PIDDINGTON
Piddington, lying five and a half miles south-east
of Bicester, is a long narrow parish of 2,354 acres rising
from about 200 ft. on its northern boundary to about
600 ft. on Muswell Hill to the south. It is bounded
on the west by the road from Brill to Bicester, with
Piddington Wood forming an outpost to the west of
the road; farther north the boundary leaves the
road, cutting across country to the north-west to
join the River Ray, which it follows to Blackthorn
and Heath Bridges. (fn. 1) The eastern boundary with
the Buckinghamshire parishes of Ludgershall and
Brill takes in part of the ancient farm of Chilling
Place (half in Brill parish), which forms the southeastern tip of the parish. The southern boundary
runs over Muswell Hill and includes Muswell Farm.
The soil of the lowlands is clay, with clay subsoil;
Muswell Hill, the western extremity of the range
including Brill, is of Portland Oolite, capped by
Lower Greensand.
The modern village (1953) is comparatively isolated. Its nearest station is Brill and Ludgershall, one
and a half miles to the east; the main road from
Bicester to Aylesbury, the former Akeman Street,
crosses the north of the parish, leaving the village
well to the south; there is no bus service nearer than
the one from Bicester to the army camp about a mile
away at Arncot. (fn. 2)
Piddington Wood now measures almost 25 acres.
Its Domesday predecessor, reckoned as 2 leagues
by 5 furlongs, (fn. 3) was by the 13th century within
the bounds of Bernwood Forest. (fn. 4) This forest, which
included Boarstall, and Brill (Bucks.), and part
of Ludgershall, also included the Piddington estate
of Muswell, (fn. 5) the 13th-century boundary passing
by Muswell ditch, then between Piddington and
Ludgershall Fields, and then up north to 'Heathenburnde'. (fn. 6) The Crown granted estovers within Piddington Wood (valued at 13s. 4d. in 1270), and
villeins, who took housebote and heybote from the
wood, were obliged to work one day a year closing
the hedge 'in the field next to the wood.' (fn. 7) Probably
there were other stretches of woodland in the medieval parish, for in the 16th and 17th centuries several
coppices, by that date used as pasture, lay towards
Muswell Hill on the southern boundary, (fn. 8) and leases
mention 236 acres of woodland. (fn. 9) In 1721 Pipley
Hill and Cleywell Hill coppices were the two subdivisions of Piddington Wood, and in 1807 they
measured 23 acres, almost the present extent. (fn. 10)
Piddington village lies beneath Muswell Hill in
the centre of the parish, and straggles along the road
from Boarstall to Heath Bridge for a mile. The
medieval church stands at its southern end, 'up
town' as the villagers call it, surrounded by cottages
and houses of various periods. Some of the cottages
are of stone, some timber-framed with old red-brick
filling. Some are built of 19th-century brick and
their roofs have slates instead of old red tiles like
their neighbours. The largest of the ancient cottages
was once an inn. At the northern end of the village
the road forks, one arm going to Arncot, the other
to Ludgershall, and the village is still extending
along these roads.
Nineteenth-century Piddington has been well described by John Drinkwater (1882–1937), who spent
childhood holidays there with his relatives the
Browns: 'It is a plain, grey little village, neutral in
design, ambling from cottage to cottage with no
apparent sense of direction, its half-dozen larger
houses of red brick sitting discreetly here and there
at the roadside. . . . When I knew it, a stranger
was seen only when one passed through in the
carrier's cart, or when the Irish labourers came over
for harvest, a talkative, thirsty lot, sleeping in the
lofts and barns. In the winter, when icicles were on
the thatch eaves, the village would lie for days as if
it were asleep.' (fn. 11)
Today the village's predominant colour is no
longer grey: many of the old cottages, built of local
rubble and thatched, and consisting of one room up
and one down, have been pulled down and replaced
by council houses, especially along the Ludgershall
road. Moreover, the Southern Command Ordnance
Depot, which reaches to the edge of the village, has
considerably altered its social life. The 'Seven Stars',
for instance, though flourishing in the 19th century, (fn. 12)
had lost its licence in the 1930's. Now, however, it
has been modernized and is extremely prosperous.
An undying interest in sport may be deduced
from the name of a 5-acre pasture in 1598, 'Futball
Plaine', and from that of a small piece of land in
the south-western corner of the parish called 'Bowling Alley' in 1847. (fn. 13)
There are at present five farms, some with ancient
buildings; Manor Farm and the Rookery in the
village itself, Gravel Pits, Muswell Hill, and Chilling
Place, all lying to the south of the parish. Manor
Farm, opposite the church and possibly on the site
of the former manor-house, is now two houses under
one roof. The building dates from the 17th century,
the south elevation of two stories of coursed rubble
being of this date. It has four hipped attic-dormers
with casement windows in a tiled roof. Three brick
chimney-stacks, one ancient, stand one on each
gable-end and one in the centre of the house. The
original plan of the building was L-shaped. There
is a modern brick addition on the north side, but the
west front of the north wing is a separate building
of old rubble, like that on the south elevation, with
casement windows and a modern porch. Fir Tree
House, farther north up the village street, is a twostoried building with three attic dormers and a tiled
roof. It is built of coursed rubble with ashlar quoins,
and bears a plaque 'W I E 1693'. The initials stand
for John and Elizabeth Walker, whose monuments
are in the church. Their descendant still lives in the
house. Twin chimney-shafts of brick rise from the
end-gable. The whole plan is rectangular, with a long
north-south axis and a one-storied wing at the southeast angle. There are 17th-century casements in the
south end of the west elevation, and over the west
doorway is a contemporary plaster hood with a
medallion (the bust of a woman, full-faced) over the
lintel, and with cherub heads on the soffit. There is
a good oak staircase of three flights with a dog-gate,
also dating from the late 17th century. Muswell Hill
Farm, lying on the southern boundary, has been
modernized and partly rebuilt. The original plan
was probably L-shaped; the present two-storied
building is built partly of 17th-century brick on a
rubble base, and partly of 18th-century brick and
timber, with some modern additions. The roof is
partly a mansard one; it has modern tiles. On the
west side is a massive 17th-century brick chimney
of three engaged shafts with modern brick tops.
