Buckland, Berkshire
Historical Description
Buckland, a village and a parish in Berks. The village stands 1½ mile S of the river Thames, 4 miles NE by E of Faringdon station on the G.W.R., and 13½ SW by W of Oxford, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Faringdon. The parish includes also the hamlets of Barcot and Carswell. Acreage, 4505; population, 747. Buckland House, a seat of the Throckmortons, was built in 1757 after designs by Wood of Bath, and contains relics of Mary Queen of Scots and Charles I., some other curiosities, and some fine pictures. Carswell House stands about 1 mile to the W of the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £205 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church, a fine cruciform building chiefly in the Early English style, was restored in 1870. There are Baptist and Roman Catholic chapels, an endowed school, and some charities.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Berkshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Buckland St. Mary | |
Hundred | Ganfield | |
Poor Law union | Farringdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1679.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a cruciform building of stone, with a battlemented nave of the late Norman period, chancel rebuilt in the 14th century, transepts, north transeptal chapel, south porch and a central embattled tower containing a clock and 6 bells; the tenor is dated 1721, the treble was given by W. Graham Niven esq, in 1898, and the others date from 1636: the chancel has a panelled oak roof with carved bosses, and on the south side are sedilia and piscina: there is a small but excellently carved marble slab representing the "Adoration of the Shepherds;" and adjoining is a sepulchre containing an altar tomb and a bracket: a triangular inclosed niche on the north side contains a curious casket enclosing the heart of William Holcot, whose ancestors owned the manor of Barcote from 1292 to 1575, and some records of the family are inscribed on a mural monument in the south transept: Holcot himself was a lay preacher after the Reformation, but recanted to escape persecution in the reign of Mary, and by his will directed his heart to be interred here: there are four stained windows in the chancel, and one in the nave, erected in 1896 by William Niven esq. F.S.A. late of Carswell, in memory of his wife: in the north transept is a brass to John Yate esq. and Mary (Justice), his wife, ob. 1578, with effigies of both and of 12 children: there is also a mural monument of marble to Sir Edward Yate bart. who died c. 1645. and to members of his family, who recorded their pedigree and arms at the Visitation of 1664-6; in the nave are numerous tablets to the Southby family, of Carswell, dating from 1603, and whose pedigree is found in the same Visitation; both transepts contain a piscina: the south porch still retains its original oak door: the font is Perpendicular: in 1890 a new vestry and organ chamber were erected, and an organ and brass eagle lectern presented by the late W. West esq. J.P. the latter being a memorial to his wife, Clara Jane, d. 1888, and in 1892 the Barcote aisle was elaborately decorated in glass mosaic by Messrs. John Powell and Sons, of Whitefriars, London, at the cost of the late William West esq. J.P. of Barcote, the whole work being intended to illustrate the praise of God by His created works: the aisle has been repaved with colored marbles, and provided with oak benches, finely carved: the church was restored in 1870 by subscription, and has 400 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
There is a Baptist chapel.
Roman Catholic
Catholic church of St. George
The Catholic church, dedicated to St. George, is a building in the Early Decorated style, and was erected by the late Sir Robert Throckmorton bart.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Buckland was in Faringdon Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Wantage Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Buckland from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Buckland, cum Carswell (St. Mary))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
Buckland House is a handsome mansion in the Italian style, built in 1757 from the designs of Wood, of Bath, consisting of a lofty square central block with rusticated base, and a projecting bay with pediment carried on four columns, and two wings, each terminating in an octagonal building; attached to the house is a well-wooded deer park of 130 acres.
Barcote Manor, erected in 1874, is a mansion in the Tudor style, the view from which northwards embraces portions of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Buckland are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.