SHELSWELL
The ancient parish covered 822 acres, (fn. 1) and there
was no change in its area until its union with
Newton Purcell in 1932. The joint parish now
covers 1,424 acres. (fn. 2) Shelswell's boundary used to
extend almost to Newton Purcell village on the east,
on the north it skirted Mixbury Plantations, and on
the south-west it cut through Shelswell Plantation
and Shelswell Park. (fn. 3) The parish lies partly on the
Great Oolite and partly on the Cornbrash, both,
however, being mostly covered with drift gravel. (fn. 4)
The ground rises from south to north and reaches a
height of just over 400 feet on the northern boundary.
No major road passes through the parish, but lanes
connect Shelswell House and Home Farm with
Newton Purcell, Hethe, and Cottisford. A minor
road from Mixbury to Hethe runs along the western
edge of Shelswell Park. (fn. 5) The north-eastern corner
of the parish is crossed by the former Great Central
Railway from Brackley to Quainton Road, constructed in 1899, (fn. 6) and the station called Finmere, on
the outskirts of Newton Purcell village, is in the
former parish of Shelswell. Between 1923 and 1947
the line was a part of the L.N.E.R., after which
it was transferred to British Railways (Midland
Region).
A spring which has long since disappeared probably determined the site of the medieval village: the
earliest form of the place-name suggests that it
meant the spring or stream of Scield, the personal
name of some Saxon settler. (fn. 7) Near the village the
stream formed a line of wet and useless ground—
there were 10 acres of marsh in 1581 (fn. 8) —which was
excavated, probably in the 18th century, to form
the Fish Pond. (fn. 9)
The moats, shown on the ordnance map near
Home Farm, (fn. 10) probably mark the site of the medieval
manor-house. The site of St. Ebbe's church and the
lost medieval village adjoins them. The manorhouse was standing and was inhabited in 1530, when
Margaret Verney referred to the 'great chamber' in
it in her will. (fn. 11) Inclosure and the consequent depopulation were completed by 1601. (fn. 12) The parsonage, which lay to the north of the church, was still
standing in 1634, (fn. 13) but was unoccupied. The 17thcentury lords of the manor were non-resident, and
the larger of the two houses of Shelswell, recorded in
the hearth-tax returns of 1665, (fn. 14) may have been the
Home Farm. A large house, but no village, is
marked on a map of 1677. (fn. 15) The Trotmans are
said to have built in the early 18th century a new
manor-house, on the site of the present Shelswell
House. (fn. 16) In 1875 a stone bearing the date 1699 was
found. Fiennes Trotman (d. 1782) enlarged this
house and greatly improved the park, with plantations. (fn. 17) In 1875 Edward Slater-Harrison pulled
down nearly the whole of the house and replaced it
by the present mansion, designed by William Wilkinson of Oxford. (fn. 18) It bears the date 1875 and the crests
of Slater and Harrison. In 1956 it was untenanted
and falling into disrepair.
Flora Thompson has given a vivid description of
the celebrations connected with Queen Victoria's
Jubilee in 1887 in 'Skeldon' (Shelswell) Park. She
has also given a glimpse in 'Lark Rise' of the excitement caused to the children by the sight of 'Squire
Harrison's four-in-hand, with ladies in bright summer dresses . . . on the top of the coach', and the
white-hatted squire handling his four greys.
Manor.
Before the Conquest SHELSWELL, assessed at 10 hides, was held by Edwin, son of Burred,
and in 1086 by Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances. (fn. 19) On
the latter's death in 1093 his estates passed to his
nephew Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, who forfeited his lands to William II in 1095.
Shelswell may have been subsequently granted to
Robert FitzHamon and may have passed to Robert,
Earl of Gloucester, who married FitzHamon's
daughter, (fn. 20) or it may have been granted directly by
Henry I to Robert, who was his illegitimate son.
