Bainton is a hamlet comprising a cluster of farms in the civil parish of Stoke Lyne, about 3 miles (5 km) north of the centre of Bicester.
| Bainton | |
|---|---|
 Monument at Bainton Erected in 1812 by Sir Thomas Mostyn Bart MP, master of the Bicester Foxhounds 1800 to 1830, in memory of his favourite hound "Lady". | |
  Bainton Location within Oxfordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SP580270 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Bicester |
| Postcode district | OX27 |
| Dialling code | 01869 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
History
editThe toponym comes from the Old English for "Bada's farm".[1]
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Ghilo de Picquigny held the manor of Bainton.[1]
In 1279 Bainton had 17 households.[1] In 1316 18 villagers were assessed to pay taxes but by 1520 the figure had fallen to five.[1] By the 1950s Bainton comprised only four farmhouses and a cottage.[1]
In 1530 the manor was sold to Edward Peckham, cofferer to Henry VIII and John Williams, later 1st Baron Williams de Thame.[1] In 1613 Edward Ewer of Bucknell sold the manor to Sir William Cope, 2nd Baronet of Hanwell for £5,300.[1] A legal dispute between them ensued, which ended with Ewer recovering the manor in 1628.[1] The Ewer family could not afford to keep Bainton, and sold the manor again in 1637.[1]
By the middle of the 17th century Bainton had been converted from arable farming to pasture.[1] This required less labour so the hamlet became depopulated.[1]
Bainton Manor Farm is a coursed rubblestone house.[1] It was constructed in either the latter part of the 16th or earlier part of the 17th century,[1] during the Great Rebuilding of England, originally as the manor house.[1] In 1783 John Warde, founder and first Master of the Bicester Hunt,[2] was using it as a hunting-box, Joseph Bullock of Caversfield had bought the manor and the two men together built stables and kennels there.[1] 330 yards (300 m) northwest of the hamlet an obelisk marks the grave of a favourite foxhound.[3]
References
editSources
edit- Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1959). A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 6. Victoria County History. pp. 312–323.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 789. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
edit
- Bainton in the Domesday Book