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A long, straggling Street with buildings of various styles, periods and
materials is the first impression of the Bartons gained by the passing motorist.
To the discerning eye, to the explorer of half hidden lanes, and certainly to
the inhabitants, there is much more to these communities of about 1,700 people.
There are three villages, Middle and Westcote, virtually joined, and Steeple
Barton, quite distinct, approached by country lanes. From Saxon times Steeple
Barton supplied the royal manor at Woodstock with food and, later, Osney Abbey.
It has a skyline-dominating church and its few houses are pleasingly set in what
is now a very small hamlet. The deep-cut narrow road, green lanes and meandering
tracks indicate its antiquity. Humps in the fields are remains of a once
sizable village, largely abandoned after the ravages of the Black Death. Traces
of the old mill and dried up fish ponds tell of a very different past.
Westcote Barton, another old settlement, has an impressive small church and
attractive stone cottages, particularly in Fox Lane which leads to a ford on the
Dorn. The brook was the main water supply, carried by hand to houses as much as
a mile away, until the mid-1930s.
Middle Barton (the name Barton means an outlying farm) was settled by
post-plague immigrants from Steeple Barton and those taking advantage of the
medieval road from Bicester (now the B4030). A population explosion came in the
18th and 19th centuries when enterprising individuals, lacking opportunity
elsewhere or unhappy with squire or parson, moved in, erecting cottages and
smallholdings on the road verges of North Street, in no particular style and
facing in different directions. There are older, attractive stone cottages from
the 16th and 17th centuries in the parallel South Street. Never an estate
village, but an open village, it was independent of any squire and people
enjoyed the freedom to build and live as they pleased.
In the main road there is a farm and adjoining field with grazing animals, of
perennial interest to villagers walking by. Here is a reminder of the
agricultural emphasis of the past. There is still a working farrier, though the
horses he shoes now are for riding. Few villagers today are farm workers or
associated with agriculture and a great variety of professions and occupations
is now represented in the population.
Unlike some of its more picturesque neighbours, the Bartons have relatively few
weekend-only occupied dwellings and so have retained more of the character of a
lively, working community. This is largely due to the development of modern
housing estates. Young families have ensured a flourishing primary school, the
survival of two shops and a garage.
The Bartons are said to be known for the friendliness and independence of
character of the villagers. Until the recent increase in prosperity, life was
very hard for many. Even so the Ruridecanel magazine for 1923 describes Steeple
Barton as the healthiest parish for many a mile. Today there are energetic
nonagenarians taking long walks, tending the garden and recently playing the
organ for church services. Independence of spirit was shown by the small Quaker
settlement; the graveyard may still be seen. Methodism flourished and the only
church in Middle Barton (far the largest of the villages) is the Methodist
chapel in South Street, one of the few remaining village chapels in North
Oxfordshire.
Barton Abbey, at Steeple Barton, is the big house (it was never an abbey). In
part 16th century but substantially Victorian, it was rebuilt (and named) by the
Halls, the brewing family. Since 1925 house and estate have been owned by the
Flemings, who have continued the tradition of generous support to the villages.
Nearby is St Marys church with a fine 15th century tower and interesting
memorials and carvings. The smaller Westcote Barton church is unusual in its
dedication to St Edward the Confessor and entitlement to the wearing of red
cassocks by the choir. Much of the building, on the site of a Saxon church, is
15th century.
The Bartons are in gently undulating country, well wooded, with many smallish
fields enclosed by hedges, some of which are estimated to be 800 years old.
There are numerous field paths, trackways and narrow lanes. Field and other
names are of much interest, Purgatory and Hardroad Hill (now Kiddington Road)
for example.
Present and past are closely inter-related in the Bartons. Much has been lost
but finds are made of medieval pottery and ancient tools in gardens and old
out-buildings. Only the old, written records and photographs remain to remind
one of the once flourishing Horticultural Shows and Friendly Society activities.
Church fetes however are still held in the grounds of Barton Abbey. The strange
and ancient mummers play of Westcote Barton was last performed about a century
ago and only a sketchy text survives.
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