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Through the centuries Saxon, Norman, Plantagenet and Tudor hunters, all have
pursued the hart, hind and hare in the now drastically reduced metes and bounds
of the Wychwood Forest. William the Conqueror enjoyed such sport and set aside
some 68 forests in England for his royal chases. Of these, the Wychwood was one
of the four largest in the land. It is not surprising then that three
neighbouring villages took the name of this mighty domain - Ascott, Milton and
Shipton - all under Wychwood.
Shipton is an ancient village pleasantly situated on the Evenlode river. It was
a very important royal manor before Domesday and the church of St Mary the
Virgin may have been a minster in Saxon times.
If calling at Christmastide, look up to the arches decorated with
evergreen-covered battens, a custom still carried on from the early 1900s.
Sadly, in the churchyard the gravestones now stand around the wall, or lie flat
to form a path. Walk there in the spring and the snowdrops and daffodils will
dance for you.
Adjacent to the church is the now restored and resplendent Old Prebendal House,
which boasts as one of its 40-odd prebends John Foxe, author of The Book of
Martyrs. The core of this fine mellow stone building is mid 13th century with
later additions. It is now a beautifully appointed retirement home.
Shipton Court, which may have been the local manor house, is situated on the
High Street across from the cricket ground. It was built by Sir Rowland de Lacy
in 1603 and is one of the largest Jacobean houses in the country. An 18th
century couplet pays grudging tribute to three Cotswold families who seem to
have been to the manor born:
The Lacies, Tracies and Fettiplaces
Own all the manors, parks and chases.
A number of families now share the leasehold ownership of the Court and the
houses and cottages within its confines.
The village green was allotments until the late 1960s, then was bought for the
village by Colonel Stedall in memory of his wife. At the top of the green is the
war memorial and the fountain in memory of 17 Shipton people who perished at sea
on the Cospatrick in 1874 when emigrating to New Zealand. The beech tree was
planted in 1974 to commemorate 100 years from the sinking of the Cospatrick and
the closing of the post office, which had been in the Wiggins family since 1845.
It was the oldest-established post office in England and now it is the Old Post
House looking onto the green.
The beech tree is now a picture in spring and autumn and has grown big enough
for boys to climb and hide. Few know of the hours of work spent watering the
tree in the summers of 1975 and 1976 by Doctor Scott Senior, who first grew the
tree from a local seed, and Mr and Mrs V. Avery, who suffered a much punctured
garden hose as this had to cross Church Street to reach the tree, not to mention
floods in the lean-to when the hose came off the tap as cars went over it!
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