ICKFORD
Iforde (xi cent.); Ycford, Hicford, Hitford, Ikeford, Ickeforde (xii–xiv cent. and after).
The parish of Ickford covers 1,249 acres, of which
146 are arable and 817 permanent grass. (fn. 1) The chief
crops grown are wheat and beans. The soil and subsoil are clay. The entire parish lies low, the highest
part, which is very little over 200 ft. above the ordnance datum, being in the north. The village lies
mainly round the junction of the chief roads, which
meet a little south of the centre of the parish. The
central portion is sometimes known as Great Ickford
or Church Ickford, while the part lying further eastward is Little Ickford. The first name occurs in the
14th century, (fn. 2) but that of Church Ickford does not
appear until the 16th century. (fn. 3) The church of
St. Nicholas stands at the west end of the village, which
contains a few buildings of the 16th and 17th centuries, mostly of timber and brick with thatched or
tiled roofs. The rectory, which is mainly of brick
with a tiled roof, is possibly of late 16th-century date,
but seems to have been much altered in the next
century. Church Farm is an 18th-century house
incorporating some fragments of an earlier building.
At Little Ickford, which lies to the south-east of
the village, are several other old houses and cottages.
Manor Farm is a half-timber building of the late
16th century, added to and altered in 1675 and again
about 1700; many original features remain, including
two panelled rooms. A Baptist chapel, dating from
1825, stands in the road leading to Little Ickford.
The outlying fields of the parish are liable to floods
both from the River Thame and the stream which
forms the north and west boundary of the parish.
A bridge across the Thame existed here as early as
1237, since in that year Walter de Burgh was ordered
to provide the keeper
of Ickford Bridge
with an oak from
Brill (Brohull)
Wood for repairs. (fn. 4)
The present bridge,
which carries the
road from Ickford
to Tiddington, is a
stone structure of
three elliptical
arches. The triangular starlings on
each side of the
northern pier continue upwards to
the parapets and
form recesses. In
the recess on the
east side of the
bridge are two
stones, the southern
one inscribed '1685,
Here ends the
county of Oxon,'
and the northern
one 'Here beginneth the county of Bucks, 1685.'
Wodebrugge and Widebrugge are mentioned in the
13th century. (fn. 5)
The dramatic poet William Joyner alias Lede lived
at Ickford 'in a devout condition' in the 17th
century (fn. 6) ; his great-nephew, Thomas Phillips, biographer of Cardinal Pole, was born here in 1708. (fn. 7)
There is no Inclosure Act for the parish.
The following 13th-century place-names occur in
Ickford: Stanfordpons, Brokforlang, Penygkoke, Dol
mede, Goce, Holewebroc, Holerodacres, and Maseforlang. (fn. 8)
Manors
In 1086 Miles Crispin held 4 hides
in ICKFORD; the name of the owner
before the Conquest does not appear. (fn. 9)
The manor afterwards formed part of the honour of
Wallingford, (fn. 10) and this overlordship is last mentioned
in 1627. (fn. 11) The tenant in 1086 was Richard, (fn. 12) who
also held of the same overlord in Chearsley (q.v.),
with which this part of Ickford descended for some
time. In 1226 the guardians of Geoffrey de Appleton
seem to have held Ickford, (fn. 13) and his name appears
as witness to a charter here, (fn. 14) apparently before the
year 1235, when Thomas de Appleton held a fee in
Ickford and Chearsley (fn. 15) (q.v.). The Ickford portion,
assessed at half a fee, passed at the death of Thomas
de Appleton before 1284 (fn. 16) to his son Walter, (fn. 17) who
held as late as 1302–3. (fn. 18) In 1313 William son of
John de Appleton was lord. (fn. 19) Soon after this date—before 1316, in fact (fn. 20) —the rights of lordship appear
to have been ceded to the atte Water family, who
were under-tenants of the Appletons here (fn. 21) as
early as 1284–6. (fn. 22)
The Rectory, Ickford
William atte Water, who held this land at his death
in 1313, (fn. 23) also held other lands in Ickford, to the
value of half a fee, of another overlord (see Grestein
Abbey Manor), and both estates evidently amalgamated to form GREAT ICKFORD MANOR, (fn. 24)
which was alienated before 1346 by his son and heir
John atte Water (fn. 25) to John, Lord Grey of Rotherfield. (fn. 26)
The latter made a life grant of a messuage and 47 acres
in Ickford, to be held for the annual rent of a rose,
to John atte Water, with reversion to the Greys. (fn. 27)
In 1379 the manor was held by the heirs of John de
Grey, (fn. 28) son of the above. (fn. 29) It is not very clear
which members of the family enjoyed the property
for the next hundred years, but apparently, after the
failure of the male heirs of John de Grey in 1400–1, (fn. 30)
it reverted to a younger branch, descendants of a
younger son of Robert de Grey, kt., (fn. 31) grandfather
of the John de Grey who obtained Ickford Manor.
