Ambrosden, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Ambrosden, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire. The village stands near the river Ray, 2½ miles SE by S of Bicester, which is the nearest railway station. Its name is supposed to have been derived from Ambrosius Aurelius, the British Merlin, who encamped here during the siege of Alcester by the Saxons. Denton was the name of the lord of the manor at Ambrosden in the 16th century. In the year 1604, the manor having been some time previously purchased by Margaret Whethill, it was left by her to Sir Thomas Mildmay, of Chelmsford, Essex. In 1673 Sir William Glynne, first baronet of that name, purchased the estate, abandoned the old manor house, and built Ambrosden House on the rising ground near the church. The estate after this was bought by the Turners (later the name "became Page-Turner). Sir Edward Turner, Baronet, was "of Ambrosden House, Oxfordshire," when created a baronet in 1733. The second baronet, Sir Edward Turner, erected a larger house on the site of that built by Sir W. Glynne, and laid out Ambrosden Park, which is situated in the NW portion of the parish. Ambrosden House was taken down entirely in 1777 by Sir Gregory Page-Turner. The parish includes also the hamlets of Blackthorn and Arncott. It has a post office under Bicester, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 605; population of the civil parish, 168; of the ecclesiastical, 653. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; yearly value, £350 with residence. The church (which stands on the site of a smaller one which dated probably from early in the 12th century) was begun in the 13th and completed in the 15th century. When dedicated it was named after the Virgin Mary. The style of architecture is Decorated Early English. There is a Wesleyan chapel at Arncott, and a Congregational chapel at Blackthorn. Bishop Kennet, the author of "Parochial Antiquities," was for some time vicar of Ambrosden.

Administration

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

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ambrosden from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ambrosden (St. Mary))

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Ambrosden 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 Oxfordshire newspapers online:

• Oxford Journal
• Banbury Advertiser
• Banbury Guardian
• Oxford University and City Herald
• Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette
• Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette
• Oxford Times
• Banbury Beacon
• Ossett Observer

Visitations Heraldic

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