The earls of Gloucester were certainly overlords of
Shelswell in the 13th century (fn. 21) and as late as 1560
the manor was said to belong to the honor of
Gloucester. (fn. 22)
The tenant of Shelswell in 1086 was Herluin, who
also held of the Bishop of Coutances an estate at
Colly Weston (Northants), which in the 12th century
passed to his son William. (fn. 23) A family deriving its
name from Shelswell appears towards the end of the
12th century: a Nicholas 'de Scaldeswelle' is mentioned about 1180, and a Eustace 'de Saldeywell' in
1219. (fn. 24) The immediate lord of Shelswell in the
reign of Richard I was William son of Ralph of
Weston, lord of Colly Weston and possibly a descendant of William son of Herluin. (fn. 25) William of
Weston's son Peter was known alternatively as 'of
Weston' or 'of Shelswell', (fn. 26) so Nicholas and Eustace
of Shelswell may have been kinsmen of the lord of
the manor. William of Weston exchanged 2 virgates
in Shelswell for two in Colly Weston with Ralph
Purcel of Newton (fn. 27) and was dead by 1221, when his
widow Alice de Bendinges was holding Shelswell in
dower. (fn. 28) William's heir was his son Peter, (fn. 29) but
Alice was still alive and in possession of Shelswell in
1243. (fn. 30) By 1255, however, the manor had passed to
Nicholas of Weston, probably Peter's son. Nicholas
held of a Thomas de Dunington, who held of the
Earl of Gloucester, and Thomas's heir, another
Thomas, was mesne lord in 1279 and 1285. (fn. 31) The
14th-century lords of Shelswell held directly of the
honor of Gloucester.
The lords of Shelswell in the 13th century held
½ knight's fee in Shelswell itself, and another ½ fee
in the neighbouring parish of Newton. (fn. 32) The tenant
of the latter under the Westons in the early 13th
century was Niel of Newton, who was a benefactor
of Bicester Priory. (fn. 33) Niel was dead by 1219, when
his widow Alice was claiming her dower in Newton,
and he was succeeded by his son Richard Fitzniel, (fn. 34)
who was dead by 1243, and his grandson John, who
was still alive in 1279. (fn. 35) By 1346, when the lord of
Shelswell held 'a third of Newton', the Fitzniels'
½-fee seems to have been absorbed into Shelswell
manor. (fn. 36)
Nicholas of Weston died in 1281 and was succeeded by his daughter Amice and her husband
Ellis de Hauville, (fn. 37) who was granted free warren in
Shelswell in 1289. (fn. 38) Amice survived her husband
(d. 1297), (fn. 39) and by 1300 she appears to have married
Sir Henry Maulever. (fn. 40) Walter de Langton, Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, seems to have acted as
an intermediary in a settlement made in the same
year by which part of Shelswell was to be held by
Sir Henry and Amice and part by Sir William
Tuchet. (fn. 41) Amice alone, however, was lady of the
manor in 1316. (fn. 42) Sir Henry may have died by 1313, (fn. 43)
and Amice herself was dead by 1322, (fn. 44) in which year
Sir William was executed for his part in the rebellion
of Thomas of Lancaster. (fn. 45) Shelswell presumably
fell into the king's hands, but by 1327 (fn. 46) it had been
granted to Richard of Cornwall (de Cornubia), who
had owned property in the manor from 1316 onwards. (fn. 47) Richard, described as 'the king's clerk and
cousin' in 1327, may have been a younger son of
Sir Richard of Cornwall, (fn. 48) illegitimate son of Earl
Richard of Cornwall. Richard of Cornwall of Shelswell had been knighted by 1338 (fn. 49) and was still holding the manor in 1346. (fn. 50) He was succeeded by
William Cornwall, who presented to Shelswell
church in 1367, (fn. 51) and William Cornwall the younger,
who in 1397 quitclaimed the manor to Thomas and
Alice Stokes, the parents of his wife Cicely, by
whom he had a son John and three daughters. (fn. 52) In
1398 the Stokeses leased Shelswell to Cornwall for
50 years, with the proviso that after the death of the
lessors and lessee the manor should revert to Cornwall's heirs. (fn. 53) Presentations to Shelswell church
were made between 1441 and 1466 by a John
Cornwall, (fn. 54) perhaps by two Johns, father and son;
it was no doubt the latter who in 1478, as John Cornwall, 'gentleman' of Shelswell, was exempted for
life from being put on assizes and juries, perhaps on
account of old age. (fn. 55) He was still alive in 1486, when
the manor was recovered against him by John
Swelyngton, in what was probably a fictitious action
to establish Cornwall's title. (fn. 56)
Cornwall had two daughters, Jane, who married a
man named Tomlyns, and Margaret, who married
Henry Brothers. (fn. 57) Jane was given two closes in
Shelswell, and Margaret seems to have come to an
arrangement with Swelyngton by which she got the
rest of the land. (fn. 58) In 1501 she and her husband were
trying to establish their title to the manor and advowson. (fn. 59) Brothers died within a few years, and by 1508
his widow had married Leonard Verney, Esq. (fn. 60) By
this time Jane was also dead, but her claim to half
the manor was contested by her son, Roger Tomlyns,
'a poor man', who was unable to bear the expense of
litigation. In 1507 he made an arrangement with
Sir Henry Wyatt, a friend of Henry VII and Henry
VIII and in the 1520's treasurer of the king's chamber, who was to help him recover his property, and
in return was to receive the reversion of half of it. (fn. 61)
The result of legal action and a complicated series
of conveyances was that the Verneys got possession
of the whole manor except for about 90 acres, which
in the 1530's came to Brasenose College, (fn. 62) while
Roger Tomlyns gave up his claim to half the manor
and lost all his Shelswell lands. (fn. 63)
The Verneys lived at Shelswell and Margaret was
buried in the church there. Although Peter Brothers,
a son of her first marriage, survived her, she left
Shelswell by her will, dated 1530, to her daughter
Dorothy and her husband Richard Heath, who died
in 1542. (fn. 64)
Heath's marriage into a county family and his
acquisition of the manor is of particular interest. He
was the son of Michael Heath, (fn. 65) an Oxford brewer
and the holder of many civic offices, who had acted
as overseer of Margaret Verney's will. (fn. 66) Richard
Heath was also active in civic affairs. Various payments were made to him by the town in 1523, e.g.