Their representative, Thomas Danvers, (fn. 32) certainly
held in Ickford in 1489 (fn. 33) ; his heir was his brother
William, afterwards Sir William Danvers, kt., who
died seised of Ickford Manor in 1504, leaving his son
John as heir. (fn. 34) At the death of the latter in 1508
the manor, which was then worth £5 10s. per annum,
passed to his son John, (fn. 35) who died a minor in 1517,
leaving four sisters as heirs. (fn. 36) One of these, Mary,
died unmarried soon after. (fn. 37) Another, Elizabeth,
with her husband Thomas Cave, (fn. 38) afterwards held
land in Ickford, (fn. 39) but the main manor evidently came
to the youngest sister Dorothy, who held it with her
husband Nicholas Hubaud in 1532. (fn. 40) She survived
her husband and died in 1559, leaving a son John. (fn. 41)
It does not appear that she
held Ickford at the time of
her death, and it may have
passed before that date to
Thomas Tipping, (fn. 42) who in
1585 made a settlement of it
on his son George, then about
to marry Dorothy Borlase. (fn. 43)
Thomas died in 1601. (fn. 44)
George held until his death
in 1627, (fn. 45) when he was succeeded by his grandson
Thomas, son of John Tipping. (fn. 46) Thomas, who was
afterwards knighted, held the
estate (fn. 47) until he died in 1693. (fn. 48) His son Thomas
was created a baronet in 1698, (fn. 49) and in 1703 obtained
an Act of Parliament to enable him to sell the manor
of Ickford. (fn. 50) After this date various portions of the
manor were enfranchised or the reversions sold, the
main part with the demesne lands becoming the
property of Sir Edmund Harrison, kt., (fn. 51) who died
in 1712. (fn. 52) In 1733 his son Fiennes Harrison died
also. (fn. 53) His sisters and heirs were Cecilia wife of
William Snell, Sarah wife of Joel Watson, Jane wife
of Matthias King, and Mary wife of Samuel Read (fn. 54) ;
the two latter families sold their share to the two
former. (fn. 55) In 1754 a fine of the manor was levied (fn. 56)
by William Snell and Cecilia, John Hood, husband
of their daughter Cecilia, (fn. 57) Joel Watson, Sir John
Danvers, bart., and Mary his wife, daughter of Joel
and Sarah Watson, (fn. 58) Cecilia Watson, another daughter,
and Mary King. Mary King appears to have quitclaimed her share, and Cecilia Watson, who married
Thomas Delaval, bequeathed hers to her niece Mary
Danvers. (fn. 59) This Mary Danvers, daughter and heir of
Sir John Danvers and Mary, married the Hon.
Augustus Richard Butler, (fn. 60) and in 1792–3 they levied
a fine of the 'manor' of Ickford, (fn. 61) though they did
not apparently hold the entire property. They
conveyed their estate to Henry Woolhouse Disney
Roebuck, (fn. 62) who died in 1796, (fn. 63) and whose son
Henry Disney Roebuck (fn. 64) held about 273 acres in
1831, at which date William Hood, son of John and
Cecilia, held about 250 acres with the manor and a
fishery, a division of the estate between himself and
Roebuck having been made. (fn. 65) The Roebuck family
retained lands in the parish as late as 1869, (fn. 66) but
Hood's share seems to have passed to the Jacomb
family, who were his cousins, his mother's sister Mary
having married William Jacomb. (fn. 67) Thomas Jacomb
was lord in 1862–9, (fn. 68) and his trustees held in 1873. (fn. 69)
It passed before 1877 to J. W. Stephenson, who sold
it after 1895 to Arthur Parsons Guy. At his death
in 1912 his brother Mr. Frederick Parsons Guy
succeeded.
Tipping. Or a bend engrailed vert with three pheons or thereon.
