Village History

Culham through the Looking Glass

Culham through the Looking Glass, a Peep into the Past, by Leonard G R Naylor MA, sometime Vice Principal of Culham College.

Reproduced from the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire volume VII (1962), ed. M.Lobel, by permission of the Executive Editor. The date of the document is unknown.

This account is largely an abridgement, occasionally an expansion, of the author's history of the parish printed in the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, vo1 VII. The sources used in compiling the history will be found there.

The parish of Culham divides geographically into three distinct sections. Most of it lies between Clifton Hampden and a backwater of the Thames once known as Swift Ditch:Andersey Island, comprising the area between the backwater and Abingdon; and the Otneys, an area on the right bank of the Thames adjoining the west side of Sutton Courtenay.

The origins of the parish system go back to Anglo-Saxon times. We do not know when the parish of Culham first came into existence, but a survey of it was made in 940 in the time of King Edmund. The boundaries of the parish seem to be exactly as now, except for the loss of some eyots in the river to Abingdon in 1894.

Thus the parish has a continuous history of more than 1,000 years. The survey mentions the ford where Abingdon Bridge now stands and refers to 'barrows' (earthworks) at some points along the Parish's eastern boundary; but all trace of the barrows has long since disappeared. In the old days, when Parish boundaries were not always clearly delineated, it was customary to "beat the bounds", i.e. for the vicar and parishioners to march in procession once a year along the boundaries. This was regularly done at Culham during the Middle Ages and led to an amusing incident in 1416. Sir John Drayton of Nuneham, apparently believing that the vicar and his flock were trespassing during the perambulation of that year, is said to have fired at them with a cannon from a fortalice. The frightened Culham men beat a hasty retreat and reported the incident to their Lord, the Abbot of Abingdon, who instituted legal proceedings against Drayton, claiming that the fortalice was on Culham soil. We do not know the result of the action, but there is no sign of any further incidents.

The boundaries of Culham except in the east and the Otneys were formed by the River Thames, which sweeps round three sides of the parish. Yet although a river is usually a natural means of communication with other districts, Culham's communications north and south were not easy. The Thames was certainly navigable during the Middle Ages from London to Henley, and perhaps to Burcot; but the barges moving upstream from Burcot had to face a shallow, rocky bottom at Clifton and a very tricky passage through Sutton to Abingdon. There was, of course, no Clifton or Culham Cut until the 19th Century. At Abingdon the river was again shallow and there were numerous obstructions on the way to Oxford. Hence the wharfage for Abingdon came to be at Culham. We know, for instance, that stone and lead from the dissolved Abbey of Abingdon were brought by road to Culham Wharf to be loaded upon barges for transportation to London. In Tudor times barges became bigger and this made it almost impossible for them to moved between Burcot and Oxford. Hence by two Acts of 1605 and 1624 Parliament set up the Oxford - Burcot Commission to improve the passage of the Thames between these places.

The Commission did much to improve the river between 1624 and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. It built the first pound locks on the Thames at Iffley, Sandford and Culham. The Culham Lock was constructed about 1636 in a new cutting at the head of Swift Ditch, which was made the main artery for the barge traffic. The remains of the lock can still be seen as well as the assembly pool for barges that lay near it. There was a flash lock about half way along Swift Ditch, which existed at least as early as 1585. Swift Ditch remained the chief navigation channel until 1790 when it was abandoned in favour of the present route through Abingdon. Water communications through Culham were made much easier in 1809 with the construction of The Culham Cut and Lock. The Cut was made partly along the line of the old Speel Ditch, a straggling channel that left the Thames at the head of the present Cut and turned south to rejoin the river near Sutton Mill. The cost was about £9,000; as usual much more than the original estimate of £5,485.

Communications by road were poor until the early 15th Century. The main Dorchester - Abingdon road runs through the parish from east to west, but before the reign of Henry V the traveller from Dorchester had to ford the river both at Culham and Abingdon. The highway from Dorchester to Abingdon is undoubtedly very old - it is said in an Act of Parliament of 1416 to have existed from "time immemorial". Between 1416 and 1422 a major scheme for improving communications between Abingdon and Culham was undertaken by the Abingdon Guild of the Holy Cross. Abingdon Bridge, the causeway across Andersey, and the old bridge at Culham were built at the Guild's expense. The old bridge is built across the site of the ancient ford known as Culham Hyth; it is of stone and has five perpendicular arches. It lies just to the south of the new bridge erected in 1928 by the Oxfordshire County Council. For centuries it was maintained by Christ's Hospital, the successor to the Guild of the Holy Cross. The highway, however, like all roads before the 18th century, was often in a bad state. Hence the establishment by Act of Parliament in 1736 of a turnpike trust to maintain the roads between Henley and Abingdon; the trust was empowered to levy tolls for the repair of the roads. For instance a coach, chariot, chaise or calash (hooded carriage) drawn by six horses paid a fee of 1/6; if drawn by four hourses 1/-; if drawn by fewer than four horses 6d. A wagon, wain, cart, carriage drawn by four or more horses paid 1;-; if by fewer than four horses 6d. A horse, mule or ass was charged 2d; a drove of oxen 10d. a score; a drove of calves, hogs, sheep or lambs 5d. a score. There were numerous exemptions. Carts carrying materials for the repair of roads; carts carrying manure, hay, straw, timber, ploughs and harrows for the use of the parish; horses and cattle being moved to watering places; soldiers on the march; His Majesty's mails - all these paid nothing. The fees were varied by later Acts of Parliament - altogether there were six between 1736 and 1841. Not until 1875 were tolls completely abandoned. The trust set up toll-houses at Culham Bridge and at the junction of Thame Lane with the main highway. The toll-houses are still standing, a remainder of by-gone days.

