of Brick & Stone. The Hall of it is Fair and hath great Bars of Iron overthwart it instead of gross beams.”
OS Map 1897 Sth Oxon XLIX.8 (Ewelme-Church End)
OS Map 1910 Sth Oxon XLIX.4 (Ewelme -Watercress Beds)
The House to 1612. The de la Poles’ New Manor House was a lavish Aristocratic Complex, influenced in part by Henry VI’s Buildings at Eton College (with which William de la Pole was involved), and making extensive use of Brick, which was still virtually unknown in Oxon. The Building probably began in the mid-1440s after William became a Marquis, and the Family was regularly Resident thereafter. The 15thC Buildings were grouped around 2-adjoining Courtyards South of the Village Street, the Main Domestic Ranges within a Moat & Ancillary Buildings around a Base Court to the East. Entry was through a 2-Storeyed Gatehouse probably on the Base Court’s Eastside. The Main House seems to have been Quadrangular, with a regular & probably symmetrical Ground-Plan incorporating a Great Hall, Parlour, Chapel & (apparently) separate Suites of Rooms for male & female Members of the Household. Like Eton’s Cloister Court it was Brick-built with Stone windows, Doorways, & Buttresses & was richly furnished with Tapestries & painted or moulded family devices, while the Hall was spanned by unusual wrought or Cast-Iron Beams. A Keeper of the Garden mentioned in the 1530s suggests Landscaping & in 1649 an Orchard West of the Moat contained 10 regularly arranged Fishponds which survived in 1817. A ‘Fair Park‘ mentioned by Leland was probably Ewelme Park up on the Swyncombe Downs.
The Westcourt (Wace Court) Estate: Following the break-up of Ewelme Manor a Large Estate became centred on Wace Court or Westcourt, the former Manor House of the Wace Family. By the early-16thC Wace Court Farm was a Major Leasehold of c.368-a, made up chiefly of former Demesne and Let on long Leases to Gentry or their sub-Tenants. In 1628 it was Sold to the Tenant Bartholomew Hone for £400, reserving £25-17s-4d Rent to the Crown; the Rent was later Sold, and remained payable in the 19thC. Hone Mortgaged the Estate, and after his death in 1650 his Widow & sons sold it to Francis Martyn of Over Winchendon (Bucks), who moved to Ewelme and added other Properties. By his death in 1682 the Estate covered c.1,265-a, half of it inclosed, and was held with several Fee Farm Rents from other Estates. Under Martyn’s Will the Estate was briefly divided amongst relatives, but from 1683 it was reunited by Thomas Tipping of Wheatfield, who settled at Westcourt & served as MP for Oxon and later for Wallingford. In 1687 he Sold the Estate to his brother William, who enlarged it further and died in 1729. His successor was his granddaughter Penelope, the only child of his daughter Penelope and her husband the Hon Harry Mordaunt.
Penelope (d.1737) married Monoux Cope (d.1763), eldest son of John Cope, Bt, of Bramshill (Hants). From them the Estate descended with the baronetcy, passing to John Mordaunt Cope (d.1779), his cousin Richard (d.1806), Richard’s nephew Denzil (d.1812), and Denzil’s brother John (d.1851). Under Family Trusts Denzil’s Widow Dorothea received a £500 Annuity, and by her Will left the Reversion after Johns death to her nephew Francis William Lock Ross (d.-c.1861). He left it to his wife Anna Maria (d.1865) with remainder to his cousin Henry William Francis Greatwood, who in 1875 Sold it for £39,000 to Thomas Taylor of Aston Rowant. After the 1730s–40s none of the Owners lived in Ewelme, and the Estate (1,180-a in 1875) was mostly Let to Tenant Farmers. Taylor (d.1892), a Lancashire Mill Owner, built up Extensive Estates in the South-west Chilterns, and in Ewelme added Eyres Farm (c.200-a) & Cottesmore Farm (157-a) and some Cottages & Gardens, along with Ewelme Park Farm in Swyncombe. From 1881 his Property was increasingly Mortgaged, and c.1890-92 the Ewelme Estate was sold off in Parcels, chiefly to Tenants.
