Social Character & Life of the Comunity – The Middle-Ages: In the 13th & early 14thC Nettlebed supported a small and seemingly impoverished Community of Free & Customary Tenants, holding 1st of Benson Manor& later of the newly created Nettlebed Manor or of the Parish’s various Lay & Ecclesiastical Landowners. Only 7-Inhabitants were prosperous enough to pay Tax in 1306, of whom the Wealthiest was the freeholder John Soundy (of Soundess), paying 3s-8d. Two others paid 14d & 18¼d & 4 between 5d & 10d, making Nettlebed one of the poorer Parishes in the Hundred. Many inhabitants were presumably Ordinary Peasant Farmers, although the Village’s Location on the Main Henley Road, combined with its emerging Brick & Tile industry, probably gave it a Special Social Character. Two of its Taxpayers were apparently Incomers from neighbouring Bix & Witheridge Hill & Offences recorded at the Benson Manor Court in 1296/97 suggest (besides widespread Brewing) the Tensions inherent in a Community made up partly of Migrants & Travellers. The Industrial Population was probably focused around Crocker End, although Settlement generally was Dispersed, as later.
Few Freeholders apart from the Soundy‘s appear to have been Resident, although the Lord John de Mandeville’s maintenance of a Manor House in 1275 may indicate either occasional Visits, or the presence of a Resident Bailiff or Lessee. The Freeholder Peter de Stanford (d.1252) held Office in the King’s Chapel, while his brother Oliver may have been a Chancery Clerk & later Landowners, too, included Outsiders such as the Redes of Boarstall (Bucks). Members of the Stonor Family or their Representatives Visited the Village occasionally, making Purchases from Local Traders. Earlier, the presence of (Cisterian) Rewley Abbeys Deer Parks seems to have caused some ill feeling, a number of Local men being accused in the 1320s of Burning the Abbots Buildings in Nettlebed & Felling his Timber.
As elsewhere the Black Death initiated a long-term fall in Population & creation of larger Holdings, accompanied probably by increased Migration. Inns serving Traffic on the Henley Road became Established during the 15thC, and Nettlebed continued to attract Commercial Brewers, of whom John Cornish & John Shalden were possibly both Outsiders. The Industrial Population also included some firmly rooted Families, however, the Eghams (who gave their name to a Local Grove) occurring as Tilers in 1398 (when Thomas Egham was accused of Inferior Workmanship) & as Brewers in 1440. Robert Egham was Demesne Farmer in 1456-57.
1500–1800: Tenant Farmers, Craftsmen & Industrial Workers at the Kilns continued to make up the bulk of Nettlebed’s Population in the post-Medieval Period, with social continuity provided by such long-standing families as the Blackalls (15th–16thCs), Goswells (16th-17thCs), Butlers (16th-19thCs) & Holdings (17th-19thCs). In the 1660s 75% of Householders (24 in all) were still Taxed on only 1 or 2-Hearths, with 7 of those excused payment on Grounds of Poverty. Some Housing for Poor Families may have been provided on the Commons, and the Poor were often remembered in Local Wills, while some were buried at the Parish’s Expense.
As earlier, the Parish’s Wealthiest & most Eminent Landholders were probably non-resident, among them Sir Adrian Fortescue (husband of Anne Stonor), & the Gentlemen John Loveles, John Vemey & Philip Smith. The last named was Assessed in 1581 on Goods worth the remarkably large sum of £55, and was probably the London Haberdasher who acquired a Lease of Fillets Manor in Henley in 1574. Some such people may have been outsiders investing in the Parish’s Lucrative Woodlands. More important Locally were the Taverner’s and their Successors at Soundess, who were probably responsible for Clearance of the Medieval Settlement there when Soundess House was built in the early-17thC. The Taverner‘s Witnessed Local Wills and left money to the Poor, while John Taverner was High Sheriff of Oxon in 1662 & his Successor Taverner Harris (a ‘Factious Gentleman’ & a Whig) was MP for Wallingford, dying of Smallpox in 1685. Memorials in the Church Testify to the Family’s high standing within the Community. Comparable were the Tooveys at Joyce Grove, whose House was reputedly Visited by both William III & Queen Anne, presumably as a convenient Stopping-place on the London-Oxford Road.
