Buckland, Oxfordshire

The parish is an irregular shape, measuring about 3 miles (5 km) north – south and 2+3⁄4 miles (4.4 km) east – west at its widest point. In 1924 the area of the parish was 4,505 acres (1,823 ha).[3] The River Thames forms the northern boundary of the parish, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village. Until 1974 this was also the Berkshire county boundary with Oxfordshire. Streams that flow into the River Ock form its southern boundary. It is bounded by field boundaries to the east and west. The soil of the parish is a rich, sandy loam on a geology of Corallian Limestone and Oxford Clay.[3]

"Buckland" is a common toponym in southern England. It is derived from the Old English bōcland — bookland — which is a term in Anglo-Saxon law for "land held by charter".[4] The earliest known record in this case is as Bocland in a charter from 957 now reproduced in the Cartularium Saxonicum. The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as Bocheland.[5] Later spellings include Bochelanda in the 12th century, and Boclonde, Bokeland and Bikeland in the 13th century.[3]

The earliest known record of Buckland is from 957 in a charter in which King Edgar the Peaceful granted Ælfheah ten hides of land at Buckland.[3] In the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066) Ulvric Chenp held the manor of Buckland.[3] The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Buckland as part of the lands of Bishop Osbern of Gamesfel Hundret (now called Gainfield).[6] However, his right was not established and the case had already been sent before King William the Conqueror. The estate was assessed as eight hides and consisted of a mill, four fisheries and a dairy farm producing 10 wheys of cheese a year. Its value was given as £8.[3]

Hugh de Buckland is recorded as the next holder and occupier of the manor, as well as another estate in Buckland.[3][7] At the end of the 12th century William de Buckland, probably the great-grandson of Hugh de Buckland, held the manor. He died about 1215[3] leaving three daughters by his wife Maud de Say as his heirs – Maud d'Avranches, Hawise de Boville and Joan de Ferrers. His Buckland estate passed to Maud, wife of William d'Avranches.[3] They had a son William and daughter Maud d'Avranches. William died childless in 1236, by which time his sister Maud had married Hamo de Crevecoeur.[8]

In 1245, they bestowed the manor on their daughter Agnes and any future heirs.[3] Hamo de Crevecoeur died in 1263, survived by their daughters Agnes, Eleanor and Isabella: Iseult (who had married Nicholas de Lenham) died before her father leaving a son John, aged 12 in 1263.[9] Buckland was assigned to Iseult's portion, to descend to John de Lenham as her heir.[3] In 1263, wardship of the manor of Buckland was granted to Eubold de Montibus, from whom it passed in turn to Philip Bassett until John came of age. In 1267 John de Lenham took possession.[3]

Before 1545 the manor of Buckland was held by the De La Poles, Dukes of Suffolk.[10] In 1545 it passed to the Yate family.[10] In 1690 it passed by marriage to the Throckmortons of Coughton Court in Warwickshire. They went on to build much of the current estate.[11] In the mid-1750s, Sir Robert Throckmorton, 4th Baronet had a new house built, Buckland House. The old manor house became his stables. For the later history of the manor, see Buckland House.

In 1240 an almshouse was founded and stood in a place now called Warnfords.[3] In 1793 Henry Southby of Carswell House founded a free school for boys and girls in Buckland. Others contributed further funds for the school and in 1868 it had an income of £60 per annum, £40 from Henry Southby and £20 from other charities.[10] Buckland has two pubs. The Lamb Inn in the village is a 16th-century building that was extended late in the 19th century.[18] A restaurant was added toward the end of the 20th century.[19] In 2008 the Lamb Inn was owned by Peta and Paul Barnard, former owners of The Plough at Clanfield which won a Michelin star.[19] The Trout Inn is an 18th-century building[20] 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village, by Tadpole Bridge on the Thames. Buckland had a post office that reported to Faringdon.[1] A photograph sold by a commercial website shows the post office in existence in 1965.[21] The building is now a private home called the Old Post House.[22] The former Draper's shop, built in the 18th century, is now a house called Hedges.[23]

The Lamb Inn

In 1774 Henry James Pye, Poet Laureate to George III, wrote the poem Faringdon Hill. Part of it refers to Buckland:

See Buckland here her lovely scenes display,
which rude erewhile in rich disorder lay
til Taste and Genius with corrective hand
spread Culture's nicest vesture o'er the land,
and called each latent beauty to the fight;
clothed the declining slopes with pendant wood,
and o'er the sedge grown meadows poured the floor.[6]

• Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1936]. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Buckland. ISBN 0198691033.
• Hamilton, NES, ed. (1868). The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland. London: JS Virtue. Archived from the original on 5 August 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
• Loyn, HR (1962). Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest. Social and Economic History of England. London: Longmans, Green & Co. p. 171.
• Page, WH; Ditchfield, PH, eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. assisted by John Hautenville Cope. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 453–460.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 103–106.
• Wilson, John Marius (1870–72). Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co.
• Wright, Andrew SN (1996) [1966]. The History of Buckland in the County of Berkshire. Oxford: Holywell Press.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buckland, Oxfordshire.

• Buckland, Oxfordshire
• The Dovecote
• Pictures of and around Barcote Manor in about 1965