The highway is joined near the Wagon and Horses Inn by Thame Lane, which used to continue its journey across Clifton Heath. It was cut in 1941 when a Royal Naval Air Station was built on the east side of the railway line between Didcot and Oxford. A field to the north of Thame Lane bounded by the railway line was probably the site of the Abingdon races, held on Culham Heath from the 1730's to 1811. Jackson's Oxford Journal of 19th September 1767 describes the course in these words: "The Course is most judiciously laid out, both as a piece of fine racing ground, and also for affording diversion for the company, as the horses may be seen quite round from an easy eminence, without moving from the spot." Visitors from Oxford could approach the racecourse by a road, or rather track, from Nuneham.

Culham village was never on the main road. The village High Street is part of a long loop beginning at the Wagon and Horses and ending at Culham Bridge. Before 1813 the straight stretch of road from Culham Bridge to the Village green, cutting through Bury Croft, did not exist; the main highway was linked to the village by a road running close to the west side of Culham House. This road was closed when the straight stretch of road to the Bridge was made. Before 1807 a road from the Wagon and Horses ran to the ferry which took travellers over the Thames to Sutton. The ferry lay just to the west of the present bridge. Built in 1807, it was extended over the Culham Cut in 1908. It was privately owned until 1939 when it was jointly purchased by the Berkshire and Oxfordshire County Councils.

The railway line from Didcot to Oxford runs through the eastern fringe of the parish. It was built in 1843 and 1844 after the objections of local landowners, the University and the city of Oxford had been overcome. The local station was known as "Abingdon Road" and was served by horse-drawn omnibuses from Abingdon which were timed to meet the trains. When Abingdon secured its own station in 1856 "Abingdon Road" was rechristened "Culham".

Culham has played little part in national history and has produced no one of eminence. Yet there is a good deal of interest in its history. Its old English name (Cula's Hamm) suggests a possible 6th Century Anglo-Saxon settlement in the bend of the river, and it was a place of some importance in later Saxon times. For six centuries it was a possession of the Abbey of Abingdon, though the Abbey did not have continuous possession before the middle of the 10th Century; and it was 150 years after that before the Abbey finally secured Andersey. The Mercian King Offa (d.796) is said to have had a hunting lodge on Andersey. The remainder of the parish was apparently in royal hands at this time. The abbey later claimed that King Kenwulf of Mercia (796-821) had granted Culham to it and produced two charters, dated 811 and 821 to prove its case. The charters are certainly spurious, but may nonetheless have a basis of truth. The forgery of documents by monks was a not unusual procedure in the Dark Ages; they probably forged them to ensure their Abbey's possessions had a legal basis. This may well be the case with Culham. Certainly Culham enjoyed a spell of royal favour in the Middle Ages.

King Kenwulf's two sisters retired here to lead a holy life, whilst in 940 King Edmund is said to have granted Culham for life to a royal lady called Aelfhild. After the Conquest both William I and William II stayed at the hunting lodge on Andersey, the Conqueror, we are told, once recuperating there from blood-letting! But the hunting lodge and other buildings on Andersey disappeared when Henry I in 1101 finally returned the island to the Abbey. The memory of them lasted much longer. When the itinerant antiquarian Leland visited Abingdon in the early 16th century he chronicled the onetime existence of a fortress on Andersey.

The manor of Culham remained in the hands of Abingdon Abbey until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1538 when it was seized by the Crown. In 1545 Henry VIII granted it to a London wool merchant, William Bury, in exchange for land in the Isle of Sheppey and £600. William Bury was the second son of Edmund Bury, of Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire. William Bury (?1504 - 63) must have acquired a substantial fortune as a wool merchant and also attained a position of some importance in the City of London. He was a member of the Common Council and witnessed the will of King Edward VI in favour of Lady Jane Grey. He was, then, clearly a Protestant in religion, though we know nothing of his change of faith. As he survived the reign of Mary he no-doubt dissembled his Protestant beliefs for a time. He was buried in the church of St Swithin, London Stone, in 1563, leaving by his first wife - he was twice married - some seven children.

