Wytham, Berkshire
Historical Description
Wytham, a parish in Berks, 2½ miles NNW of Oxford station on the G.W. R. It has a post omce under Oxford; money order and telegraph office, Oxford. Acreage, 1179; population of the civil parish, 225; of the ecclesiastical, 248. The manor, with all the land, belongs to the Earl of Abingdon. Wytham Abbey, the seat of the Earl of Abingdon, is an ancient mansion, originally erected in the reign of Henry VI., but now chiefly in the Elizabethan style. It contains a fine collection of pictures. Wytham Wood has an area of about 700 acres. A castle of the Saxon kings stood on Wytham Hill. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £130 with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Abingdon. The church, rebuilt in 1811, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, N porch, and an embattled western tower.
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 | Wytham All Saints | |
| Hundred | Hormer | |
| Poor Law union | Abingdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1557.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints, first built by the monks of Abingdon abbey about 1480, was rebuilt in 1811 by Montagu, 5th Earl of Abingdon (d. 16 Oct. 1854), who removed here and most carefully incorporated in the new structure and its surroundings some of the very interesting fragments of Old Cumnor Hall; the present building is of stone in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 3 bells: on the south side are three windows of the Late Decorated period, brought from Old Cumnor Hall; in the church are brass effigies of a man in armour and his wife, c. 1455, but much mutilated; the inscription is lost, but the figures are supposed to represent either Richard de Wygtham and Alice (Daunsey) his wife, or her daughter Agnes and her husband, William Browning; there is also a monument to Edward Purcell, gentleman usher to Charles II. and brother of Henry Purcell, the distinguished musical composer; the east window is stained and the windows on the north side retain glass roundels of Perpendicular date, figures of the Virgin and Saints, and some symbols; the porch is Late Perpendicular; the doorway of the west wall of the churchyard was removed here from Cumnor and has above it the legend; another doorway bears the date 1372, but this of doubtful accuracy: there are 120 sittings. The Rev. the Hon. Henry William Bertie D.C.L., V.D. and senior fellow of All Souls' College, who died 31 Dec. 1894, was buried here 3 Jan. 1895.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Wytham was in Abingdon Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Wytham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Wytham, or Whytham (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 Wytham 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.