The interior has been modernized. Chilling Place,
a farm on the south-east boundary, probably dates
from the 17th century, the original plan being
L-shaped with wings to the north-west and northeast. The present building is two-storied, built
mainly of ancient brick and timber, and has a partly
hipped tiled roof. The main (south-east) front of the
north-east wing is of plastered brick and timber.
On the south-west side of the north-west wing is a
massive chimney-stack consisting of seven mainly
17th-century brick shafts, five being engaged and
two standing free.
There is no mill in the parish today, though in
medieval times there were two: a water-mill at Piddington, mentioned in 1270, but then decayed and
worth only 5s.; (fn. 14) and another mill at Muswell (1279),
almost certainly a windmill, for a water-mill would
be unlikely in this upland estate. (fn. 15) The windmill
mentioned in 1634 as part of Muswell manor (fn. 16) is
no doubt the successor of the medieval mill, but no
later record of it has been found.
The date of settlement at Piddington ('Pyda's
tun') (fn. 17) is not known, but it seems likely that settlers
were invited by the presence of the spring which
gave Muswell Hill its name, and which flowed down
its northern slope to join a brook leading to the
River Ray. Piddington's history has never been
eventful. It has no place in national history except
at the time of the Civil War, when the siege of
Oxford brought this stretch of country into prominence. In 1643, when the parliamentarians were
attempting to take Brill, a troop of their horse,
quartered at Piddington, were taken in the night by
Col. Goodwin and the royalists. (fn. 18)
Manors.
Before the Conquest, PIDDINGTON
with the neighbouring estate of Merton probably
belonged to the Countess Judith, and was held freely
of her by Hacun, a man of Danish descent. (fn. 19) Both
properties became attached to the honor of Huntingdon and followed the same descent until about 1152,
when their paths diverged. Simon (II) de Senlis,
Earl of Northampton, who obtained the honor in
1152, must have granted the manor of Piddington
almost immediately to St. Frideswide's monastery
in Oxford, (fn. 20) as he was killed in the following year.
He was succeeded in the honor of Huntingdon by
Malcolm, King of Scotland, and the convent was
careful to obtain the Scottish king's confirmation of
Earl Simon's charter. (fn. 21) Presumably because of his
rivalry with the de Senlis earls, this took the form of
a new grant of the manor for 'the salvation of the
souls' of himself and his family. A second Scottish
royal charter shows that the grant of the manor was
made for the sustenance of the canons of St. Frideswide's. (fn. 22) Nevertheless, in the subsequent struggles
between the rival claimants to the honor of Huntingdon, the canons' interests were ignored. William,
Malcolm's brother and successor as Earl of Huntingdon, robbed St. Frideswide's of Piddington, and
his younger brother David retained it after his
succession to the earldom. When the honor was again
transferred to the rival house of de Senlis in about
1174, Simon (III) de Senlis made a formal recognition of the right of St. Frideswide's to the manor,
but ignoring 'God and the peril of his soul', he continued to hold it. (fn. 23) The Huntingdon overlordship
appears to end about this time, and the claims of
St. Frideswide's, in spite of a papal bull ordering
restitution of their rights, (fn. 24) were temporarily ignored
(see below).
Meanwhile, Joan of Piddington had been holding
the manor as a sub-tenant. Simon (II) de Senlis's
grant of the manor to St. Frideswide's had been
subject to her life-interest. (fn. 25) She was a well-connected
woman (fn. 26) , and Simon (III) de Senlis in about 1183
seems to have rewarded one of his supporters, Aubrey
de Dammartin, with her hand and the lordship of
Piddington. (fn. 27) Aubrey was the son of Aubrey (I),
Chamberlain of France, and his family was apparently closely connected with the Senlis earls of
Huntingdon; both Aubrey and his brother Odo held
lands elsewhere of the Huntingdon honor. (fn. 28) He held
Piddington until 1192 (fn. 29) or possibly until his death
in 1200. (fn. 30) In 1194 the manor, described as lately
belonging to the Count of Dammartin, was in royal
hands as an escheat. There it remained until 1205,'
when Reynold de Dammartin, presumably a mino
on the death of his father Aubrey, may have succeeded, though there is no evidence for his connexion
with the manor until 1213 when he secured it with
the rest of his English property, which he had recently forfeited for supporting the King of France
against King John. On Reynold's death in 1227 his
lands were seized by the Crown. (fn. 31) Piddington was
later leased to Joldewin de Doe (sometimes called
Geodo de Bado), a foreign favourite, who in 1228
was allowed to mortgage it on going to the Holy
Land. In 1234 Geoffrey de Craucumb, keeper of
Oxford castle, received the property to hold until its
restoration to the rightful heirs. (fn. 32) Geoffrey was still
holding it, then ranking as 1 knight's fee and worth
£20, in 1237, but he died in or before 1249 when
the manor is found in the hands of the keeper of his
lands. (fn. 33) In 1266 it was granted for seven years with
the manor of Brill (Bucks.) to Walter Giffard, Bishop
of Bath and Wells, rendering yearly £20 (for Piddington only), but with allowance for reasonable
repairs of the houses on the estate. (fn. 34)
The next stage in the ownership of the manor
came in 1270, when it was granted by the king, in
exchange for a manor in the New Forest, (fn. 35) to Alan
Plukenet and his heirs. (fn. 36) Alan Plukenet, distinquished for his service in the French wars, left the
manor to his son Alan (II) in 1299, (fn. 37) who granted it
to Hugh Despenser in 1309; Hugh in turn granted it
for life to John de Hadlow, lord of Boarstall, and his
wife. (fn. 38) With the fall of the Despensers the manor
was forfeited to the Crown but Hadlow retained his
life-interest until his death in 1346. (fn. 39) It appears,
however, that the Hadlows never had more than
two-thirds of the manor, for Alan Plukenet's wife
Sybil (later married to Henry de Pembridge) successfully claimed a third part as dower. (fn. 40) Nevertheless,
in 1337 the reversion of the whole manor was granted
to Nicholas de la Beche of Aldworth (Berks.) for his
service to the king. (fn. 41) In 1340 Nicholas de la Beche
had licence to grant the reversion of the manor to
Sir John Sutton, lord of Dudley, and in 1347 Sutton
had similar licence to make a grant to John de Peyto
for life with reversion to himself. (fn. 42) These transactions
led to legal disputes, first between Sybil de Pembridge (formerly Plukenet) and John de Hadlow and
later between Sutton and de Peyto. (fn. 43) However, these
issues were overshadowed by the protracted lawsuit
over the right of St. Frideswide's to the manor,
brought in 1331 against John de Hadlow and continued intermittently until 1359, when the priory
was adjudged the rightful lord. (fn. 44) Thus, after a lapse
of some 200 years, Piddington returned to St. Frideswide's and was owned by it until 1525. It is worth
noting that the priory, in defending its claim, alleged
possession of the manor in the time of Prior Elias
(1228–35).
