Wootton, West Oxfordshire

Wootton is a village and civil parish on the River Glyme about 2 mi north of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. In recent years the village is sometimes referred to as Wootton-by-Woodstock to distinguish it from Wootton, Vale of White Horse. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 569.

Overview
The village and parish are best known for:


 * The steep climb from the River Glyme – 83.4m to St. Mary's parish church – 105.7m.
 * St. Mary's parish church; a Grade II* listed building.
 * Hordley House; a Grade II* listed building.
 * Sheep's Banks SSSI ( Holly Bank ).
 * Priority habitat lowland fens beside the River Glyme and River Dorn.
 * Akeman Street Roman road.
 * Oxfordshire Way – long-distance footpath.
 * Local amenities include The Village Shop and the Killingworth Castle Inn.

Name history
The name was recorded as " Optone " in the Domesday Book of 1086 A.D.

Survey of English Place-Names:


 * Wudutune 958.
 * Optone 1086.
 * Wuttona 1163.
 * Wotton c.1180.

Toponym ( Wudutune )
The name element wudu is from Old English wudu ( " wood " ).

The name element tune is from Old English tun ( " a village or town " ).

The toponym might be:
 * Village in a wood
 * Settlement in a wooded enclosure

Toponym ( Optone )
The name element ' Op ' may be from Old English hōp ( " valley " ).

Natural England maps
Maps showing Access, Designations and other criteria from Natural England:


 * MAGiC MaP : Wootton by Woodstock – Parish boundary.


 * MAGiC MaP : Wootton – Spot height 83.4m – River Glyme.


 * MAGiC MaP : Wootton – Spot height 105.7m – St Marys Church.


 * MAGiC MaP : Wootton – Sheep's Banks SSSI.


 * MAGiC MaP : River Glyme – River Dorn ( confluence ).


 * MAGiC MaP : Wootton – Scheduled Monuments.


 * MAGiC MaP : Hordley House – Listed Building.

Parish boundary
The parish is bounded to the west partly by the River Glyme, to the north partly by a stream that joins the River Dorn, to the south-east by the course of Akeman Street Roman road, to the south-west by the pale of Blenheim Great Park and on other sides by field boundaries. It includes two deserted medieval villages: Dornford on the River Dorn, and Hordley on the River Glyme just downstream of the confluence of the Dorn and Glyme.

Parish church
The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary are the nave, north aisle and lower part of the tower, all of which date from the first half of the 13th century, and the south porch, which is Early English. In the 14th century the chancel and chancel arch were rebuilt and most of the windows in the building were replaced, all in a Decorated Gothic style. The upper part of the bell tower was added in the 15th century and the clerestory was added to the nave in the 16th century, each in a Perpendicular Gothic style.

The tower has a ring of six bells. Edward Hemins of Bicester cast the third, fourth and fifth bells in 1732 and the tenor bell in 1739. Abel Rudhall of Gloucester cast the second bell in 1749 and Mears & Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present treble bell in 1923. St. Mary's also has a Sanctus bell that Thomas Rudhall cast in 1778. The parish is now part of the benefice of Wootton with Glympton and Kiddington.

Early history
The Domesday Book of 1086 records Wootton as the court of the hundred of Wootton. At the time of the Hundred Rolls in 1279 Hordley was recorded as having 19 households and 150 acre of land. By the early part of the 16th century this had declined to only five (adult) residents. The Gregory family had converted most of the farmland from arable to pasture which would have done much to reduce the village population.

Hordley house
The house at Hordley Farm, about 2/5 mi southeast of Wootton, was built for the Gregory family in about 1500. It is arranged around three and a half sides of a quadrangle, possibly following the plan of an earlier medieval house on the same site. The kitchen fireplace and two of the doorways have four-centred arches that date from about 1500, and the north wing has two square-headed windows from the later 16th century. The ground-floor rooms have some 17th-century panelling. In 1750 the house was remodelled and a gazebo was built in the garden.

Village school
In 1787 the Rev. Charles Parrott, sometime vicar of Saham Toney in Norfolk, died leaving a bequest for a school to be founded and run in Wootton. Early in the 19th century further schools were added in Wootton, including one run by the rector. In 1836 a new building was completed to merge all education in the village into one school. The Rector, Rev. L.C. Lee, paid towards the cost of the site and gave capital and the income from several cottages to fund the new school. In 1942 it was reorganised as a junior school. It is now Wootton-by-Woodstock Church of England Primary School.

Recent history
Wootton had two public houses until 2008, when the King's Head closed.

Sheep's Banks SSSI
Sheep's Bank SSSI is an isolated fragment of species-rich grassland situated in an area now largely converted to arable and re-seeded pasture. The site represents the eastern-most example of traditionally managed Cotswold grassland, falling mid-way between the Jurassic limestone grasslands of Gloucestershire to the west and Northamptonshire to the east.

Lowland fens
There are two areas of lowland fens that are designated as "Priority Habitat Inventory" by Natural England. The largest of these is near the confluence of the River Glyme and River Dorn.

Amenities
The village has one public house, the Killingworth Castle Inn, which was built in 1637. It is now a gastropub that has won a Michelin Bib Gourmand and two AA rosettes. Wootton also has a village store.

Killingworth Castle Inn
The toponym for Killingworth Castle might be:
 * Castle in a holly hedged enclosure.

The name element Killing may be from Cornish kelin or Welsh celyn ( " holly " ).

The name element worth is from Old English worþ ( " enclosure " ).

Hobbard's Hill
Hobbard's Hill may have been the habitation of a certain Hobb called " Hobbard ".

The name element ard may be from Old Irish ard, or from Common Brittonic arδ.

Sources and further reading