20s. 'for makying of iii boks for the Kyng's subsidie', (fn. 67)
and in 1541 he was made a bailiff. (fn. 68) He made provision in his will for his second wife Jane (Bush), and
admonished his eldest son Robert to 'applye his
lernyng', and to allow his brother Percival and a
partner temporarily to occupy his father's lands at
Shelswell and elsewhere. (fn. 69) Percival Heath continued
the family tradition of civic service, being admitted
a hanaster of Oxford corporation in 1542–3. (fn. 70) The
Shelswell and estate ultimately passed to Robert, who
died in 1558, (fn. 71) and to his widow Katherine, daughter
of Thomas Carter of Swyncombe, who married
Philip Mordaunt of Essex as her second husband and
died in 1560. (fn. 72) Robert's eldest son Thomas Heath,
who married Jane, a daughter of John Denton of
Ambrosden, succeeded to Shelswell and was living
there in the late 16th century. (fn. 73) He seems to have
had no children, and in about 1595 he sold the
reversion of the manor on his own death and that of
his wife (probably his second wife) Elizabeth to Sir
Anthony Cope of Hanwell (d. 1615). (fn. 74) After Thomas
Heath's death in 1605 (fn. 75) Elizabeth married Devorax
Barrett, and Cope leased the manor from them for
£400 a year, £100 more than it was worth, according
to him. Barrett died in about 1621, but Elizabeth was
still alive in 1624, when Sir Anthony's son Sir
William Cope was at law with her over the terms of
the lease. (fn. 76)
On her death the Copes acquired the manor, and
it remained in the family until the death of Sir Anthony Cope, 4th Bt., in 1675. He left his property,
including Shelswell, to his brother, Sir John, for
life, but not to his brother's children. (fn. 77) Although Sir
John lived until 1721, he may have sold Shelswell
to the Trotmans in the 1680's. In 1686 Samuel
Trotman of Siston (Gloucs.), the eldest son of Samuel
Trotman (d. 1685) of Bucknell, and his brother Lenthall were parties to a fine levied on the manor, (fn. 78) and
there is evidence in the early 18th century pointing to
the ownership of the manor by the Trotmans. From
1705 Samuel Trotman of Siston (d. 1720) and then
his nephew Samuel, son of Lenthall Trotman of
Bucknell, presented to Newton Purcell church, (fn. 79)
and this is significant, as since the 16th century the
advowson of Newton had descended with Shelswell
manor. Samuel Trotman appears to have settled
Shelswell on his younger brother Edward, who was
buried at Newton Purcell in 1743. (fn. 80) In 1746, when
Edward's only daughter Susannah married the architect Sanderson Miller, he was described as 'Edward
Trotman, Esq., of Shelswell'. (fn. 81) His son Fiennes, who
succeeded him, died without issue in 1782 and was
buried like his father in Newton Purcell church. (fn. 82)
The reversion belonged to Fiennes's nephew
Samuel Trotman, but the latter sold it during the
life of his uncle. The manor was purchased by
Gilbert Harrison, a London merchant (d. 1790),
whose son John attained his majority in 1802 and
died in 1834. John Harrison was unmarried and he
made his nephew John Harrison Slater, son of his
sister Ann Harrison and John Slater of Margate, his
heir, on condition that he assumed the surname
Harrison. John Slater-Harrison died in 1874 and
was succeeded by his only surviving child Edward.