During the medieval period there was a manorhouse at Piddington. The sub-tenant Joan of Piddington occupied it in the mid-12th century, and
her successors probably occasionally did likewise. (fn. 45)
The capital messuage was valued at 6s. 8d. in 1270, (fn. 46)
and was clearly inhabited about this time, for Alan
Plukenet (II) refers in a charter of 1309 to 'all his
moveables and chattels and his chapel in the manor.' (fn. 47)
In the next century, when John de Hadlow was lord,
there was a fishpond in the manor courtyard and one
outside and a piece of ground, also within the courtyard, where cabbages and leeks were grown for the
lord's household. (fn. 48) Hadlow lived at Boarstall until
his death in 1346 (fn. 49) and a tenant presumably lived in
the Piddington house. When St. Frideswide's again
took over the manor, the lord was represented by a
bailiff.
In 1525 Henry VIII granted Piddington manor
to Cardinal Wolsey to endow his Oxford college. (fn. 50)
It passed in 1532 to the king's foundation at Oxford, (fn. 51)
but was granted to Thomas Dynham in 1553. (fn. 52)
Dynham was lord of Brill and Boarstall manors
through his marriage with Katherine Rede, heiress
of Leonard Rede, whose family had for some
time held these properties. Through this marriage
Dynham also obtained the manor of Muswell. He
devised it with Piddington to his son John, who succeeded his father in 1563. (fn. 53) During John's tenure of
Piddington manor much of the estate was sold, so
that after about 1598 (fn. 54) Dynham held little more in
Piddington than his manorial rights. The centre of
the Dynham estate was now at Muswell Hill, where
the family lived.
John Dynham was succeeded in 1602 by his son
John, who died in 1634 seised inter alia of Piddington
and Muswell manors, leaving as coheirs his two
daughters Mary and Alice. (fn. 55) It seems that Mary, the
wife of Laurence Banastre, succeeded to Piddington,
for their daughter Margaret, who became wife of
William Lewis, was lady of the manor in 1661. (fn. 56)
Margaret's son Edward died without issue in 1672,
so her daughter Mary and her husband William
Jephson succeeded. Mary Jephson, who survived
her husband, married secondly Sir John Aubrey, (fn. 57)
and on her death in 1717 Piddington manor descended to her stepson, Sir John Aubrey, who had
married Frances Jephson, her daughter by her first
marriage. There was thus a double marriage alliance
between the two families, Boarstall and Brill manors
also passing to the Aubreys in this way. Sir John
was succeeded by his son John in 1743. He died in
1767, leaving no children, and was succeeded by his
brother Thomas. (fn. 58)
The Aubrey family retained the manor until the
present century, but never lived at Piddington. (fn. 59)
Sir Thomas Aubrey's grandson, Sir Thomas Digby
Aubrey, succeeded in 1826, and died without heirs
in 1856, being succeeded by a cousin Elizabeth
Sophia, who married Charles Spencer Ricketts.
Their son, Charles Aubrey Ricketts, took the name
of Charles Aubrey Aubrey, and succeeded to the
property. On his death in 1901, the manor passed
to Sir Henry Fletcher, great-grandson on the female
side of Sir John Aubrey (d. 1743); he took the name
of Aubrey Fletcher, and was succeeded by his brother
Sir Lancelot Aubrey Fletcher in 1911 and in 1913
by Sir Lancelot's son Henry, (fn. 60) well known as Henry
Wade, a writer of detective fiction.
It is not known when the MUSWELL estate
came to rank as a separate manor. In the mid-12th
century it was part of the fee of Piddington, when
Joan of Piddington (tenant of that manor) and her
husband Guy de Ryhale allowed Ralph the hermit
to build a hermitage there and found a chapel. (fn. 61)
Ralph the hermit granted the 'whole place' of Muswell to the abbey of Missenden (Bucks.), a grant
confirmed by the King of Scotland as overlord of
Piddington. (fn. 62) The abbey retained possession until
1236–40, when it sold Muswell to John de Plescy
for 20 marks and an annual rent of 2 marks. The
property then comprised a messuage and a carucate.