His eldest son John (1535-72) succeeded him at Culham. He died in 1572 after being thrown from his horse and breaking a thigh, and was buried in Culham Church, the first of many Burys to be interred there. The Bury vault lies beneath the floor of the nave, and there are a number of inscriptions to members of the family still to be seen in the Church. John was succeeded by his infant son Thomas (c1566-1615), who in 1610 refronted the manor house. The date and the initials "T.B." can be seen carved on the new central porch. Thomas married Judith, daughter of the well-known Protestant theologian, lawrence Humphrey, D.D., President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Dean of Winchester. She survived her husband for more than 40 Years and twice remarried. Her third husband was Sir Edmund Cary (c.1558-1637) Cary was a first cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth I, his grandmother, Mary Boleyn being sister to Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, and mother of Queen Elizabeth. Judith was so proud of this marriage that she erected a memorial tablet in the church to herself as well as her husband shortly after his death. She survived him for nearly 20 years, dying in May 1656 at the age of 88. She had two sons by Thomas Bury: Edmund, who was drowned returning from the Netherlands, and William (1594-1632); who succeeded his father.

William left three sons and one daughter, his heir George being only 10 at the time of his father's death. George matriculated at Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1640; and although of military age seems to have avoided active participation in the Civil War. There is nothing to indicate which side he favoured, King or Parliament. Perhaps he succeeded in walking the tightrope of neutrality. When he died in 1662 the direct male line of the Burys ended. His heiress Sarah (1650-80) married in 1666 Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 4th Baronet, of Parham, Sussex. By this marriage the manor of Culham passed to the Bisshopp family, who retained it until 1828; but after Sarah's death in 1680 they spent little, if any, time here. The eighth baronet, also a Sir Cecil, successfully claimed in 1815 the dormant peerage of Zouch de Haryngworth, as the name 'Zouch Farm' reminds us. Lord Zouch died in 1828 without heirs male, and his estates were accordingly divided between his two daughters, the younger, Katherine Arabell, wife of Sir George Brooke-Pechell, Bt., receiving the Oxfordshire lands of Culham and Newington. By 1856 the Brooke-Pechell estates were in debt to the tune of £40,000, and the Culham lands were accordingly sold for £72,750 to James Morrell, of Headington, in whose family they substantially remain.

When Culham belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon it certainly enjoyed a privileged position, its privileges probably deriving from a wider interpretation of King Kenwulf's Charter of 821. The parish claimed to be exempt from taxation, a claim upheld in 1291, but not one likely to be accepted by Her Majesty' Government in 1967! This claim no doubt is the reason for the absence of any mention of Culham in Domesday Book - to the great loss of the historian. The parish too claimed sanctuary rights; abuse of these rights led to them being disallowed in 1486, though a claim to sanctuary at Culham is recorded as late as 1507. With the dissolution of Abingdon Abbey the privileged position of Culham came to an end.

The parish experienced some excitement during the Civil War between King and Parliament in the 17th century. Culham's proximity to Abingdon and Oxford - Charles I's headquarters - meant that the village was bound to be affected by the struggle, for the bridge across Culham Ford was of considerable strategic importance. Abingdon, Dorchester and Wallingford as well as Oxford were at first in Royalist hands; and so naturally was Culham, though we know nothing of the sympathies of the inhabitants. In the spring of 1643 the Royalists had an encampment on Culham Hill; Parliamentary Spies' estimates of the number of troops there varied from 1500 (a reasonable figure) to 20,000! Some trenches were dug and damage to corn fields was reported. The troops, however, were withdrawn to Oxford in June.

But the chief incident of the war so far as Culham was concerned was the skirmish at Culham Bridge in January 1645. The Royalists surrendered Abingdon to the Roundheads in May 1644 in mysterious circumstances, and Culham consequently came under Parliamentarian Control. Culham Bridge was seized and raiding parties were sent out from Abingdon to attack Royalist food convoys moving through Dorchester to Oxford. The inconvenience caused by these harassing attacks was sufficient to induce the Royalists to plan a surprise attack on the bridge. During the early hours of Saturday, 11th January 1645, a Royalist force from Oxford, commanded by Sir Henry Gage, a Roman Catholic, left Oxford via Magdalen Bridge with the aim of seizing and demolishing Culham Bridge. They came to Nuneham-Courtenay, and thence probably by the Nuneham-Culham road to Thame Lane. The morning was misty, the surprise almost complete. The bridge was quickly seized, and one of the two sentries guarding it killed; but the other escaped in the mist along the causeway to warn the Parliamentary commander in Abingdon, Major General Richard Browne, of what had happened. Browne, according to his own account, at once sent troops through the meadows alongside the causeway to outflank the Royalists, who were driven from the bridge into the adjacent hedges and banks.