The latter died in 1911 and his second wife Emma
Cecilia (née Cartwright) continued in possession of
Shelswell until her death in 1943, when she was
succeeded by John Francis Dewar-Harrison, grandson of her husband's sister Augusta, wife of William
W. M. Dewar of Cotmore House, Fringford. (fn. 83)
Lesser Estates.
An estate of 90 acres became
detached from the manor in about 1500. It consisted
of three closes in the eastern corner of the parish—
Barley and Drake Closes (sometimes called Nast
Field) and Pasture Mede. After passing through
various hands including those of William Spencer
of Adderbury they were bought in 1533 for £162
from William Fermor of Somerton by John Claymond, President of Corpus Christi College. (fn. 84) He
gave them in the same year with other property to
Brasenose College to endow scholarships. (fn. 85) The
college leased the property as two estates, often to
neighbouring gentry, such as Richard Heath and
later Fiennes Trotman of Shelswell or the Ardens of
Kirtlington. (fn. 86) Eleven acres were sold to the Great
Central Railway in 1895. (fn. 87) The college held the rest
of the property, called Barleyfield farm, in 1955. (fn. 88)
Economic History.
Domesday Book records
that in 1086 there was land for 7 ploughs, all of
which was apparently being cultivated, for there
were 3 ploughs on the demesne, where there were
2 serfs, and 4 ploughs worked by 7 villeins (villani)
and 7 bordars. A considerable advance in prosperity
since the Conquest is indicated by the increase of
the value of the estate from £5 to £10. (fn. 89) In 1279
some 24½ virgates of arable appear to have been
under cultivation. The demesne consisted of 8
virgates, beside meadow and pasture, and 7 villeins
held 11½ virgates, working and being tallaged at the
lord's will, and all paying money rents as well: the
rent paid is only recorded in one instance, where
a villein holding 2½ virgates paid 8s. Of the other
villeins 3 held 2 virgates, and 3 held 1 virgate each.
There were 3 free tenants, of whom 2 held 2 virgates
each, one for 1s. rent, the other for 7d. and for performing suit of hundred and county twice a year for
his lord. The third, the Prior of Bicester, held 1 virgate
in free alms and had a subtenant, but his rent is not
recorded. (fn. 90) In 1297 the manor was worth £10 a
year. (fn. 91)
The number of tenants at Shelswell had fallen
between 1086 and 1279, and it is possible that the
decline of the village had started comparatively early.
Fourteen people were assessed for taxation in 1316,
and eleven in 1327. (fn. 92) The total assessment fixed
after 1334 at £1 19s. 8d. was comparatively small,
but indicates that Shelswell was about as prosperous
as the neighbouring villages of Cottisford, Hardwick,
and Tusmore. (fn. 93) The decline of Shelswell evidently
continued, for by 1428 there were less than ten
resident householders. (fn. 94) By the end of the 16th century inclosure had virtually completed the destruction of the village. In 1497 Henry Brothers, husband
of the lady of the manor, had destroyed 2 houses,
evicted 11 people, and put down to pasture 60 acres
of arable land. (fn. 95) There were 200 acres of arable in
the manor in 1501 to 400 acres of pasture, and
20 acres of meadow. (fn. 96) In 1523 there were six contributors to the lay subsidy in Shelswell, only one of
whom, Leonard Verney, (fn. 97) was a man of substance: (fn. 98)
in 1569 Shelswell was assessed jointly with Newton
Purcell and there were only five contributors in both
villages. (fn. 99) William Spencer of Adderbury, who in
1528 held two closes of 60 acres in the parish, was
alleged to be responsible for further evictions. (fn. 100) By
1581 the arable land of the manor had decreased to
100 acres, and the pasture showed a corresponding
increase to 500 acres. (fn. 101) In 1601 inclosure was said
to be complete, (fn. 102) and the first half of the 17th century
probably saw the destruction of the last vestiges of
the medieval village. (fn. 103)
The construction of Shelswell House and the
coming of the Trotman family to live in the parish
in the late 17th or early 18th century (fn. 104) must have
started a modest repopulation. There were, however, still only three families in the parish in 1768
according to the incumbent's report, (fn. 105) but by 1801
the population was about forty. (fn. 106) In 1786 there were
at least two farms—the Home farm, and another on
the estate (fn. 107) of about 90 acres which Brasenose College
had acquired in 1533, and which had then, it may be
noted, consisted of three closes. (fn. 108) Division of the
large closes had started by 1670, and 18th-century
terriers suggest that the estate was principally used
as pasture: a close of 22½ acres was called Dairy
Ground in 1752, and one of the farms was let to
a grazier, the son of a yeoman who had been the
college's tenant. (fn. 109) By 1816 there were two farms on
the college estate, (fn. 110) one of them, Barleyfield, taking
its name from one of the closes of 1532. (fn. 111) In the
middle of the 19th century there were four farms,
two on the college estate and two on the SlaterHarrison estate, of 51, 43, 207, and 364 acres.