But in 1279 it was stated that Hugh de Plescy, son
of John (who died in 1263), had granted the land to
John FitzNiel, son of the lord of Boarstall. (fn. 63) The
Plescy family remained overlords until 1356, (fn. 64) but
thereafter the position is uncertain; in an inquisition
of 1419 it was stated that the tenure by which the
manor was held was unknown, and in 1435 it was
found that the property was not held in chief. (fn. 65) It
has not been possible to solve this problem, which
evidently perplexed contemporaries. John FitzNiel,
the third in his line, probably succeeded Sir Richard
le Poure, (fn. 66) who had previously been given a lifeinterest in the estate. FitzNiel settled the property
before his death in 1299 (fn. 67) on his daughter Joan and
her husband John de Hadlow. This is the first occasion
on which Muswell is named a manor and it was held
as such by John de Hadlow of Boarstall and Piddington
(q.v.) at his death in 1346. (fn. 68) Hadlow was succeeded
at Muswell by his grandson Edmund, who died
in 1356, leaving as coheirs his two sisters Elizabeth
and Margaret. (fn. 69) The latter and her husband John
Appleby first succeeded to the manor, but by a new
partition in 1366, the result of a royal decision,
Muswell came to the elder sister Elizabeth and her
husband Edmund de la Pole. (fn. 70) Edmund retained a
life-interest in the manor, in right of his wife, until
his death in 1419. (fn. 71) His daughter Katherine, the
wife of Robert James, obtained the reversion of the
whole property, which she and her sister Elizabeth,
wife of Ingram Bruyn, (fn. 72) had jointly inherited. James,
who survived his wife, held the whole manor at his
death in 1432, and settled it on his daughter and
heir Christine, who married Edmund Rede. She
succeeded to two-thirds of the manor, the third part
being held in dower by her stepmother. (fn. 73) Christine's
son Edmund, who succeeded to his mother's share
on her death (1435), obtained the reversion of the
third part in 1437. Muswell followed the descent of
Boarstall in this period. (fn. 74) Edmund Rede's grandson
William became lord of Boarstall in 1489, and was
followed by his son Leonard in or before 1527. The
reversion of Boarstall, and presumably also of Muswell, was conveyed by Rede to his daughter Katherine
and her husband Thomas Dynham, already lord of
Piddington. (fn. 75) Dynham's son John died possessed of
Muswell in 1602, (fn. 76) the property thereafter descending with the manor of Piddington. It may be noted
that the Dynhams lived at Muswell. John Dynham's
widow Katherine apparently held the latter property
in dower; a recusant, she compounded in 1614–15 for
two parts of Muswell manor. (fn. 77) John Dynham the
younger also lived at Muswell, but in 1626 he leased
the mansion house in which he had lately resided
to William Standen, together with the Muswell
estate. The 'manor' of Muswell is last mentioned in
the 1661 conveyance of Piddington manor (fn. 78) and it
seems likely that after this date the two became
merged, though the Muswell land preserved its
identity as a farm. It ceased to be owned by the
lords of Piddington manor at some date before
1847, (fn. 79) when the Duke of Buckingham held it. His
tenants were James and Michael Griffin, who farmed
167 and 74 acres respectively. Their family occupied
it until the end of the last century. (fn. 80)
Lesser Estates.
Since the 17th-century lords
of Piddington manor owned but a small portion of
the land in the parish, other landowners may be
noted. Before 1563 James Dynham had leased Piddington manor to Henry 'Vines', a member of the
Vyne family of Ash and Vyne Place (Berks.). (fn. 81) In
1582 John Dynham leased the capital messuage
either to this Henry or a son of the same name; and
renewed the lease in 1597 to Jane, widow of Henry
Vyne. (fn. 82) In the same year Jane's son Ralph is said
to have bought from Dynham 400 acres of arable,
100 of meadow, 180 of pasture, and 36 of wood. (fn. 83)
In 1625, however, Ralph Vyne enfeoffed Hugh
Barker with the capital messuage, 114 acres of
pasture, 38 of wood, and 8 virgates in the common
fields (the ancient manorial demesne). (fn. 84) The Vynes
remained at their Chilling Place property for a few
years, but then ceased to own land in the parish.
John Dynham had also sold a large parcel of land
to John Hebborne and Vincent Coventry—36 messuages with orchards and gardens, and 1,850 acres of
land and wood (fn. 85) —but the successors to this property
have not been traced.
Chilling Place, which lay on the south-eastern
edge of the parish, half in Brill and half in Piddington, first appears as a separate entity in 1586, when
John Dynham sold it to Henry Pool. (fn. 86) In the first
half of the 17th century the Vynes and then the
Walkers appear to have been successive owners.
The tithes of Chilling Place were leased by Ralph
Vyne to Richard Walker in 1634; in 1667 Edward
Rudge, who had acquired the tithes in 1647, conveyed the Chilling Place estate to Jeremiah Snow of
London, having previously sublet the property to
Henry Churchill and Gabriel Allen. (fn. 87) In 1672 the
estate was settled on Elizabeth Vyner, daughter of
the Dean of Gloucester, and her husband John
Snell, with a life-interest to Snow. (fn. 88) In 1667 the
estate was described as comprising a messuage, a
dovecote, two gardens and orchards and 170 acres
in Piddington, and 110 acres in Brill. (fn. 89) When the
property later came up for sale in 1824, it comprised
two farms, Manor farm and Poltrees farm, totalling
some 326 acres, of which 184 acres were in Piddington. Both farm-houses, however, were in the parish
and both had about half their land within its bounds. (fn. 90)
In 1847 both farms were owned by Col. William
Snell. (fn. 91) In 1953 Chilling Place was owned by Mr.
H. K. Harrison, and was no longer divided.
It is probable that Manor farm in Piddington
village is all that is left of the original Piddington
manor. Its ownership may early have passed away
from the lords of the manor, perhaps at the time of
the Dynham sales. In 1758 it appears to have been
in the possession of the largest freeholder in the
parish, Sir Edward Turner of Bicester; (fn. 92) in 1847,
when it was in the possession of the trustees of Sir
Gregory Page-Turner, (fn. 93) it amounted to some 369
acres. The family retained the ownership until 1925. (fn. 94)
Economic and Social History.
