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Coordinates: 51°37′17″N 1°04′16″W / 51.6214°N 1.0710°W
| Ewelme | |
  Ewelme
Ewelme shown within Oxfordshire |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Parish | Ewelme |
| District | South Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | OX10 |
| Dialling code | 01491 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Henley |
| Website | Ewelme community website |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Ewelme is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of the market town of Wallingford.
To the east of the village is Cow Common and to the west, Benson Airfield, the north-eastern corner of which is within the parish boundary.
The solid geology is chalk overlying gault clay. The drift geology includes some gravel.
Contents |
History
The toponymy is derived from Ae-whylme, Anglo-Saxon for "waters whelming". It refers to the very fine spring just north of the village, which forms the King's Pool that feeds the rapidly-flowing Ewelme Brook. The brook flows past Fifield Manor and then through nearby Benson before joining the River Thames. It formed the basis of Ewelme's watercress beds, which provided much local employment until well into the 20th Century.[1]
The almshouses
Ewelme has a set of 15th century cloistered almshouses, officially called "The Two Chaplains and Thirteen Poor Men of Ewelme in the County of Oxford". The thirteen almsmen have now been reduced to eight, but the building is still run as a charity by the Ewelme Trust.
Ewelme School dates from the same time and is said to be the oldest school building in the UK still in use as a state school.[2]
Under James I the original purpose of the position of Master of Ewelme Hospital was diverted, to support the Oxford Regius Professor of Physic, with the change being made in 1617, confirmed by the 1628 attachment of the stipend to the chair.[3] At the same time the rectorship of Ewelme was made to support the Oxford Regius Professor of Divinity.[4]
Parish church
The almshouses were established in 1437 by Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk. She was the daughter of Thomas Chaucer, Speaker of the House of Commons and granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. As lords of the manor, she and her father had both lived at Ewelme Palace which once stood in the village. Both are buried in the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary adjoining the almshouses: Thomas with a memorial brass on a fine tomb chest and Alice beneath one of the most magnificent medieval church monuments in the country, complete with her cadaver inside. Her effigy was examined by Queen Victoria's commissioners in order to discover how a lady should wear the Order of the Garter. Married three times, Alice was a powerful and influential lady. Amongst her husbands were the 4th Earl of Salisbury and the 1st Duke of Suffolk, Lord Chamberlain of England. Her six-year-old step-great-granddaughter, the 15th Countess of Warwick, also died at Ewelme, but was buried at Reading Abbey.
In St. Mary's churchyard are buried Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men In A Boat, and his wife Ettie.
Amenities
Ewelme has a public house, the Shepherd's Hut, controlled by Greene King Brewery.[5] Ewelme Cricket Club was founded in 1933.[6] The village store is run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis.[7]
References
Sources
- Goodall, John A.A. (2001). God's House at Ewelme. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0754600475.
- Legh, John (1999). The Story of Ewelme Watercress. The Friends of Ewelme Watercress Beds. ISBN 0953763706.
- Page, William (ed.) (1907). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 2. London: Constable. p. 156.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 595–600. ISBN 0 14 071045 0.
External links
- Prister-Crutwell, M., Ewelme - A romantic village, its past and present, its people and its history Accessed 21 December 2006
- Another website for Ewelme
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