Thame (St. Mary)

THAME (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Thame, county of Oxford, 13 miles (E.) from Oxford, and 44½ (N. W. by W.) from London; containing, with the hamlets of Priestend, North Weston, and Moreton, 3060 inhabitants, of whom 1177 are in New Thame township, 1134 in Old Thame, and 51 in the hamlet of Thame-Park. This town, which is evidently of Roman origin, is mentioned as a place of some importance at the commencement of the 10th century, when Wulfhere, King of Mercia, granted a charter dated "in the vill called Thames." In the year 970, Osketyl, Archbishop of York, died at Thame. It suffered much from the Danish invasions, particularly in 1010, and a fortification was erected here. At the Conquest it belonged to the Bishop of Lincoln, and till the reign of Edward VI. formed part of the extensive possessions of succeeding prelates, who conferred many benefits on the town, among which was the diverting through it the road that previously passed on its side. In 1138, a monastery for Cistercian monks was established at Thame-Park in honour of the Virgin Mary, the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was valued at £256. 13. 7.; the site is occupied by the mansion of Lady Wenman. About the time of Edward IV., an hospital for destitute persons was endowed with lands by Richard Quatremain, a member of a family of high repute. In the civil war of the 17th century, Thame was a centre of military operations, and experienced much consequent distress; during the late war with France it became one of the depôts for prisoners.

The town derives its name from its situation on a gentle declivity on the bank of the river Thame, which here separates the counties of Oxford and Bucks, and across which is a bridge of considerable length. It consists principally of one long and spacious street, with a convenient market-place in the centre, over which is the town-hall, a handsome and commodious building. The manufacture of lace is carried on, but the inhabitants are chiefly employed in husbandry. The market, which is of great antiquity, is on Tuesday, and is well supplied with corn and cattle; fairs are held on Easter-Tuesday, the Tuesday before Whit-Sunday, the first Tuesday in August, and a statute-fair on October 11th. The powers of the county debt-court of Thame, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Thame, and the parish of Illmire. The Living was anciently a prebend in the Cathedral of Lincoln, valued in the king's books at £82. 12. 3½., but impropriated and dissolved in 1547: it is now a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £18; net income, £170. The patronage belongs to the Slater family, and the impropriation to Lady Wenman: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1823. The church, built in 1138, is a large and handsome cruciform structure in the decorated English style, with an embattled tower rising from the intersection, supported on four massive pillars, and surmounted by an octagonal turret of nearly equal height. The interior, which in 1839 was thoroughly restored at an expense of £500, is entered by a stone porch with an elegant canopied niche, in which was formerly a statue of the tutelar saint. In the chancel is a tomb of white marble, to the memory of Lord Williams, with the recumbent effigies of himself and his lady in the costume of the time of Elizabeth; and against the south wall is a curious brass with a kneeling effigy of Sir John Clerke, of Weston, who, according to the legend, took prisoner Louis of Orleans, Duke of Longueville, in the reign of Henry VIII. The north transept is the burying place of the Dormer family, and the south transept the sepulchral chapel of the Quatremains; both contain handsome monuments.

Lord Williams, in 1558, bequeathed estates for the foundation of a free grammar school, which was built by his executors in 1574, near the church; and for the maintenance of a master and usher. Hampden, the patriot; Dr. Fell; Justice Sir George Croke; Pocock, the learned orientalist; King, Bishop of Chichester; Anthony a Wood, the antiquary; and the notorious John Wilkes, were educated in the establishment. A free school was instituted by bequests from the second Earl of Abingdon and others; the income is £26. Several small annuities have been left for apprenticing boys; and other benefactions, amounting to £150 per annum, for the poor. The union of Thame comprises thirtyfive parishes or places, containing a population of 15,413. A little north of the church are the remains of the prebendal house originally attached to the monastery at Thame-Park, and which, till 1837, consisted of nearly three sides of a quadrangle; in that year, Mr. Charles Stone converted the remains into a mansion-house, retaining the character of the ancient edifice, and in 1840 restored the chapel, at the east end of which is a triple lancet window circumscribed by a circular arch. George Hetheridge, an eminent Hebraist and Grecian in the reign of Elizabeth, and regius professor of Greek at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Lord Chief Justice Holt, were natives of the town.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.