Less Harmonious relations were experienced by the Landowner Thomas Box (d.1610), who in an Acrimonious Dispute over Common Rights Inclosed Land & a Pond used by Tenants for their Water Supply & challenged their Right to gather Wood for Fuel & Repairs. The Tenants, who included a Local Yeoman, Husbandman, Tailor & 2-Labourers, responded by breaking his Fences and Impounding his sheep, which he released by Force. Box’s Claims to the Lordship were successfully challenged by the Stonor‘s of Stonor Park, who mostly kept themselves aloof from Parish affairs, although their Estate was carefully Managed.
Several Inns operated during the 16th & 17thCs, though not all enjoyed a good reputation. Innkeepers in the 16thC were accused of sheltering Vagabonds, serving Horse-bread, and making excessive Profits, while in 1627 the Sheriff of Oxon, required to Lodge Sir Erasmus Dryden at Nettlebed, reported that ‘there is no House of any sort fit to receive him in that Place, which is one of the meanest Villages in the County’. An Innkeeper in 1690 was reported for receiving men of ‘bad conversation‘. Conditions had presumably improved by the mid-18thC, when the Rector of Nuneham Courtenay regularly Dined at Nettlebed’s Inns on his Journeys to & from London. Other Visitors included the German Traveller Karl Moritz, who in 1782 (having found Henley ‘too fine’) Lodged comfortably in one of the Village’s Inns, where a party of Militia Soldiers was ‘Making Merry‘. The Occupants of a passing Post-Chaise were met ‘with all possible Attention‘ & at Church on Sunday Moritz noticed that the Parish’s Farmers dressed ‘with some Taste, in fine good Cloth‘.
Nettlebed’s Location on a Major Route also brought less welcome consequences, not least during the Civil War. Royalist Forces (accompanied by the King) stayed at Nettlebed for several days in April 1643 following a failed attempt to relieve Reading, and in May Parliamentary Forces also Lodged in the Village, where Lime was Requisitioned & several Soldiers Killed or Captured. The following year several Parliamentary Commissioners had ‘very bad Quarter’ at Nettlebed, ‘which is but a small Country Village‘, though they were ‘cheerful in their Mean Quarter and Entertainment‘. Soldiers were Camped in the Parish Church, where they damaged Memorial Stones by Lighting Fires. The Road also attracted Criminal Elements: several Highway Robberies at or near Nettlebed were reported in the mid-18thC & though the Highwaymen were usually Outsiders, some Inhabitants also engaged in Opportunistic Thefts from Passers-by.
The Parish’s Social Make-up changed little during the 18thC, when the Tooveys at Joyce Grove and the Wallises at Soundess remained its most Eminent Inhabitants. John Wallis (d.1717), a Wealthy Landowner with Friends in London, was a son of the celebrated Mathematician & Cryptographer John Wallis (d.1703), who stayed at Soundess in old age and took an interest in Local Politics. Later the House & Land were leased by the non-Resident Freemans as a Working Farm, Tenanted by the prominent Sarney Family. Both the Sarneys & Thomas Toovey engaged in Recreational Hunting, and during the later-18thC the Stonors & Freemans appointed Gamekeepers to Control Poaching on their Estates. Occasional Crimes included sheep-stealing, assault, fraud & arson, while the Mutilated Body of a Murdered Child was found in the Parish in 1754.
Since 1800: In the early-19thC Nettlebed remained a notable Stopping-place on the London-Oxford Road and a Minor Commercial Centre for surrounding Parishes, its Population growing from 500 in 1801 to over 600 by 1831, and peaking at 754 20-yrs later, when it was one of the Hundred’s largest Villages. More than half the Population were then still Native to the Parish, with over 75% born in Oxon: nevertheless Nettlebed continued to attract Outsiders, including a West Indian Housekeeper, a Leicestershire Schoolmistress, and an Itinerant Cordwainer who had worked in Glos, Worcs & Liverpool. The Village was also beginning to attract a few Wealthier Residents & Professionals, amongst them the London Surgeon William Penlington, who married into a Local Family.