Seventeen acres were let to a farmer outside the
parish, and 124 acres were in the hands of the lord of
the manor. In 1849 there were 272 acres of arable,
405 acres of meadow and pasture, and 91 acres of
woodland. (fn. 112) Shelswell Plantation (26 a.), Pondhead
(27 a.) at the northern end of the Fish Pond, and
Spilsmere Wood (40 a.) were the largest tracts of
woodland in 1952, the last two being perhaps the
remains of the extensive woods in the parish mentioned in 1581. (fn. 113) During the 19th century the only
occupations were agriculture and service at Shelswell House. In 1939 there were two farms—Home
farm and Barleyfield (fn. 114) —and there remained only
about 60 acres of arable. (fn. 115)
Shelswell has always been one of the least populous
places in the hundred. In 1676 only 21 adults were
recorded at the Compton Census. The estimated
population was 42 in 1801 and it increased slightly
during the century: it was 51 in 1901. (fn. 116)
Church.
The original church building at Shelswell has gone and the earliest documentary evidence
for the existence of a church comes from the collation of a chaplain, Robert Basset, by the bishop in
c. 1215. (fn. 117) There can be little doubt, however, that
there was a church here at an early date. Between
1093 and 1095 Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, was lord, and the church was dedicated
to the Northumbrian saint St. Ebbe.
From 1250 to 1251 the advowson followed the
descent of the manor. In 1306 the bishop collated
because of a dispute between Sir William Tuchet and
the Maulevers, who were sharing the manor. (fn. 118) The
latter evidently won, for in 1313 Lady Amice Maulever presented. In 1372, on unknown grounds,
Sir Robert Hotot, lord of Clopton, was patron. When
in 1398 the Stokeses leased the manor to the Cornwalls, they kept the advowson, for in 1409 and 1422
Thomas Stokes presented. No patron is named in
1417, and in 1435 the bishop collated by lapse. After
this the descent of the advowson followed that of the
manor.
From 1573 Shelswell and Newton Purcell, which
had the same patron, were held together, (fn. 119) and
Shelswell was usually referred to as a chapel of
Newton. (fn. 120) In 1850 the ecclesiastical parishes were
united. (fn. 121)
Shelswell was a very poor parish, valued at only
15s. in 1254 (fn. 122) and not included in the taxation of
1291. In the later Middle Ages it was taxed at
£2 13s. 4d. (fn. 123) In the reign of Henry VIII its value
had risen to £4. (fn. 124) In later valuations it was included
with Newton Purcell, although the tithes were
separately commuted in 1849 for £186. (fn. 125) After
the Reformation the income of the parish came from
tithes, for the glebe, which had been worth 6s. 8d.
in the 14th century, (fn. 126) was absorbed into the lands of
the manor by inclosure and had disappeared by
1601. The Rectory of two bays was still standing in
1634; next to it were Parsonage Close and Parsonage
Orchard, but Parsonage Barn had by that time
disappeared. (fn. 127)
The church of ST. EBBE has completely disappeared. It stood to the north-east of the house on
the site now occupied by the stables of Home Farm.
From the wills of Margaret Verney and Richard
Heath, who were both buried in the church, it is
known that it had at least two altars, (fn. 128) and from the
Edwardian inventories of 1552 that there were two
bells. The church also possessed a cope, two sets of
vestments, a silver-gilt chalice and paten, and two
pewter candlesticks. (fn. 129) It was standing in 1618 but
was probably no longer used, as there were no
'mounds' round the churchyard. (fn. 130) In the early 18th
century the church was described as a dilapidated
chapel, (fn. 131) and in 1740 it was reported that no services
had been held in it in 'the memory of man'. (fn. 132) The
reports continue in much the same strain—in 1757
the chapel was described as decayed and gone to
ruin (fn. 133) —until 1795; but in 1796 the chapel had been
taken down. (fn. 134) Two stone-carved recumbent figures
from the church, one male, the other female, in the
dress of the late 16th century, are possibly memorials
of members of the Heath family, and are in the
grounds to the north-east of Shelswell House.
Nonconformity.
None known.
Schools.
None known.
Charities.
None known.