After some four hours of fighting the Royalists withdrew, carrying with them their mortally wounded leader, Gage. He was buried in Christ Church Cathedral. Other accounts say that Gage conscripted the inhabitants of Culham to demolish the bridge and that some damage was done to it before the Roundheads counterattacked. The Roundheads made the most of their victory for propaganda purposes. One source accuses the Royalists of "plundering Culham most miserably, stripping from divers women of rank all their clothes, took from the Lady Cary, an ancient lady, sick in her bed, her rings from her fingers, watch and whatever they could carry". Whatever the truth of all this may be, the villagers must have had a very unpleasant morning and have greeted the end of fighting with relief. Not until the second World War did Culham again hear the sound of battle.

The villagers who greeted the end of the Civil War with relief were mostly poor and had been so for centuries. The great majority of them obtained a bare living from agriculture, farming strips of land in the great open fields which surrounded the village. Originally there were two vast arable fields, perhaps even as late as 1539; for a survey of that year speaks only of Town and Contard Fields. By the middle of the 17th Century there were three fields ( Ham, Middle and Contard); during the 18th century there was a change to a four field system. The enclosure Award of 1813 mentions four fields: 1. Contard - forming a triangle between the main highway and Thame Lane and ending in the east at Culham Heath, 2. Ham - south of the main highway, from the Clifton boundary to a point perhaps half way between the Wagon and Horses and the boundary, 3. South Middle Field - the remainder of the arable area south of the main highway, 4. North Middle Field - mostly north of the main highway between the Wagon and Horses and Culham Bridge, and also north of Thame Lane for a short distance at its western end.

The exact boundaries of the fields are hard to trace. They comprised altogether some 700 acres. The strips or furlongs in these fields provide us with some fascinating names. Lower Sands, Gogmire, Hornshalt, Hornton, Toot are a few examples. Apart from the arable land there were before enclosure a number of hedged meadows and pastures: these were to be found on Andersey, on both sides of Swift Ditch and in the north of the parish. In addition Culham Heath was a large tract of land in the north east of the parish south of Nuneham Park and reaching in places the main Abingdon-Dorchester Road. After enclosure much of the heath was drained and brought under cultivation. Despite the agricultural changes of the late 18th and 19th centuries much poverty continued amongst the inhabitants, perhaps the worst crisis being in 1800-1 when the parish supported 40 paupers and spent over E 1,000 in relief. But some people were always better off than the peasantry. Indeed the 18th century saw the appearance of large farms; in 1$05 there were five substantial farms and six small ones. Tye, Warren and the Manor Farm were the best known. There were about 40 Houses in the village at this time.

The houses lay mostly north and south of the main village street, i.e. the present High Street, though for most of its length the old street was farther north, i.e. nearer to Culham House, than the present High Street. The alteration to the present line was made between 1810 and 1813 at the time of enclosure when the road across Bury Croft was constructed. The name 'Bury Croft' incidentally has nothing to do with the Bury family; it is found in the survey of 1539 before the Burys came to Culham. Most of the village was rebuilt in 1869 and 1870 and consequently few of the old dwellings survive. Indeed the only old cottage still in existence is the village store, of 17th century origin and refronted in the 18th century. Not even the inns can claim much antiquity. The parish now has three: the Wagon and Horses, the Lion and the Jolly Porter (formerly the Railway Hotel). The Wagon and Horses can be traced back to 1795, though the building is early 19th century; the Lion (formerly the Sow and Pigs) is a fairly modern building, but it too can be traced back to 1795; the Jolly Porter was built about 1846. In the late 18th century there were half a dozen malthouses in the village.

Culham's oldest Building is the Manor House, originally a medieval grange of the Abbots of Abingdon. The house is largely of 15th century date, but in 1610 Thomas Bury rebuilt the north front. Bury's house was much larger than the present one, for an eastern section was demolished during or after the Civil Wars. There is still a room within the house called the Abbot's Chamber which once had heraldic glass depicting the arms of Abbot Coventry, who died in 1512. In the grounds is a dovecote, dated 1685, and bearing the initials of Sir Cecil Bisshopp. It is believed to be one of the three largest in England. When the Bisshopps ceased to bother with Culham, the Manor House began a long period of decline; for many years it was a farmhouse.

The largest house in the village is Culham House, built about 1775 by John Phillips, lay rector of the parish. Phillips was a London builder. His ancestors hailed from Hagbourne and became master carpenters to George I and George II. The Phillips family first appeared in Culham about 1736 and were here until 1935. As lay rectors they were entitled to sit in the chancel of the church and were also legally responsible for the chancel's upkeep. Several memorials to members of the family are in the church. John Phillips erected a handsome redbrick building of five bays, with contemporary staircase, overmantles and doorcasis. The house was enlarged about 25 years later to seven bays. It was once noted for its collection of china.

