Brightwell Baldwin
| Brightwell Baldwin | |
|---|---|
 St Bartholomew's parish church | |
  Brightwell Baldwin Location within Oxfordshire | |
| Area | 6.52 km2 (2.52 sq mi) |
| Population | 208 (2011 Census) |
| • Density | 32/km2 (83/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SU6595 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Watlington |
| Postcode district | OX49 |
| Dialling code | 01491 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Brightwell Baldwin Parish Meeting |
Brightwell Baldwin is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) northeast of Wallingford. It was historically in the Hundred of Ewelme[1] and is now in the District of South Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 208.[2] The parish is roughly rectangular, about 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) long north–south and about 1+1⁄4 miles (2 km) wide east–west. In 1848 the parish covered an area of 1,569 acres (635 ha).[1] The B4009 road linking Benson and Watlington forms part of the southern boundary of the parish. The B480 road linking Oxford and Watlington forms a small part of its northern boundary. Rumbolds Lane forms much of its western boundary. For the remainder the parish is bounded largely by field boundaries.
Toponym
[edit]"Brightwell" is derived from the Old English for "bright spring".[3] "Baldwin" is the name of a family that held the manor. The earliest known record of Brightwell Baldwin is a Saxon charter of 854 in the Cartularium Saxonicum that records the toponym as Beorhtawille or Brihtanwylle. Almost a century later a Saxon charter of 945 records it as Byrhtanwellan. The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as Bretewelle.[3]
Brightwell Park
[edit]The old country house of the Stone family burnt down in 1786, but a cruciform 17th-century dovecote[4] that was some distance from the house survives in the park.[5] In 1790 a replacement house was built.[1] It has since been demolished, but its kitchen wing, stables, ice house[6] and an 18th-century stone arch bridge[7] in the park survive.
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Parish church
[edit]The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Bartholomew are 13th century, including a stair turret and a number of lancet windows, notably in the chancel.[8][9] Early in the 14th century the nave was rebuilt in the Decorated Gothic style, with north and south aisles linked to it by arcades of four bays.[8] The west tower and the Perpendicular Gothic east window of the chancel were added in the 15th century.[8] The pulpit and tester are Jacobean[8] and therefore 17th century. The building was restored in 1895 and is a Grade I listed.[9] Church monuments in St Bartholomew's include a number of brasses.
In the chancel are two brasses commemorating John Cottesmore, who died in 1439.[9] Stone monuments include two 16th-century chest tombs of members of the Carleton family, and a substantial English Baroque monument to members of the Stone family on the east wall of the north chapel.[8] The latter was built in about 1670[8] or 1690,[9] replacing monuments to John Stone (died 1640) and his son Sir Richard Stone (died 1660) that were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[10] In the north aisle is a brass commemorating John the Smith, who died in 1371.[9] It bears an epitaph written in Middle English,[11] which may be the earliest example of an inscription in the English language.[12] The epitaph reflects upon human mortality:
man com & se how schal alle dede li: wen þow comes bad & bare
noth hab ven ve awaẏ fare: All ẏs wermēs þt ve for care:—
bot þt ve do for godẏs luf ve haue nothyng yare:
hunyr þis graue lẏs John ye smẏth god yif his soule heuen grit[11][12]
The bell tower has a ring of six bells. John Saunders of Reading, Berkshire cast the tenor bell in about 1559.[13] Ellis I Knight, also of Reading, cast the fifth bell in 1637.[13] Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast or recast the treble, second, third and fourth bells in 1911.[13] There is also a Sanctus bell that was cast in about 1550.[13] St Bartholomew's parish is now part of the benefice of Ewelme, Brightwell Baldwin, Cuxham and Easington.[14] The churchyard includes a late 18th-century chest tomb a number of 17th-century gravestones that are Grade II listed. [15][16][17][18] Another 17th-century monument commemorates one Stephen Rumbold, who died in 1687 aged 105.[19] On it a rhyming epigram bets with its readers:
He liv'd one hundred and five
Sanguine and Strong
An hundred to five
You do not live so long[19]
Amenities
[edit]Brightwell Baldwin has a 17th-century pub, The Lord Nelson Inn.[20][21] It is now a gastropub.[22] The Old Forge is a Grade II listed former blacksmiths shop: it was bought in 2002 by the Duke and Duchess of Kent.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Lewis 1931, pp. 375–379.
- ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Brightwell Baldwin Parish (1170217773)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ a b In fact a simple corruption of the words: Bride's Well. The name of the ancient British goddess (Bridget or Bride). This shows the antiquity of the place. Ekwall 1960, Brightwell
- ^ Historic England. "Brightwell Park, dovecote approximately 220 metres north east of Brightwell Park (Grade II) (1368825)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 485.
- ^ Historic England. "Brightwell Park, icehouse approximately 190 metres north north east of Brightwell Park (Grade II) (1059761)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ Historic England. "Brightwell Park, bridge and flanking walls approximately 290 metres east of Brightwell Park (Grade II) (1059760)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 484.
- ^ a b c d e Historic England. "Church of St Bartholomew (Grade I) (1059763)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Utechin 1990, p. 4.
- ^ a b Bertram 2003, p. 30.
- ^ a b Utechin 1990, p. 39.
- ^ a b c d Davies, Peter (11 May 2012). "Brightwell Baldwin S Bartholomew". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Archbishops' Council (2010). "Benefice of Ewelme Brightwell Baldwin Cuxham with Easington". A Church Near You. Church of England. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Bartholomew, chest tomb approximately 1.7 metres east of south porch (Grade II) (1059764)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Bartholomew, headstone approximately 13 metres south of south porch (Grade II) (1059765)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Bartholomew, headstone approximately 3.5 metres south east of nave and 5 metres south of chancel (Grade II) (1181623)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Historic England (3 April 1987). "Church of St Bartholomew, group of 4 headstones approximately 5 metres south south west of south porch (Grade II) (1181635)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ a b Utechin 1990, p. 82.
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 486.
- ^ Historic England. "The Lord Nelson Inn (Grade II) (1181675)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ The Nelson
- ^ "Brightwell Baldwin Pages 89-121 A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 18. Originally published by Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2016". British History Online.
Sources
[edit]- Bertram, Jerome (2003). "Medieval Inscriptions in Oxfordshire" (PDF). Oxoniensia. LXVVIII. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society: 27–54. ISSN 0308-5562.
- Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1936]. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Brightwell. ISBN 0198691033.
- Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1931) [1848]. "Brightwell-Baldwin (St. Bartholomew)". A Topographical Dictionary of England (Seventh ed.). London: Samuel Lewis. pp. 375–379.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 484–486. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
- Utechin, Patricia (1990) [1980]. Epitaphs from Oxfordshire (2nd ed.). Oxford: Robert Dugdale. pp. 4, 39, 82. ISBN 0-946976-04-X.
External links
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