Pusey, Berkshire
Historical Description
Pusey, a village and a parish in Berks, in the Vale of White Horse, 5 miles N by E of Challow station on the G.W.R., and 5 E by N of Faringdon. Post town, Faringdon; money order and telegraph office, Buckland. Acreage of parish, 1040; population, 127. There is a parish council of five members. The manor was known to the Saxons as Pefesige; was given by Canute to the family of Pusey; and with Pusey House, a plain mansion of stone erected about I the middle of the 18th century, belongs now to the Bouverie-Pusey family. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £153 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church was rebuilt about 1764, and is a cruciform building of stone in the style of the Renaissance. It has some interesting tombs and memorials.
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 | Pusey All Saints | |
| Hundred | Ganfield | |
| Poor Law union | Farringdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1661.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is a cruciform building of stone in the Renaissance style, and consists of chancel, nave, transepts, west porch and a western bell gable containing 2 bells: it was rebuilt solely at the expense of Mr. John Allen Pusey, who died in 1753: on the south side is a memorial window to the Hon. Philip Bouverie Pusey, who died 14th April, 1828, and to others of the family; and there are two other stained windows; in the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Doggett and his wife, dated 1480; and in the south transept there is a fine marble monument with portrait effigies by Scheemaker to Jane (Bouverie), wife of John Allen Pusey esq. who died in 1742, besides memorials to the Dunches of Little Wittenham and Pusey: in the churchyard is a tomb bearing an inscribed brass to Richard Pusey or Pesey, ob. 2nd August, 1655, and Maria his widow, ob. 30th June, 1656; and one to the Thomas family of Wantage: on the exterior wall of the chancel is a quaint inscription to William White, ob. 10th May, 1655, and on the floor of the chancel an inscription to another William White "who began to live that is died," May 31st, 1678: there are 90 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Pusey 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 Pusey from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Pusey (All Saints))
- 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 Pusey 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.