In 1813 a Maypole stood at the Villages Eastern Edge, while the Main Street had a ‘remarkably clean & neat appearance‘, its Shops & Inns giving the air of a ‘Bustling Town‘. The end of Coaching in the 1840s presumably had a Detrimental effect, although 6-Public Houses still served the Parish in 1851, of which the White Hart, Cross Keys, Bull, Nag’s Head & Red Lion all Lay along High Street. The Rising Sun was on Watlington Street. Most Publicans were Incomers, though long-settled in the Village, the Chief exception being George Smeed of the Bull, who was recently arrived from Godalming (Surrey). The Inns provided Lodgings for Workers, including Brickmakers from Ipsden and South Stoke & Shoemakers from Maidenhead (Berks), and like the larger Houses created Employment for Servants. Domestic Staff at Soundess were mostly Local, although at Joyce Grove the Cook was from Suffolk and the Footman from Hampshire.
After 1832 the Village served as a Polling Station Venue for County Elections. A Petty Constable routinely dealt with Theft, Poaching& Other Crimes from across the area, while Offenders were sometimes also Prosecuted by Village Tradesmen. A County Police Station was opened on Watlington Street in the early-20thC. The former Hiring Fair was gradually transformed into an Annual Pleasure Fair held in late-October, its Stalls attracting numerous Visitors, while in 1871 a small Group of Gypsy Hawkers & Musicians encamped presumably on the Common. A short-lived Benefit Society mentioned in 1848 was followed by others (based at the Red Lion or the Bull) in the 1870s & 1890s, the last of which continued in 1918, while a Cricket Club was Established c.1870. A Village Band was re-formed in 1875, when Mummers still Visited Houses & Pubs before Christmas.
Throughout that Period the Village became increasingly Gentrified: 12-Residents enjoyed a Private Income by 1901, while the Proportion of People in Domestic Service had doubled from 5 to 10% over the previous 50-yrs. Less than 50% of the Population was then Native to the Parish, with just under a 3rd drawn from outside the County, including some from Ireland, Canada & the United States. Change continued in subsequent Decades, the number of Residents with Private means doubling to 24 by 1935. Resident Gentry over the Period included the Mackenzies at Soundess (occupied by W D Mackenzie in the early-1890s), and the Flemings (as Lords) at the Newly Built Joyce Grove. Robert Fleming (d.1933) made a considerable contribution to Village Life, providing a Recreation Ground on a heavily-Quarried part of the Common soon after his arrival to replace the former Cricket Pitch near Joyce Grove. A Pavilion was added in 1910 & Fleming continued to support the Club Financially. More significantly, Management of the Common was Vested by Act of Parliament in a Body of Conservators charged with keeping it Open for the Public.
Fleming also Built the Working Men’s Club or Village Hall (Opened 1913) on High Street, used by a variety of Local Clubs & Societies & showing Early Educational Films, while his wife paid regular visits to the School, distributing Toothbrushes & Powder. More controversially Fleming Closed Down the Red Lion Inn because of noise at Closing-time & tried also to end the October Fair.
16-Parishioners were Killed in WW1 and at least 11 in WW2, when the Parish Witnessed the arrival of Military Personnel, Evacuees & PoW’s. The Coronation of 1953 was marked by a Parade, Dancing & Fireworks on Windmill Hill, while Social Life in the later-20thC continued to Focus on the village hall, sports clubs, shops, and pubs, enlivened by a number of well-known ‘local characters’. The former Red Lion was briefly converted into an Art Gallery in the late-1960s, leaving the White Hart as the villages only remaining Pub in 2011. The Parish continued to attract Wealthy Incomers including the Naval Officer J E Broome (d.1985) & the Actor George Cole ( Newnham Hill, Stoke Row d.2015), although the Community remained Socially Mixed, with c.15% of Houses Rented from the Local Authority in 2001. In 2011 the Village supported a Doctors Surgery, a Women’s Institute, and a wide range of Local Societies and Events; the Women’s Institute (Established for 60-yrs) Closed in 2013, but was replaced by a Friendship Club.
