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Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Henley-on-Thames, a municipal borough and market-town in Oxfordshire. The town stands on the Thames, at the boundary with Berks, near the boundary with Bucks, at the terminus of a branch railway on the G.W.R., and under the Chiltern Hills, 7 miles NE by N from Reading. The railway to it leaves the Great Western main line at Twyford, is 4½ miles long, and has a station at Shiplake. The environs are very beautiful, and comprise one of the finest reaches of the Thames, flanked by gentle hills or cliffs covered with hanging woods. The town has been thought by some antiquaries to occupy the site of the Roman station Calleva, has yielded numerous Roman coins, does not appear on record till after the time of the Norman conquest, was known for some time as Hanlegang or Hannibnrg, presents now a modern appearance, and contains a large number of handsome villa residences. A fine stone bridge of five arches connects it with Berks, was erected in 1786, in place of an old wooden one, at a cost of £10, 000, and has sculptures over the central arch representing by ideal heads the rivers Thames .and Isis, which were executed by the Hon. Mrs Darner. The town was created a borough by royal charter in 1883, .and is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, who also act as the urban sanitary authority. The town has a good supply of water, derived from a well sunk in the chalk to the depth of 240 feet. It has a head post office. The town-hall is a neat building of 1796, with a piazza, which is used as a market In the upper portion of the 'building there is a large hall, with magistrates' rooms and a council chamber. Petty sessions are held at the town-hall every Thursday. The quondam theatre was used for some time as a dissenting chapel, afterwards as a temporary church, and is now a lecture-room. An hospital, the cost of which was defrayed by the late W. H. Smith, M.P., was opened in 1892. The Red Lion Inn has on a pane of one of its windows some lines written by Shenstone, and is much frequented by anglers and oarsmen. There are several other good hotels. The parish church is a fine building of stone and flint in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, and con-: sists of chancel with north aisle, nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower. It contains a monument of Lady Elizabeth Periam, sister of the great Lord Bacon, and was rrestored in 1854 at a cost of upwards of £7500. Trinity Church, on the south side of the town, is a modern edifice of flint and stone in the Early English style, and serves for a chapelry constituted in 1849, and comprising parts of the parishes of Henley-on-Thames, Rotherfield Greys, and Potherfield Peppard. The living of the parish church is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £250, in 'the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. The living of Holy Trinity is a vicarage; gross yearly value, £90 with residence. Patrons, the Bishop of Oxford and Trinity College, Oxford. There are also two Baptist, Roman Catholic, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels, and a Friends' meeting-house. Dean Aldrich, who was rector of Henley, bequeathed to the town a valuable library of books, which are preserved at the rectory. There are 26 endowed alms-houses, an endowed grammar school and endowed Blue-coat School, and charities worth nearly £800 a year. A weekly market is held on Thursday, and fairs are held on 7 March, Holy Thursday, and the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. There is also a statute hiring fair on the Thursday after 21 September. A black flint used in making glass is found; : a good trade is carried on in beech timber, corn, flour, and malt, and there are three large breweries. The event of all others, however, which serves to make the name of Henley famous, is its annual regatta, which is universally admitted to take the first place among the amateur aquatic contests of England. It had its origin in a contest between the uni- versities of Oxford and Cambridge on the beautiful reach of the river adjoining the town in 1829, which excited so much interest as to suggest the idea of its becoming an annual event. This was first actually carried out in the regatta of 24 June, 1839, and it has ever since continued to increase in popularity. It usually takes place about the beginning of July, and it attracts the best amateur oarsmen of England, and occasionally some from the Continent, while it almost ranks with Ascot as a meeting-place of the fashionable world. The course is from Regatta Island to a point opposite the upper end of Phyllis Court, space being left on either side for house-boats and pleasure skiffs. The chief prizes are the Grand Challenge Cup and the Thames Challenge Cup for eights, the Stewards' Challenge Cup and the Wyfold Challenge Cup for fours, the Silver Goblets for pairs, and the Diamond Challenge Sculls for scullers-all of which are open races. The Ladies' Challenge Plate, for eights and Visitors' Challenge Cup for fours are confined to the college and public school crews, and the Public Schools' Cup is open only to crews from public schools. The area of the parish is 1758; population of the civil parish, 3415; of the ecclesiastical, S265.

Henley Parliamentary Division, or Southern Oxfordshire, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 48, 491. The division includes the following:-Bullingdon (part of)-Albury, Ascot, Attington, Baldon Marsh, Baldon Toot, Burcot, Chilworth, Chippinghnrst, Chislehamp-ton, Clifton Hampden, Cowley, Cuddesdon, Culham, Denton, Dorchester, Drayton, Fifield (part of Benson), Garsington, St Giles (as to the part without the city of Oxford), Holton, Horsepath, Ickford-part of (Draycot), Imey, Littlemore, Milton (Great), Milton (Little), Nuneham Courtenay, Sand-ford-on-Thames, Stadhampton, Tetsworth, Thame, Thomley, Tiddington, Waterperry, Waterstock, Wheatley; Henley- Bix, Caversham, Checkendon, Crowmarsh Giffard, Eye and Dunsden, Goring, Harpsden, Henley-on-Thames, Ipsden, Mapledurham, Mongewell, Newham Murren, Northstoke, Rotherfield Greys, Rotherfield Peppard, Shiplake, South-stoke-cum-Woodcot, Whitchurch; Watlington - Adwell, Aston Rowant, Benson, Berrick Salome, Brightwell, Britwell Prior, Britwell Salome, Chalgrove, Chinnor, Crowell, Cux-ham, Easington, Emmington, Eweime, Haseley (Great), Ib-stone, Kingsey-part of (Tythrop), Lewknor, Lewknor Uphill, Nettlebed, Newington, Nuffield, Pishill, Pryton, Shirburn, Stokenchurch, Stoke Talmage, Swyncombe, Sydenham, Warborough, Warpsgrove, Watlington, Weston (South), Wheatfield; Abingdon, municipal borough (the part in Oxfordshire); Henley-on-Thames, municipal borough.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyOxfordshire 
Ecclesiastical parishHenley-upon-Thames St. Mary 
HundredBinfield 
Poor Law unionHenley 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Oxfordshire online.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Henley on Thames from the following:


Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Oxfordshire is available online


Maps

Online maps of Henley on Thames are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Oxfordshire newspapers online:


Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Oxfordshire, 1566, 1574 &1634 are available on the Heraldry page.