Part of the Service Wing of Ewelme Palace, or Manor House, now a House. c.1450 with late-18thC Fenestration & Wing to rear left. Last Surviving Fragment of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Ancestral Home. Enlarged after the marriage of Alice Chaucer to William de la Pole (Earl of Suffolk) in 1430.
Some 8-yrs later, in March 1550, Edward VI conveyed by Letters Patent the Palace & Park at Ewelme to his sister Elizabeth. During the dangerous days of her sister Mary’s Reign, it is believed that she stayed in Ewelme in the care of her Stepmother, Anne of Cleves. After becoming Queen, Elizabeth visited Ewelme with her favourite, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, and there is an Authenticated Account of 1570 of Elizabeth riding Pillion behind Dudley to Visit the Tombs of the Crusaders in the Church at Aldworth. An early-20thC Local Historian Mrs Prister Cruttwell speculates that a nearby Bridleway was so named because of the Amorous behaviour carried on between the Queen & Dudley in that Locality. ‘Indeed, there was in our time a Lane in Ewelme still known as Love Lane; and when my father [the Rector] asked the meaning of the name he was told by an old Villager – “Lor’ Sir, don’t you know, they do say that’s where Queen Elizabeth and that Lord Leicester, they did used to carry on Shocking!” Her History also recounts the Legend of a young Elizabeth swinging on a Walnut Tree, which was situated near the Gates of the Palace and which blew down in a Gale only in 1971.
After Dudley’s death, his young arrogant Stepson Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex became the elderly Queen’s Favourite but was eventually Banished from Court in 1600. Being related to the Knollys, a prominent Tudor Family beloved by Elizabeth, he went 1st to their nearby House at Grey’s Court & subsequently to the Hunting Lodge at Ewelme Park. On 26th September 1600, Rowland Whyte Esq wrote to Sir Robert Sydney – “My Lord of Essex I hear is gone to Ewelme Lodge and at Michaelmas (29th Sept) he will return to London to be a humble Suitor to her Majesty’s sight. As yet there is little hope of it but time brings forth wonderful things – There are many that state the Queen begins to relent towards him and to see him in her heart.” Whyte was mistaken; Elizabeth had Devereux’s Beheaded on 25th January 1601. The Keepership of Park became a Sinecure of the Knollys Family; Sir Francis was followed by his son Sir Henry, who was Granted Keepership of the Park for Life in 1578. In 1584 his brother Sir William was appointed as “Keeper of Ewelme Park and Master of the Wild Beasts therein”. Nevertheless, by 1609 “the Capital Mansion of Ewelme was completely ruined & in decay.” Only the Building known as the Banqueting Hall was left. Today, Buttresses on the Western Corners of the existing Manor are all that remain of the Suffolk’s Home.
Ewelme passed into the possession of the Crown. Edward VI gave it to his sister Elizabeth. Some remains still exist, Built up into a more modern Edifice. Whatever celebrity Ewelme has had since the 16thC owed to its connection with Oxford. King James I, attached the Rectory to the Regius Professorship of Divinity, and the Mastership of the Almshouses to the Professorship of Medicine. Ewelme has enjoyed a succession of Rectors always respectable and sometimes learned & remembers them with respect. Parliament has now severed the connection & Ewelme then was nothing more than an ordinary Country Parish, except for the distinction of a Mansion-like Rectory which obviously requires the Revenues of a Canonry to support it.
