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A name like Duns Tew cannot fail to excite curiosity and its origin is the
subject of considerable speculation. It is thought that Tew means ridge, and
the village does lie on the North Aston fault, separating limestone and sands in
the south from the clay of the north, but there is not a ridge in the usual
sense of the word. Duns might come from an Anglo-Saxon called Dunn, perhaps a
landowner, and possibly living after the Conquest, as the full name does not
appear until the 13th century. Perhaps there is some connection with the names
of the other Tews, Great and Little Tew, but these villages are some four and
five miles distant.
Duns Tew is a very attractive little village with its stone cottages and winding
roads. It is well-loved and well-cared for, as is demonstrated by the fact that
it has several times won the Best Kept Village competition, including the Best
of the Winners category.
The church of St Mary Magdalene is an important centre in Duns Tew. Set in its
beautifully cared-for churchyard this medieval church has a healthy congregation
of all ages and has a thriving Sunday school. An army of flower arrangers,
cleaners and gardeners ensures the church itself is looked after. In 1985 an
appeal was launched to raise funds to restore the church roof, and
characteristically the whole village played a part. Favourite recipes were
collected for a village recipe book, one man ran in the London Marathon in 1987
in aid of the roof, the annual church fetes added funds and together with
personal donations, the village raised the total of 30,000.
Farming plays an important role in village life today, and there are now six
working farms, four of which are based on farmhouses in the village. Ivy Miall
remembers arriving at Lower Farm in 1929 when there was grass growing in the
middle of the road into the village. The farm did not have electricity until
1965, so they had to rely on big oil lamps with glass shades which were devils
to clean, although Ivy was proud to have a maid to help her, even though Lady
Dashwood (then lady of the manor) did not. She tells how she had to wash four
sets of hunting clothes sometimes three times a week for her husband and sons in
a copper boiler with a fire underneath. She used to dress her own poultry and
pigs, making her own chitterlings until just a few years ago. She used to gather
mushrooms out of the fields and sell them for 4d a pound, and she would use her
mushroom money to buy new willow pattern crockery to replace pieces that had
got broken during the year.
There are no good ghost stories relating to Duns Tew, but this is more than
compensated for by the fascinating story of Ann Green, a maidservant at Duns
Tew Manor. In December 1650 this young woman was committed to the sessions after
her dead baby had been discovered at the Manor, and she was found guilty of
murder. The father of the baby was the son of Sir Thomas Read, the then lord of
the manor; Ann had apparently resisted the young mans advances for some time.
After protesting her innocence, declaring the baby had been still-born, she was
hanged in Oxford Castle Yard. To accelerate her death some of her friends and
relations swung on her legs, and after half an hour, Ann was taken down.
However, when she was being prepared for dissection by Dr William Petty, the
anatomy professor, they saw signs of life, and on helping her recovery, by the
second day after the hanging, she started to talk a little. Five days later she
could walk with help. Not surprisingly, Ann Green became a celebrity and people
flocked to see her. She was later pardoned, the legal fees being paid for out of
donations from the public. Afterwards she went to stay with friends in Steeple
Barton (some two miles from Duns Tew) where she married and had three children.
She died aged 31.
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