Shipton-under-Wychwood

Shipton under Wychwood is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode valley about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Burford, Oxfordshire. The village is one of several named after the ancient forest of Wychwood. The others are Milton-under-Wychwood immediately to the west of the village and Ascott-under-Wychwood about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the east.

History

The Church of England parish church of St. Mary has a tower built in about 1200–1250,^[2] a 15th-century stone pulpit and font^[3] and a Tudor wall monument.^[3]

The village has three historic public houses: the Shaven Crown Hotel, The Red Horse and the Lamb Inn. The Shaven Crown Hotel^[4] overlooking the village green was once a guest house run by the monks of Bruern Abbey. It is claimed to have had a licence since 1384 but the present building is mainly 15th century.^[5] The Lamb Inn is 16th century^[6] and is controlled by Greene King Brewery.^[7]

William Langland, the conjectured author of Piers Plowman, is known to have been a tenant in Shipton-under-Wychwood where he died.^[8]

Shipton Court, the estate of the Lacey family, was built in about 1603.^[9]

The architect Richard Pace designed Saint Mary's Rectory, which was built in 1818.^[10]

Langley manor

About 2 miles (3 km) southeast of the village is the farmhouse of Langley, a largely mid-19th-century building. It is on the site of a royal hunting lodge that was built for Henry VII. Most of the Tudor monarchs stayed there when hunting in Wychwood Forest.^[5]

The de Langley family were hereditary keepers of Wychwood Forest, Oxon., which office carried with it the tenancy of the manor of Langley in Shipton-under-Wychwood parish.^[11] Their heir was Simon Verney(d.1368)whose brother was William Verney of Byfield, Northants., father of Alice Verney, 1st. wife of John Danvers(d.1449) of Calthorpe, MP for Oxfordshire 1420,1421,1423,1435.^[12] The de Langley family held the manor of Shipton, Oxfordshire, and Richard Lee in his "Gleanings of Oxfordshire" of 1574 states that these arms of Gules, 2 bars or in chief 2 buck's heads cabossed of the 2nd were then visible in a stained glass window in Shipton Church with a tomb under it. The buck's heads seem to be a reference to the de Langley office of forester of Wychwood.

Amenities

Wychwood Church of England Primary School is in the village.

Shipton railway station is on the Cotswold Line.

Shipton-under-Wychwood Cricket Club^[13] first XI plays in The Oxford Times Cherwell League^[14] Division One and won the National Village Knockout in 2002 and 2003. The club's second XI plays in The Oxford Times Cherwell League Division Five.

Shipton-under-Wychwood is on the Oxfordshire Way footpath, and this can be used to walk north-westwards up the Evenlode Valley to Bruern Abbey and Bledington, or eastwards down the valley to Charlbury.

References

Sources

• Colvin, H.M. (1997). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 764. ISBN 0-300-07207-4. 
• Godden, Malcolm (1990). The Making of Piers Plowman. London: Longman. ISBN 0582016851. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 758–760. ISBN 0 14 071045 0. 

External links

• The Wychwood Magazine Online