Rectory, now House. Probably late-17thC with late 18thC Main Front to Garden, early 20thC Addition possibly by W D Caroe. Red Brick with Grey headers in Flemish Bond; plain Tile Roof; Brick Stacks. 3-Storey; 5-window Range to Garden. Central Sash Door with Fanlight & Wood Doric Pilasters supporting Flat Hood. 8-pane Sashes to Ground-Floor. 15-pane Sashes to 1st-Floor, 6-pane Sashes to 2nd-Floor. Parapet to Hipped Roof. Right return: 3-Storey, 3-window Range with 8-pane Sashes to Ground & 1st-Floor & 6-pane Sashes to 2nd-Floor. 20thC Extension to left of 2-Storeys & Attic; 3-window Range.
Schools: The Duchess of Suffolk, Alice Chaucer (granddaughter of the Poet Geoffrey Chaucer) Built & Founded Ewelme Grammar School in 1437 as a place for high-quality Education. The School forms part of a complex of Medieval Buildings, which includes the Church & Almshouses. This is the oldest functioning maintained School Building in the Country.
Ewelme Grammar School. c.1450, Knapped Flint Base; Nettlebed Red Brick; old Plain-tile Roof; Brick lateral Stacks. 2-Storey, 3-window Range. 15thC double Door with Perpendicular Tracery pattern ribbing & studding to 2-Storey Porch to left return. Stepped angle Buttresses to left & right corners. 2-light Stone mullioned window with triangular cupsed Tracery top to left. Single-light Stone window with triangular cusped Tracery top to the Right. Two 2-light Stone mullioned windows with Hood Moulds with Winged Figures & Armorial Shields to Label Stops to centre. 2-light Stone Mullioned window to 1st-Floor Centre & left. Single-light Stone window to right. Massive lateral Stacks to left & right of centre. 2-light Stone Mullioned window to 1st-Floor of Porch to left return.
Interior: 6-Bay Arched Collar-truss Roof with Wind Braces. Subsidiary Wing to Rear left; Red Brick Base; Limestone rubble to 1st-Floor. 20thC window openings.
History: Built at the expense of the Earl & Countess of Suffolk. The Countess (nee Alice Chaucer) was born in Ewelme in 1404, the daughter of Thomas Chaucer, the Lord of the Manor & grand-daughter of Geoffrey, the Poet. She married William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk in 1430 (created Duke of Suffolk 1448). He “for love of his Wife and the Commodity of her Lands felt much to Dwell in Oxfordshire“. They re-Built the Church, established the adjoining Almshouse & Built the Grammar School. The use of Brick is one of the Earliest in the County.
Ickford (St Nicholas) – a Parish, in the Union of Thame, partly in the Hundred of Ewelme, County of Oxford, but chiefly in that of Ashendon, County of Bucks, 4¼-Miles (West by North) from Thame; containing, with the Hamlet of Draycott (nr Waterstock), 386-Inhabitants. This is supposed by some Writers to be the place where the Treaty between Edward & the Danes was Signed, in 907. The Parish comprises 1133-a 1-rood 3-poles, of which 820-a 3-r 13-p are Pasture & 312-a 1-r 30-p Arable Land. The Living is a Rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £9-9s-7d; net income, £392; Patron, the Rev J C Townsend. Here is a place of Worship for Baptists. Calybute Downing, a celebrated Divine in the 17thC & Gilbert Sheldon, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, were Rectors of the Parish, to which, during his Incumbency, the Latter presented part of the Communion-plate.
Ewelme (Harcourt Hill): In 1722 a fairly large Hoard of 3rdC Coins was discovered in a Pot at Harcourt Hill, Ewelme. At some date within the 2-following years, 337 of the Coins were entrusted to John Pointer, then Chaplain of Merton College, for Description; of this Number, Pointer catalogued somewhat less than 1/3rd in his Britannia Romana (1724), pp. 1230. His List opens with a single Æ 2 of Domitian. This was clearly a Straggler &, as such, is not unparalleled. The Catalogue of the remaining Coins (all Æ 3) then runs as follows:- 34-Gallienus, 6-Salonina, 2-Valerian II, 6-Postumus, 8-Victorinus, 2-Marius, 1-Laelian, 9-Tetricus I, 3-Tetricus II, 21-Claudius II, 2-Quintillus, 1-Aurelian, 1-Tacitus, 4-Carausius. Pointer includes also an ‘Urbs Roma‘ Issue of Constantine I, but this can scarcely be correct, and the Coin must have been an Intruder.