There
are few details of the agricultural life of Piddington
in the early medieval period. In Domesday Book
there was said to be land for 9 ploughs, but only 8
plough-teams were at work, 3 of them on the demesne. Probably, therefore, rather under 700 acres
were under cultivation in 1086. Since before the
Conquest the value of the estate had declined from
£6 to £4, probably as a result of the devastation of
that part of the country. There were 30 acres of
meadow. (fn. 95)
The land was apparently farmed on a two-field
system, for a grant of about 1152 to Missenden
Abbey mentions 2 acres of meadow which were in
Westfield meadow when the Westfield was sown,
and in Langedale meadow when the Eastfield was
sown. (fn. 96) As the latter meadow was near the ditch
dividing Piddington from Ludgershall, the two medieval fields may have lain on either side of the village.
There were still two fields in 1550, but some time
before 1758 a three-field system had been introduced. (fn. 97) The kind of crops grown are illustrated by
an early-14th-century survey (fn. 98) which states that each
acre of the demesne could be sown with 2 bushels of
corn, 3 of beans, 6 of dredge, or 6 of grass seed, the
acre being valued at 6d., whether sown or fallow. As
late as 1758 two of the three fields were called Wheatfield and Beanfield, the third lying fallow each year. (fn. 99)
The stocking of the medieval manor is mentioned
in 1195, when 9 cows, a bull, 7 sows, and a boar were
bought; in the next year two ploughs were bought,
and in 1249 the royal tallage was remitted for the
purchase of stock. (fn. 100) In the early 14th century the lord
had common pasture rights for 16 cows and a bull,
with heifers, 240 sheep (between Hockday and St.
Martin's day), 40 goats, and as many pigs as he
wished. (fn. 101) Though mixed farming was probably always
practised, a good number of sheep seem to have
been kept from the medieval period onwards. Besides the 14th-century evidence just quoted for the
lord's flock of sheep, there is that of the new leases
made out for copyholders in 1598, which specify
that they shall have some 250 acres of common
pasture and coppice. (fn. 102) At this period the tenant of
the manor-house is known to have owned between
200 and 300 sheep, while Hugh Barker in the early
17th century had pasture rights for 450. (fn. 103)
It is probable that the upland areas of the parish,
particularly the Muswell Hill and Chilling Place
estates, were well suited to sheep-farming. The Muswell Hill property appears to have been cleared
for cultivation at a later date than Piddington manor,
and was probably still largely woodland, pasture,
and wild-life preserves in the 13th century. Land
adjoining the hermitage there is mentioned as an
assart in about 1153, (fn. 104) and in 1255 there is evidence
for a design to assart 2 acres in the forest of 'Fernhurst'
between Brill and Piddington. (fn. 105) Indeed, in a parish
originally forest land, assarting must have continued
throughout the medieval period. Pasture land seems
to have predominated in the later Middle Ages and
after, and was being early inclosed. In 1395 Muswell
Field (fn. 106) is mentioned as a separate pasture; in 1417
closes are described as hedged. (fn. 107) In 1626 the Muswell
estate had only 3 corn fields of 34 acres, and comprised besides a close called 'Howse close', a park
and grounds called 'The Two Parks', four meadows
and a pale called the 'Boury', grounds called the
'Warren' and 'game of conyes there', a pasture called
'Colwell' and another of 60 acres called 'Ramscomb'
(in 1598 these pastures had been reserved for the
lord of the manor), two meadows near the coppices
called 'Hasellkomes' (200 acres), and a coppice called
'Polltrees' near Brill. (fn. 108) Some of this land can still be
traced; the 'Boury' survives as the Bowery, a small
field on the boundary of Chilling Place Farm; and
Cobwell (later Corbell), the Warren, and Ramscomb
can be located on the tithe map of 1847. At that date
the parish still retained large areas of pasture, both
in the uplands and in the lowlands. (fn. 109) Mixed farming
is the rule today, the lowlands being used for dairy
cattle.
The community which farmed the land can first
be traced in Domesday Book. It records 12 villeins,
6 bordars, and a serf. By 1279 there were 3 freeholders (perhaps not all resident) and 41 villeins.
A late-13th-century extent shows a slight increase:
5 freeholders and 41 or 43 villeins. (fn. 110) In 1377 the
poll tax returns give the names of 108 persons over
fourteen. (fn. 111)
The custumal and extent (fn. 112) of their Piddington
property made by St. Frideswide's gives a detailed
picture of rural life in the early 14th century.
It is not clear how far services had been commuted
for rent, but the wording of the account suggests
that the practice had increased since 1279, when
there were only three villeins who paid rent: one
held a virgate and two held half-virgates each. The
rent-paying tenants paid on the basis of 5s. a virgate
and in addition owed some special services. They
mowed for a day, the lord providing food or 40d. in
lieu ('meteshippe'); harvested for three days; did a
day's nutting, and a day hedging the field next the
wood. With the other tenants they owed grasherth
and 2s. aid to the lord at Christmas. Six cottars paid
small money rents and performed minor labourservices. Eight tenants (described as 'in the manor'
in 1279) held a quarter of a virgate (i.e. 5 a.) and the
lord chose any four of them to plough at will. They
were thus exempt from all other services. The later
survey mentions nine of these holders of a quarter
of a virgate, but makes no reference to special
services.
The villeins, who performed services only, worked
four days a week except on festivals and 'stormy'
days. Some of the tasks are specified. At the beginning of the farming year, for instance, from 2 February to Easter, the villein ploughed every Monday;
at the Lent sowing, he harrowed with his own horse
and harrow; at haymaking time he came with one
man to mow and cart, and also provided a horse and
cart. The winter ploughing began at the end of
September. Then the villein brought his plough to
plough the lord's separate pasture in the fallow field,
a custom called grasherth; in mid-November he
ploughed 3 roods of land, thrashed and winnowed
the lord's corn, carted it to the field for his household
servants to sow, then harrowed it, providing, as in
the spring, his own horse and harrow. In addition
to these agricultural services, in 1279 the villein
owed 1d. 'salt silver' instead of fetching the lord's
salt from the market to his 'larder', and on Saturdays
had to send a man and horse to market, if the lord
willed. (fn. 113)
The Piddington villein enjoyed various privileges.