The old Vicarage was built about 1758, probably by Benjamin Kennicott, vicar of Culham 1753-83. It was enlarged by a later vicar, Robert Walker, in 1849. It has now been sold by the church authorities.

The only large building beyond the confines of the village is Culham College of Education. The building, erected in 1852 was designed by Joseph Clarke, a minor architect of the Victorian era. Clarke designed the College in the neo-Gothic style which was fashionable at the time. It was intended for 100 students, a large number for those days. The original building has been much altered and adapted in the last 20 years, whilst many new buildings, modern in style, have sprung up. The College has now more than 400 students in attendance. A masculine stronghold for more than 100 years, it is now in process of transformation into a co-educational institution. Until 1931 the College had its own practising school, now the craft centre. In the 1960s there was a maximum of 600 students.

There is no sign of any school in the parish before the early 19th century. In 1808 younger children learned to read and write in two small schools, presumably held in cottages; in 1815 a Sunday School was started, its master being paid from the rates. Nevertheless, provision for education was very unsatisfactory until 1850, when the village Church of England School was erected at a cost of £438. Some additions to the premises were made in 1897. Usually a mixed all-age school, it was reorganised in 1924 for infants and girls only, but in 1931 the senior girls were transferred to Dorchester. Temporarily closed in 1948, the school was re-opened in 1951.

Before 1833 education was regarded as the privilege of private individuals and of the Church. In Culham the Church seems to have done little for education before 1815, but in other ways it had played a vital part in the lives of the villagers since Saxon times. It baptised their children, married them and buried them; the vicar was their guide, philosopher and friend. He counselled those in need of advice, he visited the sick, he presided over meetings of the vestry, the body that formed the local government of the parish. The members of the vestry were the better-off parishioners, who in turn served as churchwardens, overseers of the poor and highway surveyors. The parish church was usually their meeting place. In most English parishes the church can be traced back to the Middle Ages and its story is an epitome of the history of England.

The church of St Paul at Culham has unhappily little that is old in its structure. As an historical 'document' it cannot compare with its neighbour at Sutton Courtenay. The oldest part is the tower and even that dates only to 1714 though there was certainly an earlier tower. The present church was built in Victorian times, the Nave in 1852 and the Chancel in 1872, The Nave which is in the Early English style, was designed by Joseph Clarke, the architect of Culham College; the Chancel by R J Spiers. The cost of rebuilding the Nave - the medieval Nave was beyond major repair by 1852 - was borne partly by a parish rate and partly by donations; The Chancel was rebuilt at the expense of the lay rector, John Shawe Phillips. The church was refitted after rebuilding. Neither the building itself nor the fittings are attractive. A communion table dated 1638 and an ancient parish chest have survived the Victorian onslaught. The stone font was given about 1845 by J S Phillips; before that time a baptismal font of gilded base metal resting on a mahogany stand was used. There are memorials in the church to some members of the Bury family, to Sir Edmund and Judith Cary, to members of the yeoman family of Welch, and to members of the Phillips family. Other memorials of the Burys have been lost.

The damage done to churches by the Victorian "restorers" may well have exceeded that done by the extreme Protestants of the days of Edward VI and 0liver Cromwell. Certainly little attempt seems to have been made at Culham to preserve the relics of the past. We do, however, know a good deal about the old church of St Paul thanks to a detailed description given in Parker's Guide to Antiquities near Oxford published in 1846 and to an early 19th century drawing of the south side preserved in the Bodleian Library.