Before the Conquest Ulf, a man of Earl Harold,
held a second manor which in 1086 belonged to the
Count of Mortain. (fn. 70) In 1377 overlordship rights
here were held by William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, (fn. 71) who succeeded to some of the Mortain lands. (fn. 72)
In 1086 this manor was held of the count as
6 hides by the monks of his abbey of Grestein in
Normandy. (fn. 73) A later confirmatory charter to the
abbey states that Ickford had been given to them by
Maud Countess of Mortain. (fn. 74) The abbey continued
to hold until the 14th century. (fn. 75) In 1359 lands here
are said to have been held of the priory of Wilming
ton in Sussex, (fn. 76) the English cell of the Norman
abbey.
Towards the end of the 12th century Bartholomew
de Ickford held lands in the parish, (fn. 77) probably as
tenant of Grestein, since his descendants certainly
held of the abbots. (fn. 78) Bartholomew was succeeded
by his son William. (fn. 79) Thomas de Ickford, son of
William, (fn. 80) was sued by the abbot in 1235 for
customs and services. (fn. 81) In 1254–5 the same Thomas
was found to hold the 6 hides of the abbot for a pair
of gauntlets. (fn. 82) Thomas, who still held in 1284–6, (fn. 83)
was succeeded by his son John, tenant in 1302–3. (fn. 84)
About this date the family appear under the name of
atte Water. (fn. 85) In 1313 William atte Water died seised
of a messuage, lands, and a fishery, which he held of
the abbot for half a knight's fee. (fn. 86) He was also in
possession of the Wallingford Honour lands, and
the two holdings appear to have been amalgamated,
descending henceforth to the same lords.
Members of the Ickford and Appleton families gave
lands in Ickford to the abbey of Godstow (fn. 87) and the
priory of St. Frideswide. (fn. 88) In the 14th century
the atte Waters gave to the priory of Bisham lands, (fn. 89)
afterwards called a manor, granted in 1540 to William
Burt. (fn. 90) This estate passed in
marriage to the Tipping family,
who, from 1585 onwards, held
the 'manors of Great and
Little Ickford.' (fn. 91) The abbey
of Bradwell also claimed lands
in Ickford by grant from the
atte Waters. (fn. 92)
Church
The church of
ST. NICHOLAS
consists of a chancel measuring internally 26 ft.
6 in. by 13 ft., nave 41 ft. by
13 ft., north aisle 6 ft. 6 in.
wide, south aisle 5 ft. 6 in.
wide, south porch, and west
tower 10 ft. 6 in. square.
The present building dates
in the main from about 1210,
but the north and south aisles
do not seem to have been added till some twenty
years later. The width of the south aisle appears to
have been governed by a south porch to the original
nave, the outer wall of which is preserved in part on
either side of the south doorway. The upper stage
of the tower assumed its present form in the 14th
century, and the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt
about the same time, probably on account of some
failure at the north-east angle. The south porch, though
much altered about 1600, is probably of the 15th century. Restorations were undertaken in 1856 and 1875,
and in 1907 the south side of the chancel was rebuilt
and other repairs done. The walling generally is of
limestone rubble and the principal roofs are tiled.
The chancel is lighted from the east by a threelight 14th-century window, with a traceried pointed
head and image brackets on either side, and from the
north by two original lancets, the western of which
has been reset further west to give room for the large
Tipping monument, removed from the north aisle in
1906. At the south-east is a square-headed window
of two trefoiled lights of about 1350 said to have
been brought from elsewhere. To the west of the
central buttress of the south wall is an original lancet,
and between this and the west end of the wall are a
13th-century doorway, and a cinquefoiled 15th-century light with a depressed head. The lower part of
this last window apparently formed a low-side window
and has two sills inside, much restored. Beneath
the western lancet on the north side is a blocked lowside window, and east of this a recess which seems
to indicate the former existence of a squint. In the
south wall, in the usual position, is a 13th-century
piscina with a credence shelf. The communion table
is of the 17th century, but now supports a mediaeval
altar slab found at the east end of the north aisle.
The chancel arch is pointed and of two moulded
orders towards the nave. It is of original early 13thcentury date, but appears to have been considerably
altered at a later period; the south jamb has been
cut away on the east side, apparently to make room
for the aumbry between it and the south-east window
of the chancel, and a moulded corbel inserted to
carry the arch. The jambs have attached circular
shafts with early 13th-century capitals, that on the
north being scalloped. Externally there are stringcourses of original date on the north and south walls,
which leap the heads of the lancets and form their
labels; these have been cut for the later windows,
and beneath the sills of the lancets in each wall is a
second string-course, interrupted by the low-side
windows.
