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The village of Over and Nether Kiddington is situated on the A34 trunk road
north of Woodstock, and the two parts are divided in the wooded valley by the
river Glyme.
The village has not altered significantly since Domesday. There are only four
new houses, built by the local council in the 1920s.
The population is also fairly static. In 1066 it was 173. In 1951 it was 100,
and at the present time it is about 110.
The village was always on the toll road between Oxford and Birmingham. The
largest house near the main road, still known as The Chequers, was originally
a coaching inn, where the Worcester Coach, the London Mail and the Blenheim
called. The building close to the house was the blacksmiths and wheelwrights
shop.
In the 1940s this building was given to the village on a 99 year lease by the
late Squire, Mr Henry Melville Gaskell. The village people raised the money,
with the help of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, to convert the
building into a very useful village hail. Unfortunately due to rising costs and
essential improvements that were required, it is no longer used.
Close by The Chequers is a stone archway, which until after the Second World War
housed The Tap. This was the water supply for the village. The water was
carried in buckets to all parts of the village, including the council houses. On
the other side of the busy A34, opposite The Chequers, is the village post
office and shop.
The village is composed of four blocks of typical Cotswold stone cottages, some
dated 1844. On the right hand side is Gate Farm, possibly connected with the
toll gate, and the only thatched cottage now remaining in the village.
In Nether Kiddington, Kiddington Hall is situated on rising ground and
overlooking the river Glyme and the lake. It is a great house with dormer
windows and lantern roof. The grounds were designed by Capability Brown. The
stable complex once housed broughams, governess carts and a dog cart, which
were used to fetch and carry all things necessary to the running of a large
house. A 1911 Daimler and various horses and ponies were also housed, while
above were rooms for the stud groom and stable lads. These rooms have now been
converted into a conference centre more suitable to this computer age.
Close by the Hail stands the strong square-towered 14th century church. There
are stained glass windows to the memory of Henry Lomax Gaskeil and his wife
Alice. The Gaskell family lived at the Hall from 18551953. There is a brass of
Walter Goodere, a 16th century rector of Kiddington, on the west wall. North of
the church is a stone-built house which was once the priests house, now
converted to two workers cottages. Until after the Second World War we had a
rector of our own, who resided in the rectory near the entrance to the Hall.
Outside the churchyard stands a very attractive 16th century dovecote.
Turning left at the Old Rectory you pass two modernised 18th century farm
cottages. A little further on, at a spot known by the locals as Wills Grave, a
cross used to be cut in the grass verge where the last man convicted of sheep
stealing was hanged.
The estate village used to consist of the park and woodlands, Park Farm and
seven other farms, farmed by tenant farmers. Of these only one, White House
Farm, is still farmed by a tenant farmer, the others are now farmed by the
estate.
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