Christmas Common

Christmas Common

Coordinates: 51°38′02″N 0°58′12″W / 51.634°N 0.970°W / 51.634; -0.970

Christmas Common
Christmas Common is located in Oxfordshire
Christmas Common

 Christmas Common shown within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference SU713932
    - London  43 miles (69 km) 
Parish Watlington
District South Oxfordshire
Shire county Oxfordshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Watlington
Postcode district OX49
Dialling code 01491
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Henley
Website Watlington Parish Council
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Christmas Common is a hamlet in Watlington civil parish about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, close to the boundary with Buckinghamshire. The hamlet is 790 feet (240 m) above sea level on an escarpment of the Chiltern Hills. Because of its elevation, Christmas Common has two radio masts that are prominent local landmarks.

Contents

History

The hamlet's unusual toponym is of uncertain origin. It is variously ascribed to a 1643 Christmas Day truce between combatants in the English Civil War,[1] local holly tree coppices,[2][3] or the Christmas family, which had local connections.

Watlington Park is a private park and country house about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) southwest of Christmas Common. In 1675 Thomas Stonor of Stonor Park had a large house built here on an H-shaped plan. The Stonor family were recusants, and the house included a Roman Catholic chapel at which local Roman Catholics attended Mass. Between 1716 and 1756 John Talbot Stonor, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was a frequent visitor.[3]

In the 1750s the Stonors sold the house to John Tilson, who had a new house built to a compact Palladian design and re-used at least part of the older house as servants' quarters. Late in the 19th and early in the 20th century, subsequent owners altered and enlarged the Tilson house. Oliver Brett, later Viscount Esher, bought Watlington Park in 1921 and continued enlarging and modernising it. In 1954 his successor Major Lionel Brett, an architect, demolished all the extensions and the remains of the 17th century Stonor house[3] and added pedimented pavilions of his own design.[4] In 1967 Lionel Brett, by now 4th Viscount Esher, built the modernist Tower House for himself in a wood away from the hamlet.[5]

The former parish church of the Nativity, now a private house

Christmas Common has never been populous. The 1811 census named the hamlet as a liberty and reported that it had only six inhabited houses.[3]

The Church of England parish church of the Nativity was designed by the architect Walter Cave.[5] It was built in 1889 as a chapel of ease to save Anglican residents from travelling 2 miles (3.2 km) downhill to the parish church, St. Leonard's in Watlington. It was made redundant in the 20th century and is now a private house.

Amenities

The Chilterns are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The scarp slope of the Chilterns faces northwest from the hamlet steeply downhill towards Watlington.

The ancient Icknield Way follows the line of the Chilterns and is now a long-distance footpath. The Oxfordshire Way long-distance footpath passes through Christmas Common on its route between Bourton-on-the-Water and Henley-on-Thames, and crosses the Icknield Way 1 mile (1.6 km) downhill from the village.[6] The surrounding beech woods and local rights of way are popular with walkers, cyclists, horse riders and birdwatchers. The National Trust provides a car park at Watlington Hill on the edge of Christmas Common.

The area is a good place to see red kites, which had been extinct in southern England but were successfully reintroduced in 1989.[7][8]

The hamlet has a public house and restaurant, the Fox and Hounds, controlled by W.H. Brakspear & Sons.[9]

Residents

Christmas Common was the home of philologist and lexicographer William Craigie for over twenty years during his retirement until his death in 1957.[10]

Sources

References

  1. ^ "Civil War". South Oxfordshire Tourism. South Oxfordshire District Council. http://www.frenchjones.co.uk/sodc/history-heritage/civil-war/. Retrieved 16 December 2008. [dead link]
  2. ^ Mills & Room, 2003
  3. ^ a b c d Lobel, 1964, 210-252
  4. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 831
  5. ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 543
  6. ^ Thomas, 1993
  7. ^ "Watlington Parish Council". http://www.watlington.org/. Retrieved 15 December 2008. 
  8. ^ "Where to see red kites in the Chilterns". Chilterns Conservation Board. http://www.chilternsaonb.org/downloads/publications/wheretoseekites.pdf. Retrieved 16 December 2008. 
  9. ^ The Fox & Hounds
  10. ^ Dictionary of National Biography, 1971, volume 1-21, page 267

External links

Media related to Christmas Common at Wikimedia Commons


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Christmas worldwide — Christmas around the world redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas Around the World (Bradley Joseph album). The Christmas season is celebrated in different ways around the world, varying by country and region. Elements common to many areas… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas lighting technology — has been subject to considerable development and variation since the replacement of candles by electric lights. Contents 1 Incandescent Christmas Lights 2 LEDs 3 Fiber optic lights 4 B …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas — Day redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation) and Christmas Day (disambiguation). Christmas …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas ornament — Common thin blown glass ornament empty inside, a typical frosted glass bauble …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas wafer — (Polish: opłatek, plural opłatki; Lithuanian: kalėdaitis) is a Central European Christian Christmas tradition celebrated in Polish, Slovak and …   Wikipedia

  • Common metre — or Common measure,[1] abbreviated C. M., is a poetic meter consisting of four lines which alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line, with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) and… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas creep — is a merchandising phenomenon in which merchants and retailers exploit the commercialized status of Christmas by moving up the start of the holiday shopping season.[1] The term was first used in the mid 1980s.[2] The Christmas season begins with… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas plants — There are many different plants used around the world during the festive season of Christmas. There are Christmas flowers, as well as Christmas foods, and Christmas drinks that use traditional plants. There are also a wide variety of plants that… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas Island National Park — IUCN Category II (National Park) Nearest town/city Flying Fish Cove Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas — • Provides a detailed overview of the holiday from the fourth century through the modern age. Includes links to related topics Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Christmas     Christmas …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”