There was the harvest feast at which the lord provided food for the labourer and his wife but required
them to bring cloths (mappae), small and large dishes,
cups and other necessaries. On two of the three
harvest days, if he was binding sheaves he might
take one away in the evening. At haymaking, each
mower could take away as much grass as he could
carry on his scvthe. He was allowed housebote and
heybote in the lord's wood, but for this privilege the
community had to answer through four men before
the forest justices for any charges of wasting the
royal forest. As for heriot, the custom was that the
lord took the man's best ox on death, but allowed
his widow, so long as she remained single, to keep
house and land for life.
There was evidently some uncertainty over conditions of tenure in the period after the Dissolution.
An inquiry of 1561 found that until twenty years
previously no copies of court roll had been made,
but that in about 1541 the Dean and Canons of
Christ Church, then lords of the manor, compelled
the tenants to have copies. (fn. 114) The fragmentary court
rolls of Edward VI's reign (fn. 115) throw little light on the
question of tenure, but all uncertainty was ended in
1598, when John Dynham provided his Piddington
tenants with leases for 2,000 years, based on money
rents at 6s. 8d. a yardland. (fn. 116) The leases laid down
rights of pasture (see above); stated that the tenants
had rights to the wood on their land, save for the
oak, ash, and crabtrees growing in two coppices; and
gave them permission to dig and carry away gravel
from Gravel Pits Coppice.
The community revealed by these new leases is
interesting. As far as the size of the holdings is concerned, there had been little increase since the late
13th century; then only one customary tenant held
a yardland, the majority holding half each, whereas
in 1598 of 16 copyholders, 3 owned 1 yardland each,
one owned three-quarters, 6 owned half each, 4
owned a quarter each, and 2 owned less than this.
Nine tenants had one or two closes in addition.
However, while the half-virgaters of the earlier survey
were all villeins, the tenants of 1598 are described
as 'yeomen' save for two 'labourers'. It is unlikely
that these men held land only in Piddington, but it
is an interesting fact, and one not always easy to
discover, that fourteen out of sixteen were resident
in the village.
Inclosure in Piddington had begun at least by the
late 16th century, for the 1598 leases to customary
tenants refer to three coppices, then used for pasture,
as 'now divided and set forth by hedge and dytch'
for the lord's use. This land was mainly part of the
Muswell estate. Other inclosures, before the final
inclosure of the open fields in 1758, were at Chilling
Place, referred to in the award as old inclosure, and
parcels of land in Piddington proper, including Cow
Pasture, an old inclosure belonging to Sir Edward
Turner, and another old inclosure belonging to the
Trustees of the Poor of Marsh Gibbon. The inclosure award of 1758 gave the largest allotment,
499 acres for freehold and 36 acres for leasehold, to
Sir Edward Turner. John Walker came next with
198 acres; 4 others had between 70 and 100 acres
each, 5 (including the vicar) had between 30 and 60
acres, and 15 had smaller parcels of land, the majority
under 5 acres. Seven others had 2 roods apiece, as
common for a horse each. (fn. 117)
There was evidently trouble in the years following
the inclosure, for in 1791 25 owners and occupiers
of land in the village agreed to prosecute at their own
expense, by a pound rate raised by the overseer, all
persons guilty of damaging their property. They
claimed that they had sustained great injury 'by
persons who . . . have broken down, destroyed, and
carried away our hedges, gates, and other fences,
and have robbed our gardens, orchards, hen roosts,
faggot piles, and other outbuildings'. (fn. 118)
The total population in the 18th century remained
small: in 1758 there were said to be 56 houses,
almost the same number as in 1821, when the population was 359. In 1841 the figure had risen to 427,
but it declined again to 281 in 1881, and to 212 in
1901. (fn. 119) The figure in 1931 was 196 and in 1951, 311.
Most of the villagers, like their predecessors for
many centuries, are employed on the land. Isolated
scraps of evidence relate to other employments, for
instance, the existence of a parcel of land called
'Allum Piece', lying east of the Bicester–Brill road
as it leaves the parish, suggests that alum may once
have been dug. (fn. 120) Trade and local handicrafts occupied 6 out of 55 families in 1822; (fn. 121) a wheelwright's
shop and a bakehouse figure on the tithe map of
1847. The census of 1851 recorded 13 craftsmen and
tradesmen. Among them were 2 shoemakers, 3 bricklayers and 2 carriers. (fn. 122) There was a village smithy
until early in the 20th century. In 1953 some of the
villagers were working at the neighbouring army
establishment at Arncot. (fn. 123)
Church.
Piddington chapelry lay in Ambrosden
parish. In 1309 the lord of Piddington manor referred
to 'ornaments' in his chapel at Piddington. (fn. 124) This
building was probably the same as the present church
(formerly chapel) of St. Nicholas, which contains
late-13th-century work.
In 1428 disputes which had arisen between the
vicar of Ambrosden and the villagers of Piddington
over serving the chapel were terminated by a decree
in the consistory court, to which the college of
Ashridge, the appropriator of Ambrosden, was also
a party. By this, Piddington was to have a resident
minister, who was called a curate after the Reformation. He was to be elected by the inhabitants and
to have authority to perform all the parochial duties.
The villagers were to be responsible for the care of
the church and chancel and of the minister's house;
the minister was to receive the small tithes and
oblations, in fact everything that the vicar of Ambrosden had hitherto been receiving from Piddington;
but he had to render 'due obedience' to the vicar
and pay him 20s. and a quartern of wheat each year
in token of Piddington's former dependence on the
mother church of Ambrosden. (fn. 125) By this decree Piddington acquired its own graveyard and full parochial
status.
The new minister had no right to the great tithes
as these had been taken by Ashridge when it appropriated Ambrosden church (fn. 126) and they passed into
lay hands after the priory's dissolution. (fn. 127) The small
tithes, however, continued to be paid to the curates
of Piddington after the Reformation in accordance
with the arrangement of 1428. They had been temporarily commuted for money in about 1591. (fn. 128) The
parishioners also continued to elect their curate.