Plan of Ickford Church
The nave arcades are each of three bays, and are
contemporary with the aisles, with the exception of
the eastern arch on the south, which appears to have
been rebuilt. The arches are of two orders supported
by circular columns and responds, all having plain
capitals, except the western column of the south arcade,
which has a foliated capital.
The north aisle is lighted from the north by a
mid-14th-century square-headed window of three
cinquefoiled lights, which has been altered at a later
date, a narrow 13th-century lancet with 16th-century
rear-arch, possibly re-used from the original nave, a
round-headed lancet set high in the wall, also perhaps
re-used, and a 13th-century coupled lancet repaired
in the 16th century. In the east and west walls are
coupled lancets, that on the east probably a 16thcentury insertion, while that on the west, though
originally of the 13th century, has been much restored. Between the third and fourth windows is
an original round-headed doorway with a continuous
chamfer.
The south aisle is lighted from the south by a
four-light square-headed window, probably of the
16th century, near the east end of the wall, the
head of which has been much restored, and by
a modern three-light window at the opposite end
of the wall, above which in the roof is a modern
dormer window. The east and west windows are
single lancets; the west window is modern, but the
head, which was found in the south wall during the
restoration of 1906, is of original 13th-century date.
Above it is a small 13th-century quatrefoil. Between
the two windows in the south wall is the south
doorway, which is probably contemporary with the
building of the chancel and nave, and once formed
the outer doorway of a south porch. The head has
been rebuilt in the 15th century; the inner order is
four-centred, and the outer order, which is pointed,
rises above its apex. The original pointed head has
apparently been re-used as the head of the outer
doorway of the porch added in the 15th century.
The jambs are of two orders with detached shafts
having moulded bases and annulets and carved and
moulded capitals. The portion of walling in which
the doorway is set is probably the south wall of the
first porch; two fragments of the weather-mould of
its roof can still be seen over the doorway. At the
south-east is a damaged piscina contemporary with
the aisle, and to the east of the south doorway is a
stoup, much renewed, but partly of the 14th century.
A niche at the east end with a trefoiled head probably dates from the 15th century.
The tower, which is crowned by a saddleback roof,
contains three stories, but is divided externally only
by the string-course beneath the windows of the bellchamber. The tower arch is pointed and of two
chamfered orders with small detached jamb shafts,
having a scalloped capital on the north and a foliated
capital on the south; the base of the southern jamb
shaft has been patched with part of an octagonal
column. In the west wall of the ground story is an
original lancet. The story above was originally lighted
by round-headed lights on the north, west, and south,
but only that on the north now remains unblocked.
In the east wall is a modern loop formed in a doorway
which must have originally opened into the nave
roof. The topmost stage is lighted on the west by a
pair of tall lights with trefoil heads and jambs of two
orders externally, the outer orders having acutely
pointed heads inclosed by labels and rising considerably above the apices of the inner heads. In each
of the remaining three sides are pointed 14th-century
windows of two trefoiled ogee lights with traceried
heads; on the south and east the original 13thcentury windows can be traced. Three fragments of
worked stones preserved in the chancel probably
belonged to these windows.
The chancel roof is of the 14th century and has
trussed collar-beams and rafters. The nave roof, which
is modern, has been lowered, but the weathering of
the original roof is visible on the east side of the tower.
The pitch of the roof and gable of the south porch
has been raised in modern times. The timbers are
mostly ancient; a boss on the southern tie-beam is
carved with a Tudor rose, while reset on the modern
northern tie-beam is another original boss carved as
a lion's face.
The font has a plain round bowl and may be of
the 13th century. The pulpit and sounding board,
the latter enriched with a guilloche ornament, are of
the 17th century. In the nave are some plain 16thcentury seats. The gallery at the west end has a
front of 17th-century panelling. Some 14th-century
glass with foliated patterns remains in the tracery of
the east window of the chancel. There are some
modern shields and one ancient shield bearing the
following charge: barry or and azure over all a
bend gules. Some quarries of the same date survive
in a north aisle window.
There is a large monument on the north side of the
chancel to Thomas Tipping (d. 1601) and Margaret
his wife. It is of chalk or clunch with columns painted
in imitation of black marble, and contains kneeling
figures of their four sons and five daughters. At the
south-west of the chancel is a floor slab to Edmund
Lawrence (d. 1645), and at the west end of the
nave is a slab to Ann wife of Thomas Coles
(d. 1695). A mural tablet in the south aisle commemorates Thomas Phillips (d. 1704) and Mary his
wife (d. 1681).
