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Up on the stony ridge of
the saucer of low hills surrounding Oxford, only five miles
north-east of that city, with all it has to offer, is Stanton St
John the Saxon stan-tun meaning homestead on stony ground and
St John perpetuating the name of the family who held the lordship of
the manor for 200 years from the 12th century. In the 16th century,
after years of dispute, the lordship passed to New College, which
still owns land in the surrounding countryside and many of the
village houses.
Several dwellings date back to the 16th century, although 21 of the
original dwellings were destroyed in 1793 in a fire which traversed
the narrow village street, fanned by wind and setting alight the
thatched roofs on either side. The unfortunate villagers were left
destitute by the disaster and were sustained largely by public
appeal. The devastation was rectified by building pairs of stone
houses, slate-roofed and set well back from the road some bearing
the New College coat of arms. This crest is repeated in the church,
the oldest and dominant building in the village, set in a beflowered
churchyard. The interior has much of interest carved bench ends of
human heads or grotesque animals, 13th and 14th century glass, and
further evidence of the link with New College through the crest
carved in the Jacobean pulpit and set into a window in the chancel.
Another window bears the arms of Robert Pinck, the last Warden of
the College to be rector of the parish, though his successors to the
end of the 18th century included Fellows of the College.
Robert Pinck DD was a devoted Royalist who suffered imprisonment in
1642 at the hands of the Parliamentary troops under Lord Saye and
Sele. He is remembered today in the village because of a bequest he
made in his will in 1647. He left 110 so that local children could
be helped to take up apprenticeships with tradesmen living outside
the parish. The money was invested and today young people may still
apply to the charitys trustees for help with such things as books
and tools.
The village also has reason to be grateful to Lady Elizabeth Holford
who was born here in 1650. She married a rich London merchant Henry
Harbin, and after his death married Sir William Holford. In her
will, dated 1717, she left 500 to be invested until the sum of 750
had accumulated, when it was to be used to build a charity school at
Stanton St John. Children from both Stanton St John and the
neighbouring village of Forest Hill were to be given instruction and
six boys and six girls to be provided with clothing and called Lady
Holfords scholars.
Across the road from the 13th century church of St John the Baptist
is Rectory Farm House. A plaque over the door says The birthplace
of John White, 15751648, Fellow of New College, Oxford, and chief
founder of the colony of Massachusetts, New England. John White was
the son of the tenant farmer, and 400 years later the house is still
lived in by the tenant farmer of New College. In 1647 he was
designated Warden of the College but declined the post because of
ill-health. He became rector of a church in Dorset, where he became
interested in sending out a colony to settle in Salem,
Massachusetts. The first church was called Daughter of John White
and is known as such to this day.
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