There is a tradition that Bishop Fell (1676–86) tried
to stop the practice, but, if true, he evidently failed. (fn. 129)
In 1759 there was an unsuccessful attempt to restrict the vote to landholders. (fn. 130) An election seems to
have involved the parish in considerable expense;
the churchwardens' accounts contain many entries
relating to the expense of advertising, of letters and
visits to the bishop, and of entertainment of the
voters. In 1821 57 quarts of ale for the latter cost
£1 13s. (fn. 131) The most expensive and famous election
took place in 1802. It was alleged that the poorer
inhabitants had been bribed, and that a contract had
been drawn up whereby the elected minister was
promised an emolument of £70 a year. Previously
the stipend had been £41 7s. 8d. based on a composition at the rate of 18s. per yardland. (fn. 132) The resulting dispute was very involved, the bishop licensing
a curate after a lapse of six months—a step not
legally upheld—and prosecuting the churchwardens
for simony in a suit at common law. Legal quibbles
and a search in the Lincoln Diocesan Registry for
the original of the 1428 agreement, since the copy
in the Oxford Registers was deemed insufficient,
prolonged the case until 1805, when it was ruled
that the election had been simoniacal, and Mr.
Matthews, nominated by the Crown in 1803 by
forfeiture, was confirmed in the living. He was later
offered £150 a year in lieu of tithes. (fn. 133)
There was another memorable election in 1853,
when an excessively large number of candidates was
reduced to six by vote of the vestry. The first poll
was equally divided between two candidates, who
received 40 votes each; a second poll over two
different candidates produced a vote of 42 against
28, and the winner in this contest, the Revd. Charles
Hill, became vicar. (fn. 134)
In 1923 the right of election passed to the Parochial
Church Council. (fn. 135) The living, now known as a
vicarage, is held with Ambrosden. In 1953 the benefice of Piddington was valued at £214 net. (fn. 136)
It may well be that their right to elect their own
minister gave the parishioners a sturdy independence
in church matters. The minister reported in 1738
that there were two or three absentees from church
'of the poorer sort', owing to alleged deafness, but
in 1808, after the troubled election of 1802, the
minister's return states that 'some few' were absentees because 'they had not a clergyman of their own
choice'. The number of communicants at one time
was never above 30 in the 18th century, when there
were four communion services a year, and seems to
have declined towards the end of that period. In
1808 there were about 65 communicants. (fn. 137)
Some of the people of Piddington, however, continued to attend Ambrosden church, where in the
18th century there were still 'Piddington seats'. (fn. 138) A
sum of 6s. 8d. was paid to the mother church yearly
until 1708, and less regularly until 1738, when it
ceased. According to tradition this was for the repair
of the bells, but in fact it was used for general
purposes. (fn. 139)
Isolated pieces of information help to reconstruct
the religious life of the village: in 1544 a parishioner
gave 8d. for the High Altar; another gave 12d. in
lieu of 'tithes forgot', and 12d. to the sepulchre light,
probably a reference to the Easter Sepulchre; (fn. 140) in
1545 there was a bequest for the rood light. (fn. 141) Later
in the century the curacy of Richard Tetloe brought
scandal to the parish. He was accused of fornication; and it was stated in the Archdeacon's Court
in 1591 that his parishioners' consciences were
grieved by his conduct and that they were unwilling
to receive the sacrament at his hands. (fn. 142)
It is possible that the 17th-century incumbents
were resident, (fn. 143) as they certainly were in the 18th
century. (fn. 144) In 1823, the Vicarage being dilapidated
and unfit for residence, a faculty was obtained to
exchange its site for two cottages which were then
adapted to make the present Vicarage. (fn. 145) It was
'improved' in 1840, mainly at the incumbent's expense. (fn. 146)
The church of ST. NICHOLAS comprises a
chancel, nave, south aisle, and low embattled west
tower. The well-proportioned chancel dates from
about 1300, and has four windows of the same period
with cusped rear arches. There is a three-light east
window of graceful and slender proportions. Two
sedilia of about the same date are richly foliated,
the third section having been converted into a priest's
door. The workmanship, in elaborate contrast to the
simplicity of the chancel itself, resembles that of
the piscina and the recess on the north side of the
chancel. The latter has Purbeck marble pillars and
is ornamented with figures of angels. (fn. 147)
The south doorway dates from the 14th century,
and the nave from the late 13th with 15th-century
windows. The wall-painting of St. Christopher on
the north wall opposite the door was discovered in
1896 beneath a 17th-century Creed; it was completely uncovered and restored in 1935 by E. T.
Long of Oxford. (fn. 148) Its faint outlines reveal the saint
with his staff, and a hermit's chapel (perhaps that
at Muswell) in the background. (fn. 149)
The tower dates from the 16th century, but its
doorway was blocked up in 1826. (fn. 150) Two texts inscribed on the walls near the belfry entrance are
dated 1665. The painting of other texts is recorded in
1784, when the Commandments, the Apostles' Creed,
and the Lord's Prayer were executed. (fn. 151) In 1730
a communion table and rails were fetched from
Bicester. (fn. 152)
In 1826 extensive repairs were undertaken, including a new roof, costing £237; (fn. 153) and in 1855 the
interior of the church was completely restored for
£554. (fn. 154) There had been a musicians' gallery on the
north side (fn. 155) and a southern gallery, set up in 1813, (fn. 156)
which were removed, whereby 'the beautiful solid
western arch' was thrown open and the belfry used
for additional seats. At the same time 'the irregular
horsebox pews' were replaced by 'low and open seats
conducing to vigilance, propriety and decorum'. (fn. 157)
The pulpit, installed in 1828 and made by the carpenter William Parrott, was also moved at this date. (fn. 158)
Restoration undertaken by J. O. Scott was completed in 1898; a new chancel arch was built and
the chancel ceiling reconstructed in panelled oak;
the nave was restored externally, the foundations
underpinned, and a new ceiling inserted. An entirely
new roof to the south aisle was built and the exterior
repaired. The stonework of the tower up to the
plinth was also restored. Extensive internal repairs
to the whole church were carried out, including the
installation of heating apparatus. A memorial window
of stained glass to the Revd. Charles Hill was designed
by Jones & Willis (London). (fn. 159)
The monuments inside the church include a black
marble tablet in the north wall of the chancel to
Elizabeth (d. 1709), wife of John Walker; a tablet to
John Walker (d. 1722), 'a pious son of the Church of
England'; a monument to John Walker (d. 1731)
and his relations; a brass (1613) to Catherine Hussey.
