Eynsham, or Ensham, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Eynsham, or Ensham, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire. The village stands on the river Isis, 4— miles E by & from Witney, and has a station on the G.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Oxford. It was-known to the Saxons as Egonesham; is said to have been a-British town before the times of the heptarchy; was a seat of royalty and the scene of a wittenagemot in the time of Etheldred the Unready; had a Benedictine abbey, founded in 1005 by Ethelmar or Aylmar, Earl of Cornwall; and figured at later periods as a maiket-town. The abbey was given at the dissolution to the Stanleys, and the only part of it now remaining is a window in the parsonage garden. The-parish comprises 5446 acres; population of the civil paribh½ 1998; of the ecclesiastical, 1838. Ensham Hall is a large mansion standing in a park of 700 acres. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £210. The-church is ancient, and has a monument of Dr Rogers, and near it is an ancient cross. The interior of the church was restored in 1894. There are Baptist, Catholic Apostolic½ Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and some useful charities. Barnard Gate is a hamlet 2 miles WNW of the village.

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 Eynsham, or Ensham from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Eynsham, or Ensham 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.