Education: A Nonconformist Academy at Nettlebed was run by the Independent Minister Thomas Cole from 1666 to 1674, while in 1667 the Churchwardens reported an unlicensed Anglican Teacher. A Schoolmaster was mentioned in 1755, and a Girls’ Boarding School operated from 1760 to 1763. In 1808 the Parish supported 2-Boys’ Boarding Schools & another for Girls, a Day School, a Dame School & a Sunday School; all probably continued in 1818, though none was Endowed, and the Poor were said to lack ‘sufficient means of Education’. A Ladies’ Boarding School was mentioned in 1829, and a Gentlemen’s Boarding School in 1830: the Latter was run by Robert Fisher & by 1841 had expanded to take in 24-Boys & 19-Girls aged from 6 to 16, Instructed by 4-Teachers. Two other Teachers also lived in the Parish.
Nettlebed Board School (later Primary): A Day & Sunday School linked to the National Society was Built on High Street in 1846, on Land Donated by Thomas Lewis. Supported by Subscriptions, Collections & School Pence, it had c.45-Pupils in 1867, and was enlarged in 1872. In 1875–76, however, it was closed at the Ratepayers’ request & transferred to a School Board, amid rancorous exchanges. Following further Enlargement c.116-boys & girls attended in 1894, when the School received a Government Grant of c.£90. Improvements followed under the Headmaster Thomas Johnson, who was, however, later accused of Improper Conduct, and was dismissed in 1915.
The School Benefited from Robert Fleming’s Philanthropy & in 1927 he provided adjoining Land for a New County Council School, the old Building becoming a Church Hall. The New School admitted Pupils from Nuffield & Bix, & Inspectors’ Reports in the 1930s were generally favourable. In 1959 the School was reorganised as a Primary School, which in 2011 taught 108 Mixed Pupils aged 4 to 11, the older children attending Schools in Henley. In 2005/6 the School was rebuilt to the South of the 1920s Building, which was replaced by New Housing, while the Original School was converted into Shops. The new School doubled as a Community Centre out of School hours.
Charities & Poor Relief: From the 16thC several of Nettlebed’s Inhabitants made small Cash Bequests to the Poor, among them the Landowners Thomas Box, Taverner Harris & John Wallis. Ralph Warcopp (d.1605), of English Manor in Newnham Murren, left 20-Nobles (£6-13s-4d) for setting the Poor to work with Flax, Hemp & Wool, to which Robert Butler (d.1621) added a further 6s-8d. The Charity was not mentioned later & no others were Endowed until the 19thC, although Nettlebed was among several Parishes eligible to nominate Candidates for an Almshouse at Upper Assendon Established by Sir Francis Stonor (d.1625) in 1620.
In the late-18thC the cost of Poor Relief was mostly funded by Parish Rates, and fell from £150 in 1776 to an average of £112 in 1783-85. Expenditure increased dramatically (to £305) in 1803, mainly because 245-non-Residents received support; otherwise only 47-People (including 20-children) were relieved permanently & 35 occasionally, in all c.16% of the Population. Costs rose further to an average of £438 in 1813-15, when 28-People were relieved Permanently & 32 Occasionally, c.13% of the Population. Thereafter expenditure fluctuated considerably, increasing from £375 in 1816 to £603 in 1818, then falling to £417 in 1821 & £378 in 1823. The Annual average from 1816 to 1824 was c.£463, falling to £398 in 1825-32. In 1834 costs more than halved to £194, after which Nettlebed became part of the Newly Established Henley Poor Law Union. Several inhabitants were subsequently admitted to the Union Workhouse.
Later Charities were Established under the Wills of James Champion (d.1860) & Elizabeth Lewis (d.1867). In the early-20thC Champions produced £2-11s a year for distribution in Bread & 30s for the Sunday School, while Lewis’s provided £8-17s a year for 12 ‘Deserving’ men & women. Both continued in 1995 as part of the Nettlebed United Charities, which included a 3rd Eleemosynary Charity set up by John Ward, and were regulated under a revised Charity Commission Scheme of 1973; the United Charities were Dissolved in 1996, however. Registered Nettlebed Charities in 2010 included the Nettlebed Medical Surgery Trust (with Income of £11,965), a Sports Association (£49,684), & the Friends of Nettlebed School & of a Local pre-School. The Nettlebed School Trust provided Grants for people up to 25-yrs of age.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 