In the churchyard, which was newly railed in in
1843, (fn. 160) is the grave of John Drinkwater, the poet
(d. 1937).
The Edwardian inventories mention altar cloths
(one of diaper, six of 'Ollande clothe'), vestments
and surplices, a box of ivory inside the pyx, having
'small glasyes of sylver upon hit', and two chalices
of silver gilt. (fn. 161) The pre-Reformation chalices have
gone (one by 1553), and the church plate now includes an Elizabethan chalice (1580) inscribed with
a 'P', and silver plate given by William Ward of
Piddington in 1640. The silver chalice with paten
and cover, given by Jane White of Piddington in
1683 and inscribed accordingly, which were part of
the church property in 1928 have since vanished. (fn. 162)
In 1553 there were three small bells, a sanctus, and
a hand-bell. (fn. 163) The second bell was recast in 1705,
and the tenor cast by Hemins of Bicester in 1729,
the fourth bell being run by the same firm in 1738.
In 1887 the third was recast, and a treble and second
provided by Mrs. Brown of Manor Farm. (fn. 164)
The registers begin in 1653.
A chest with three locks and keys was kept in the
church in 1634; a new iron chest was bought in
1813. (fn. 165)
Chapel of the Holy Cross.
Before about
1152 a chapel, dedicated to the Holy Cross, was
built by Ralph the hermit on Muswell Hill. (fn. 166) He
gave it, with all the land pertaining to it, the tithes
of the demesne of Piddington, and two acres of
meadow to Missenden Abbey (Bucks.). (fn. 167)
It is possible that the chapel was served from
Missenden in the years immediately following this
grant. If so, the arrangement probably ended when
the abbey granted the Muswell estate to John de
Plescy between 1236 and 1240, reserving the tithes. (fn. 168)
It was certainly served by the vicar of Ambrosden
in 1396, when he was prosecuted for trespassing in
the fields of Muswell manor in walking from Ambrosden to the chapel, and was then granted right of
way for five years at a rent of 6s. 8d. (fn. 169) It is worth
noting that the inhabitants of Piddington used to
process to the chapel on the feast days of the Holy
Cross, and in 1488 Edmund Rede, lord of Muswell,
granted them reasonable footway to the chapel for
that purpose, again for a rent of 6s. 8d. (fn. 170) The
memory of Ralph the hermit was long preserved in
Piddington; the last ruins of his chapel disappeared
in 1800. (fn. 171)
Nonconformity.
There were several recusants in the parish in the 17th century: Katherine
Dynham, the widow of John Dynham, (fn. 172) and three
others were recorded between 1607 and 1615. In
1624 no fewer than 11 were listed, headed by Eleanor
Vynes and including four yeomen and a weaver. (fn. 173)
No dissenters of any kind are recorded in Bishop
Compton's census (1676) or in the 18th-century
visitation returns.
A Congregational chapel with seating for 80 was
established in 1825, (fn. 174) and was enlarged later. (fn. 175) The
attendance in 1850 was 60. (fn. 176) In 1951 the chapel was
a member of the North Bucks. and North Oxon.
Congregational Union. It had no resident minister
and its membership, along with that of five other
churches, had dropped to 71. (fn. 177) At the turn of the
century, John Sulston, wheelwright and postmaster,
was a prominent member of the chapel and was well
known for his hospitality to visiting preachers. (fn. 178)
In 1850 15 Wesleyans used a private house for
meetings. (fn. 179)
Schools.
A school is recorded in 1808, when the
parents of the pupils provided the master's salary. (fn. 180)
The only other schooling, with the exception of the
Sunday school, was that given by a charity of unknown origin, providing for 12 girls to be taught to
read. (fn. 181) By 1833 there were two daily schools with
6 girls and 17 boys; (fn. 182) apparently these schools did
not long survive, for in 1854 the vicar stated that
there was no day school, and that one was urgently
needed to remove the 'great ignorance' of the villagers. (fn. 183)
In 1858 the Sunday school, begun for 18 boys in
1818 and supported by the minister since 1822, was
extended as a day school and received a grant from
the National Society; accommodation was provided
for 84 children. (fn. 184) A new building was said in 1887
to have been erected in 1863 with accommodation
for 100 children. The average attendance was 44 in
1887, when there was a master, (fn. 185) though in 1864
there had been a master and mistress. (fn. 186) By 1906 the
attendance had dropped to 32. (fn. 187) In 1925 the older
children were transferred to Bicester County school,
Piddington school surviving as a church school for
juniors and infants. (fn. 188) In 1944 it became a controlled
primary school, with one resident mistress. It has
an attendance of 30 children (1952). (fn. 189)
Charities.
Piddington's first charity dates from
1664, when John Hart of Cottisford left an annuity
of £3 to bind 'one honest, poor, godly boy to some
good trade'. It was called 'Easington Money', as the
legacy was invested in land there. In 1823 the money
was being allowed to accumulate until there was
sufficient for the purpose. (fn. 190) The charity was still
being used in 1953 to help set up a boy in work. (fn. 191)
There were some other small charities which have
since lapsed: in 1772 Lady Turner left the poor of
Piddington £50, which was all distributed in that
year. A donation of £20 made in 1764 by an unknown
person produced thereafter 20s. a year. There was
also a rent-charge of 6s. a year for poor widows, but
in 1808 only part was paid out. (fn. 192)