The medieval church stood on the site from the late 12th or early 13th century to the middle of the 19th century; there may well have been an earlier building, perhaps going back to the time of King Kenwulf. But if there was, we know nothing about it. The medieval church was about the same length as the present building, but had a narrower nave. It had a south aisle, separated from the nave by five small pointed Early English arches, and a north and south transept. The east end of the chancel was square, not apsidal as it is now. There was a Decorated window of two lights in the wall of the south aisle. The south transept had a similar window on its east side and another of three lights at the end; above this window was a sundial. The porch was much closer to the south transept than the present porch, and the line of the roof was lower.The north side of the building seems to have been poorly lit. It had only a single lancet window in the wall, though there was a range of four clerestory windows above. In the north transept, however, in a little chapel, was the chief glory of the old church, the north window, which was filled with heraldic glass, the jambs containing chains of heraldic shields with the arms of different families, principally Cary and Humphrey; on each side was a two-light lancet window. The glass was inserted in 1638 and forms part of the Cary memorial. When the church was rebuilt much ofthe glass was placed in a window in the north aisle. Alas! some of the glass was lost and a good deal of the remainder barbarously mishandled. This is not the only heraldic loss. A high window on the north side of the nave once contained the arms of an Abbot of Abingdon. It is not known when this disappeared, but it was in place in 1717. Will we never learn the lessonof the need to guard our historical relics? Within the last 30 years there have been further losses: the first parish register beginning in 1648 - though fortunately a transcript was made of this in the 1930's. Of the original church plate, only two pieces remain; the oldest, an Elizabethan silver chalice (dated 1575 and a silver plate given by the Revd Benjamin Kennicott in 1761. A silver flagon given by the Revd Thomas Woods in 1752 and another silver patten, given by the Revd Robert Wintle in 1829 have been lost at some time within the last 40 years. In the last three years several additions have been made, notably a modern silver chalice with walnut stem and a silver-gilt chalice and patten, the gift from a neighbouring parish. Three of the bells in the tower are old, one dating back to 1597, the other two being 18th century. There is a sanctus bell dated 1774, which is hung. for chiming; it was cast by Edne Willis, of Aldbourne, Wiltshire, and is the only bell known to be by him.

For many centuries Culham was an ecclesiastical 'peculiar' i.e. it was free from the control of the bishop. In the Middle Ages the church was completely dominated by the Abbot of Abingdon, who did not need to present his nominee to the living to the bishop. Hence the names of only three pre-Reformation priests are known. At the Reformation possession of the living passed to the Crown, and thence in 1589 to the Bishop of Oxford. As the value of the living was very small it attracted few distinguished names; and if such men held the living they were usually absentees. Thus Thomas Woods, vicar 1739 - 1753, was as headmaster of Abingdon School, non-resident; and his successor, Benjamin Kennicott (1753 - 1783), lived in Oxford. Kennicott was a distinguished Hebrew scholar and librarian of the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. That he occasionally appeared in Culham is shown by his signature in the Churchwardens' Accounts from time to time. A 20th Century vicar (1911 - 1917) was the Oxfordshire antiquary, W J 0ldfield. He put the parish records in order and indexed the registers.

The parishioners seem to have accepted all the changes produced by the Reformation without protest and Roman Catholicism rapidly declined. Only occasional references to Roman Catholics are to be found in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nor is there anything to suggest that Culham was affected by Protestant Dissent. There was never more than a handful of Dissenters in the parish before the 20th Century and they probably worshipped in Abingdon. No meeting place for Dissenters was ever established.

It is time to end this brief survey. Culham, in the course of its known history of more than 1,000 years, has seen many changes in the evolution of England and many changes within its own boundaries. Yet basically it remains a unity despite the economic and social pressures of the 20th century. Whether this unity can remain is a problem which only the future can solve. Perhaps the next historian of Culham will be able to answer the riddle.

Culham Manor and Church

By Rev F Denman, Vicar 1976-81

For centuries the life of Church and Manor have intertwined. The core of the ancient Manor House has largely survived but alas, of the ancient church nothing remains - only that same 'peace' which our forbears treasured. The story begins in the seventh century, when already there was a handful of men leading a some sort of 'holy life' in that part of Culham known as Andersey Island. St Birines had been preaching to the West Saxons in and around Dorchester since 634 A.D. The ancients had buried their dead on Andersey (St Andrews Isle). Although burial mounds have disappeared there are burial mounds within the grounds of Culham Manor. On the Eastern boundary between the village pond and the vegetable garden there remains a fine Long Barrow and early Ordnance Survey plans indicate a tumulus immediately to the East of the front garden upon which there grows a Horse Chestnut tree. While the monks were on Andersey, Royalty also discovered the charm of Culham and in pursuit of sport King Offa, in 790 established his ascendancy over the West Saxons at Culham. He liked it so much that he built a royal residence very close to what is today Rye Farm. His son, Egbert, died at this hunting lodge. The monks, who at that time were building Abingdon Abbey, were very much inconvenienced by the sport of Kings, according to translations.

Following the death of Egbert, King Kenwulf (or Coenwulf) discovered Culham and soon this King of the Merciars acquired Culham for himself. King Kenwulf had two sisters called Kerieswyth and Burgevilde and according to ancient records they were good looking Ladies with elegant manners and entirely devoted to God. When the King spoke to his sisters of marriage they told the King that from their girlhood they had desired, with all their mind and strength, to serve and please God only. The King was very happy to comply with their wishes and this request was granted. They also asked him for a portion of land where they might remain in God's service. So in 801 King Kenwulf granted them the Land of Culham: A suitable dwelling place and chapel were built and the two sisters began to lead a life of prayer, love and devotion to God. It is from this and on this hallowed ground that Culham Manor and Parish Church now stand. The two holy sisters asked that when they died they should be buried in Abingdon Abbey and the property at Culham to be given to the Monastery.

