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The parish of Marston, as distinct from New Marston in the city of Oxford,
includes not only the old village but many new houses to the north, south and
east, built since the late 1930s. Before then things were very different and
access to North Oxford was by path along the river Cherwell or by the
hand-operated Marston Ferry, and to Headington by an ancient footpath along the
line of Saxon Way. In fact Marston was almost as isolated as it had been for
hundreds of years.
The present lines of the village street and Back Lane indicate the layout from
earliest times. Each copyholding tenant of the manor had a strip of land running
at right angles to the village street, many with still-existing stone-lined
wells which collect water from below the gravel. Mains water did not come till
the late 1920s and main drainage in 1933. Beyond Back Lane each copyholder had
strips of land in the communal fields Colterne, Sutton and Marsh, and the use
of the Cow Pasture. Brookfield, where the allotments now are, was attached to
the demesne farm, Court Place. In some places the ridges and furrows can still
be seen.
The Civil War and siege of Oxford put an end to the open field cultivation.
Parliamentary troops under General Fairfax were billeted in the village.
Earthworks were made in the fields and some time between 1646 and 1674 the
fields were divided and enclosed by quickset hedges into pastures and closes.
The surrender of the Royalist forces was arranged in the Mansion House, then
owned by Unton Croke, a lawyer. This had been built about 1622 on the site of a
previous house belonging to his wife, Anne Hore. It stands at the north end of
the village in Mill Lane. After a period of decay in the late 18th and early
19th centuries, when it housed Napoleonic War prisoners and then paupers, it was
altered and divided into the two present houses, Cromwell House and Manor House.
The yeoman farmers who took over the newly enclosed fields in the late 17th
century, built, along the village street, substantial stone houses of the long
house type, probably thatched. Each had its original strip or strips of orchard
and garden and one or more of the outlying fields where they reared cattle, to a
lesser extent sheep, and grew hay and corn. The cows would be brought back to
the farms in the village for milking, along the wide grassy, very muddy street
with its bordering ditch and ponds. This was still happening in the 1950s though
the road was better and the ditch was underground. There were also many very
small thatched cottages of one or two rooms which have disappeared in living
memory, but some later brick and slate of the one up, one down variety have
been modernised and fetch high prices. These used to house farm labourers, often
with large families. The five pubs nicely spaced through the village must have
provided social life, at least for the men.
With the decline in farming and the improvement of roads, Oxford people who
valued the countryside peace moved out, a process which has rapidly increased.
More new houses have been built and residents now include many professional
people, including university dons. One of the very distinguished was Lord Florey
of penicillin fame, who shared the Nobel prize for Medicine in 1945 and whose
memorial is in the church porch.
St Nicholas church has had a succession of splendid vicars, notably Rev John
Hamilton Mortimer 19041952, and later Rev Paul Rimmer 19591990. Mr Mortimer
was a great benefactor to the village. He bought John Honours builders
workshop to make the village reading room, where the Mortimer Memorial Garden
now is with its trees, bulbs and wild flowers. He also gave land for the
recreation ground beside the Mortimer Hall.
The present beautiful church building includes a transitional Norman nave, 15th
century additions, a 17th century pulpit and memorials to the Croke family. In
1989, a Queen Anne Royal Arms was revealed above the chancel arch.
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