Appleton, Berkshire
Historical Description
Appleton, a village and a parish in Berkshire. The village stands near the Upper Thames, 5 miles NW of Abingdon station on the G.W.R., and has a post and money order office under Abingdon, which is the telegraph office. The parish includes also the township of Eaton. Acreage, 2077; population, 532. The Fettiplaces had an old seat here, which is now reduced to a fragment, with remains of a moat The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £330 with residence, in the gift of Magdalen College, Oxford. The church is a plain stone building in the Early English style, the chancel being 15th century. The tower contains a fine peal of ten bells. The nave was restored in 1883. The church has a Jacobean tomb of Sir J. Fettiplace, and a brass of a skeleton (1518). There is also a small Wesleyan chapel. The manor house is supposed to have been built in the reign of Henry II.
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 | Appleton St. Lawrence | |
| Hundred | Ock | |
| Poor Law union | Abingdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1569.
Churches
Church of England
St. Lawrence (parish church)
The church of St. Lawrence is a plain edifice of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisle, south chapel, north and south porches, and an embattled western tower containing 10 bells and a clock striking the hours: in the church are several memorials to the families of the former lords of the manor, including one to Sir Joseph Fettiplace, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Woodstock, in 1575, during one of her "progresses" and died in 1593; there is also a brass, with emaciated effigy in a shroud, to John Midrington, gent. 1518, and his wife Dorothe, who after his death, "toke relygyon in ye monastary of Syon:" the church was partially restored in 1883 at a cost of £676: there are 250 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Appleton with Eaton was in Abingdon Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Appleton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Appleton (St. Lawrence))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Appleton 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.