The holy and exemplary life of the two sisters became widely known, King Kenwulf, delighted by his sisters way of life and faith granted further favours to Culham which had now become known as a 'holy place'. Culham Church was given the rights of 'Sanctuary' - a haven of protection for the innocent and unjustly treated. The Sanctuary was inviolable but alas, later on in history it became a protection to hosts of thieves, robbers and murderers. King Kenwulf also stated that Culham inhabitants were free from every secular demand, even from obedience to the command of the King and his ministers and even taxes. Culham and its people were subject only to the Abbot of Abingdon. There is a tradition that Abbot Rethan himself journeyed to Rome to receive special favours granted to Culham from the Pope and it is a fact that Pope Leo III confirmed these privileges on Culham in 802.

In the year 940 a sister of King Aethelstan, King of the West Saxons and Grandson of Alfred the Great, no doubt inspired by the reputation of Culham, came to live here a similar life to her royal predecessors, Her name was Aelfhild and she caused a new and fine chapel to be built and dedicated to St Vincent. When Aelfhild died she was buried in this chapel but, sad to relate; nothing remains of her tomb.

The next we hear of Culham is from Pope Gregory IX (1227 - 41). He confirmed that Culham Manor and its chapel belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon. It is probably at this time that, because of its reputation as a retreat and 'holy place', the house and church became a religious settlement in its own right - what was known as a 'Grange'. This was like a monastery with its daily rule of life and yet not independent of the Great Abingdon Abbey. Barns and Outbuildings were built for the Prior and half a dozen or so Monks who were under the Benedictine rule of manual work on the land combined with regular prayer life. In 1289 it is recorded that the Prior of Culham, Nicolas by name, was elected Abbot of Abingdon, a great honour. Later it seems a shadow appeared on the holy life at Culham with the abuse of its rights of Sanctuary, In 1394 the crown petitioned against the abuse of sanctuary and in 1442 Pope Eugenius IV issued a mandate to the Bishop of Lincoln and others to enquire into such abuses.

In 1456 events took a dramatic turn. The army of Richard III had been routed at the Battle of Bosworth Field the previous year and the new King Ilenry VII was anxious to get rid of any traitors. A rebellion lead by Lord Lovell against the King sprang up which was supported by Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother Thomas. The rebellion failed and Sir Humphrey and his brother fled to Culham. The King decreed that Culham was not sufficient defence for traitors and the unfortunate brothers were dragged from Culham Church and conveyed to London. Sir Humphrey was executed at Tyburn but Thomas was pardoned on the grounds that he was influenced by his brother.

The manor remained in the hands of Abingdon Abbey until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1538 when it was seized by the Crown. In 1545 Henry VIII granted the manor and its lands to a London Wool Merchant, William Bury, in exchange for land in the Isle of Sheppey and £600. William Bury was the second son of Edmund Bury, of Hampton Poyle. William Bury 1504 - 63 must have acquired a substantial fortune as a wool merchant and also attained a position of some importance in the City of London. He was a member of the Common Council and witnessed the will of King Edward VI in favour of Lady Jane Grey. William Bury was a protestant by faith although having survived the reign of Mary he no doubt dissembled his beliefs for a time. Twice married, he left seven children and his eldest son John succeeded him at Culham. John Bury (1535-72) died after being thrown from his horse and breaking a thigh and was buried at Culham Church, rededicated to St Paul at the beginning of William's life at Culham. The Bury vault lies beneath the nave.

John was succeeded by his infant son, Thomas (1566 - 1615) who in 1610 refronted the manor in Jacobean style and the initials "T.B." and the date 1610 can be seen carved on the new central porch on the North Front. His work did not entirely erradicate the original medieval frontage of the house and the window and door lintels can still be seen carved out of the timber beam set some five feet inside the porch and in the truss of the North West Bedroom. Thomas Bury was married to Judith Humphrey who inherited the house after his death. She twice remarried, surviving Thomas by more than fourty years: Her second husband was Sir George Rivers and her third husband was Sir Edmund Cary who was a first cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth I. His grandmother, Mary Boleyn, being sister to Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII and mother to Queen Elizabeth, On the death of Sir Edmund Cary, Lady Cary erected a Tablet in Culham Church in 1638 as a memorial to herself as well as her late husband, and this Tablet still remains.