An Inn called the Broadgates (later the Crown) existed by the 1530s, located on the Main Street near Fords Lane, and an Alehouse Keeper cum Farrier died in 1663. In the 1770s there were at least 2-Inns (the Greyhound & The Hare & Hounds), both used for Auctions; the Lamb (on the Fifield Road) existed by 1786 and with the Greyhound continued into the 20thC. Thomas Garlick at the Greyhound was both Innkeeper & Butcher. Maypoles were erected in the early 18thC, traditionally on Burrows Hill near the Church, until Lady Tipping allegedly insisted that they be moved nearer to Westcourt where she could see the Festivities. An Easter Monday Fair was Established by 1792 when it attracted Travellers from Coventry; it continued until WW1, latterly with Stalls, Swings, & Roundabouts along the Village Street between King’s Pool & the Greyhound. The Eyres‘ Main Farmstead was at the bottom of Eyres Lane, & Bekes’ Place (latterly called the Tavern House from its proximity to the Lamb Inn) was Demolished in 1876. Villagers’ Social Life still partly revolved around the Pubs, supplemented by several Beerhouses including the Shepherd’s Hut (opened c.1841-51). A Friendly Society met at the Greyhound by 1869, and an Ewelme Band existed c.1890. Plough Monday, May Day & Guy Fawkes Celebrations continued (with a summer Marbles Contest) into the 20thC while Cricket was mentioned from the 1850s and a Football Team by 1906. A short-lived Golf Course on the Common (opened in 1885) catered for more affluent Residents. Other activities included Coronation Sports & from 1906 to the 1950s, Villagers staged several Pageants enacting Scenes from Ewelme’s past. A Thatched Reading Room was Built in 1909/10 on Land given by Miss Maxwell of Saffron Close, with an adjoining Rifle Range given by Charles Schunk of Old Mill House. Fundraising for both included a Fete at the Old Mansion in Cottesmore, with Prizes given by Jerome K Jerome & by the Earl of Macclesfield as Lord. A Women’s Institute was Founded in 1920.
House, now 2-Dwellings. 17thC with 18thC Alterations. Render, probably on Brick; old plain-Tile Roof; Brick Stacks. L-Plan. 2-Storey & Attic; 2-window Range. 6-panel Door with Flat Hood to Right and to Cross-wing to Right. 20thC Casements to all Original Openings. 20thC Dormer to Roof.
Interior: not inspected.
4-Bay Barn. Probably late-17thC Coursed Limestone rubble with Brick Dressings; Corrugated Iron Roof. 4-Bay Barn. Plank Doors to Right of centre with opposing Gabled Midstrey with plain-Tile Roof to Rear. Ventilation Slits. Timber-framing with Weatherboarding to Left return. Queen Post & Strut Roof.
Ewelme Brook: There are only 210-Chalk Streams in the world, of which 160 are in England. Although, at around 2.5-miles, Ewelme Brook is the shortest Chalk Stream in the Chilterns we are privileged to have one of these Globally endangered important Wildlife Assets flowing through this Village. The Brook brings a spine of natural beauty right into the Village, and connects up with our nearest Local Nature Reserve, the Ewelme Watercress Beds. The Brook is important for Wildlife with some of the Birds including Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron & Little Egret. Brown Trout & Bullhead can be seen if you look carefully, Water Voles have been recorded in the past but less welcome news is that non-native Signal Crayfish are present. The Lower Reaches of the Brook Flow through Benson’s most important area of semi-natural habitat, the area around the Cuckoo Pen Nursery & Millbrook Mead.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 