There are three bells and a sanctus. The treble
has letters selected at random cast upon it by way of
an inscription (fn. 93) ; the second is inscribed 'Chandler
made me 1716'; and the tenor 'Let your hope be
in the Lord 1623.' The sanctus bell is by W. Taylor,
1847.
The plate includes a cup of 1661 and a standing
paten of the same date, the cup inscribed, 'Ex dono
Gilberti (Sheldon) Episcopi Londini nup. Rectoris
de Ickford in Com. Bucks'; and an 18th-century
paten.
The registers begin in 1561.
Advowson
Reference to Ickford Church occurs
first in 1194–5, when Helias son of
Goce, in the tithing of William son
of Goce, was accused of robbing the 'priest of Ickford,'
for which offence he was fined. (fn. 94) It appears to have
been attached to Miles Crispin's land, as it was held
by the Appletons in 1226. (fn. 95) In 1262 Thomas
de Appleton granted the advowson to Thomas de
Valognes and his heirs to be held of the Appleton
heirs for 1d. rent and foreign service. (fn. 96) The advowson descended with the manor of Shabbington (q.v.)
to Thomas de Valognes's daughter and heir Joan, wife
of Robert de Grey, kt., and passed at her death, about
1313, to Joan, the daughter and heir of their dead
son Thomas, upon whom a settlement had been
made by Robert de Grey and confirmed by Joan
his widow in 1297. (fn. 97) The younger Joan married
Guy de Breton, (fn. 98) who presented to the church in
1318 and again in 1333. (fn. 99) In 1387 the advowson
was held by Thomas Merington, William Wolfe and
others, who had purchased it of John son and heir of
William de Breton. (fn. 100)
Presentation was made by the king in 1405, (fn. 101) and
in 1412 by John Clayrell, (fn. 102) who apparently left
daughters as heirs, as in 1419 Thomas Wodelawe and
Margaret his wife quitclaimed a moiety of the advowson, subject to a life interest to be retained by Margaret, to Richard Quartermain. (fn. 103) This Richard was
the grandson of Thomas Quartermain, who died in
1342, by Katharine his wife, daughter and heir of
Guy de Breton and Joan above mentioned. (fn. 104) Richard
Quartermain presented to the church in 1458, (fn. 105) and
after his death the advowson probably passed to his
sister and co-heir Maud, wife of John Bruley, or her
descendants. (fn. 106) Their daughter and heir Joan had
married John Danvers, whose eldest son Thomas
became his grandmother's heir, (fn. 107) and held property in
Ickford in 1489. (fn. 108) His brother, Sir William Danvers,
died seised of the advowson and the manor, (fn. 109) with
which the advowson descended until the sale by the
Tipping family in 1703. (fn. 110) After this date it was held
separately from the manor by various persons, presentation being made by John Beauchamp in 1728, by
Evans Pitt in 1737, and by Hester or Esther Newell,
widow, in 1747 and 1775. (fn. 111) The patronage was
obtained before the end of the 18th century by Richard
Townsend, (fn. 112) in whose family it remained until after
1890, when it passed to the Turner family, who still
present to the rectory. (fn. 113)
Thomas de Valognes received half a virgate of land
with the advowson in 1262, (fn. 114) and five messuages,
3 virgates 19 acres of land and 5 acres of meadow were
held with this property in 1313. (fn. 115) In 1316 Guy de
Breton is recorded as holding Ickford (fn. 116) with John
atte Water, lord of the manor, from which account
it seems possible that a manor of the rectory at one
time existed.
In 1430 William Hebbenge, the rector, received a
papal dispensation to hold for five years another
benefice with Ickford. (fn. 117)
Among other rectors of Ickford may be named
Gilbert Sheldon, who later became Bishop of London
in 1660 and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1663. (fn. 118)
The incumbent in 1632 was Calibute Downing,
author of several treatises and sermons, advocating
amongst other things the taking up of arms against
the king in defence of religion. (fn. 119)
Charity
Thomas Phillips, by deed poll
6 January 1697, charged lands in the
parish of Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, with
the yearly payment of £10. By a scheme of the
Charity Commissioners of 3 March 1911 the annuity
is used to provide clothing for three poor men and
three poor women.