The parish experienced some excitement during the Civil War between King and Parliament in the 17th century. Culham's proximity to Abingdon and Oxford - Charles I's headquarters - meant that the village was bound to be affected by the struggle, for the bridge across Culham ford was of considerable strategic importance. Abingdon, Dorchester and Wallingford as well as Oxford were at first in Royalist hands; and so naturally was Culham though we know nothing of the sympathies of the inhabitants. In the spring of 1643 the Royalties had an encampment on Culham Hill; Parliamentary spies' estimates of the number of troops there varied from 1500 (a reasonable figure) to 20,000! Some trenches were dug and damage to corn fields was reported. The troops, however, were withdrawn to Oxford in June. But the chief incident of the war so far as Culham was concerned was the skirmish at Culham Bridge in January 1645. The Royalists surrendered Abingdon to the Roundheads in May 1644 in mysterious circumstances, and Culham consequently came under Parliamentarian control. Culham Bridge was seized and raiding parties were sent out from Abingdon to attack Royalist food convoys moving through Dorchester to Oxford. The inconvenience caused by these harassing attacks was sufficient to induce the Royalists to plan a surprise attack on the bridge. During the early hours of Saturday, 11th January 1645, a Royalist force from Oxford, commanded by Sir Henry Gage, a Roman Catholic, left Oxford via Magdalen Bridge with the aim of seizing and demolishing Culham Bridge. They came to Nuneham Courtenay, and thence probably by the Nuneham-Culham road to Thame Lane. The morning was misty, the surprise almost complete. The bridge was quickly seized, and one of the two sentries guarding it killed; but the other escaped in the mist along the causeway to warn the Parliamentary commander in Abingdon, Major General Richard Browne, of what had happened, Browne, according to his own account, at once sent troops through the meadows alongside the causeway to outflank the Royalists, who were driven from the bridge into the adjacent hedges and banks. After some four hours of fighting the Royalists withdrew, carrying with them their mortally wounded leader, Gage. He was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Other accounts say that Gage conscripted the inhabitants of Culham to demolish the bridge and that some damage was done to it before the Roundheads counter-attacked. The Roundheads made the most of their victory for propaganda purposes, One source accuses the Royalists of "plundering Culham most miserably, stripping from divers women of rank all their clothes, took from the Lady Cary, an ancient lady, sick in her bed, her rings from her fingers, watch and whatever they could carry".

After the death of Lady Cary in 1656 the manor passed to her grandson George Bury who is also reputed to have died from a fall from his horse and it was about this time that a large portion of the E shaped manor was demolished leaving only the L shaped North Western half of the house. Parts remained of the Eastern demolished section- The ground floor cottage North facing window was part of the East Wing although the cottage has been built upon the site. It is also believed, that some of the walls of the walled gardens to the South East of the house are the remains of the stone ground floor section of the half timbered missing wing.

George's daughter and sole heiress, Sarah, married Sir Cecil Bisshopp 4th Bart of Parham, Sussex in 1666. Sarah died in 1679, but Sir Cecil remarried and in 1685 he built the stone dovecot containing upwards of 3000 nesting boxes and which is alleged to be the second largest dovecot in the Country. Sir Cecil Bisshopp died in 1705 and the 8th baronet, another Cecil, in 1815 made a successful claim to the dormant barony of Zouch de Haryngworth. Lord Zouch died in 1828 and the property was divided between his two daughters. However, since 1749 the Manor had become a farm house occupied by the Welch and Mundy families many of whom are buried in the churchyard. By 1856 the estates were in heavy debt and the Manor and lands were sold to James Morrell of Headington in whose family's hands the manor remained until purchased by Mr and Mrs Murphy in 1974.

During the passage of time the manor became seriously dilapidated and encumbered with Victorian additions. In 1933 Sir Esmond Ovey acquired the manor on a long lease from the Morrells and for some fifteen years he renovated and restored the building to its present style, great care being taken to remove the Victorian work and replace the timber members determined by the monks remaining on the old wall plates. In this manner he replaced wood framed casement windows and beams although many are original: The garden on the North side with its rose garden and billowy ewes echoes the early 17th century flavour of Thomas Bury's Jacobean facade. To one side stands an early 17th century sundial mounted on a column that appears to be considerably older. The cobbled path, similar to one at Minster Lovell, leading from Bury's porch to the church was uncovered intact by Sir Esmond Ovey although the existance of such had been rumoured in the village for many years.

Viscount Samuel's Memoirs

Cresset Press 1945, from the chapter titled Oxford: 1889-93. Thanks to Mrs Charlotte Franklin for this extract describing social deprivation in Culham and the surrounding area.

Inquiries afterwards in many other villages in the district showed the conditions everywhere to be substantially the same. Although the environment was of course incomparably better, the extreme poverty which I had found in the squalid slums of Whitechapel was to be seen again in the outwardly charming villages of Oxfordshire. Even the sweated home industries were not absent. In the village of Culham, I had visited a labourer and found that the wife was employed in trouser-making: she worked ten hours a day lining and button-holing; her weekly earnings were from 4s. to 5s. or about a penny an hour. The husband worked similar hours for a weekly wage of 9s. The rent of their cottage was 1s.9d.

Other Notes