Sources

A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 16. Originally published by Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2011.

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'Sources', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 16, (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2011) pp. 343-347. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol16/pp343-347 [accessed 25 March 2024]

Long title
Sources

In this section

SOURCES

The following note summarises the chief primary and secondary sources used for this volume. It should be read in conjunction with the List of Abbreviations.

Unpublished Sources and Maps

Oxford Repositories

Henley's extensive borough muniments (ranging in date from the 13th century to the 20th) are in Oxfordshire Record Office, now part of Oxfordshire History Centre. Key classes (BOR3) include guild, corporation and local board minute books; medieval and later property deeds; rentals; bridge records; charity and apprenticeship records; financial and legal records; manorial records, including court rolls; vestry, parish and poor relief records; and other miscellaneous material. The earliest minute books (1395–1543) are printed in Briers, Boro. Recs. Full listings are available at ORO and online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a. Additional material transferred from Henley town hall is temporarily catalogued (2010) as Acc. 4443 and Acc. 5905, and includes both borough and miscellaneous records, some of them relating to schools, charities, the Regatta, and the Chantry House. Other ORO material relating specifically to Henley includes schools records (S128); private deeds (e.g. in MSS dd Cooper and Caldecott); miscellaneous collections (e.g. P/207/N/1); and some printed sale catalogues. Uncatalogued records of the Congregationalist (Independent) meeting and the Green School are respectively listed as Acc. 4885 and Acc. 5636. Some relevant records relating to Thames navigation are in CH/N.

Several other ORO collections relate to both the town and the rural parishes. They include parish and church records (e.g. MSS Oxf. Dioc. and MSS Oxf. Archd. Oxon.); land taxes, victuallers' recognizances, and other quarter sessions records (QSD); wills and inventories (MSS Wills Oxon.); tithe and inclosure awards; district valuers' maps and schedules (DV); and some printed sales catalogues (below, printed sources). Specific collections include deeds relating to the Stapleton family of Greys Court (S); honor of Ewelme records (CH/E VI); Simeon and Weld estates (Vor., including Bix); Henley Rural District Council records (Henley RDC); and the Cooper and Caldecott collection.

Oxfordshire Studies (now merged with Oxfordshire History Centre) held parish register transcripts, microfilms of census enumerators' books (from TNA originals), photographic collections, and numerous newspaper cuttings, pamphlets, sales catalogues, and printed ephemera, relating both to the town and to the rural parishes. Other items included a photocopy of Annette Brakspear's unpublished 19th-century diary (1806–68), detailing various aspects of Henley life. The Oxfordshire Historic Environment Record (in Speedwell House) holds archaeological and some building data, including some architectural surveys by Ruth Gibson and other members of the Henley-on- Thames Archaeological and Historical Group. The holdings of all three repositories (including photographs) are partly searchable through Heritage Search, accessible from the Oxfordshire County Council website at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk. Printed material is searchable through the Oxford Libraries Information System (www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis).

Holdings in the Bodleian Library include topographical drawings by J. C. Buckler and others, relating to the town and rural parishes (e.g. MSS Top. Oxon. a 65–8); miscellaneous sale catalogues; miscellaneous deeds among MSS Ch. Oxon.; court records for the honor of Ewelme, 1712–18 (MSS dd Ewelme Hon. d 1–3); medieval court rolls for the Stonors' manor at Rotherfield Peppard (MS Film 1405, from originals at Stonor Park); and a detailed 17th- century court roll for Rotherfield Greys (MS Ch. Oxon. 3289). Jesus College, Oxford, holds material relating to the purchase of the advowson of Peppard church in the 17th century, and later appointments to the benefice. A survey of the parish was presented to the college by the rector in 1812.

Henley Repositories

Henley River & Rowing Museum holds extensive collections for the history of the town, river, and surrounding area, including photographs, drawings, paintings, maps, and artefacts. Many are searchable through the museum's website. Jan Siberechts' painting of Henley from the Wargrave Road (1698) is on public display. Henley Library holds newspapers, sale catalogues, directories, photographs and printed ephemera relating primarily to the town, complementing the collections formerly in Oxfordshire Studies. Some miscellaneous borough and other records remain in Henley Town Hall in the custodianship of Henley Archaeological & Historical Group, but are gradually being transferred to Oxfordshire Record Office. Henley Town Council retains its historic regalia and other items, including some historic paintings (also in the town hall). South Oxfordshire District Council (at Crowmarsh Gifford, near Wallingford) holds modern planning records, many available online.

Regional Record Offices

Berkshire Record Office (Reading) holds miscellaneous collections relevant to Henley and Badgemore (e.g. D/ESv, papers of the Stevens family); Harpsden and Bolney court rolls 1562–1756 and 1596–1629 (D/ER M3–4); estate papers relating to the Stapleton family of Greys Court (D/EST); and records of the Thames Navigation Commissioners and Thames Conservancy. Buckinghamshire Record Office (Aylesbury) holds extensive papers of the Mackenzie family of Fawley Court (AR1/93 and AR 41/94), dating from the 14th century to the 20th; many relate to Henley, Badgemore, and Bix. Other collections include some 17th- and 18th-century deeds relating to Rotherfield Peppard (D79/12). Gloucestershire Record Office holds the papers of the Freeman family of Fawley Court (D1245/FF), which relate to Henley and the surrounding area; they include estate papers, plans, architectural drawings, and correspondence. Hampshire Record Office has a few 18th-century deeds relating to Rotherfield Peppard (7M54/195). Birmingham University Special Collections Department holds the diaries of Charlotte Bagot (wife of the rector of Harpsden) for 1852–1925 (MS51/1).

National Repositories

Extensive material in The National Archives (TNA) includes inquisitions post mortem (C 132–142); feet of fines (CP 25); lay subsidies and other taxation records (E 179); and wills and inventories proved at Canterbury (PROB 3–4, PROB 11). Medieval court rolls and account rolls for Stonor properties in the area survive in SC 2 and SC 6 respectively, and other Stonor papers in C 47. Some informative chancery and Star Chamber cases relating to Henley are in C 1, C 2 and STAC 8. Later TNA records used include reports on schools (ED 2, ED 21), and 20th-century farm surveys (MAF 32, MAF 68). Miscellaneous material in the British Library includes Additional Charters relating to Rotherfield Greys, Rotherfield Peppard, and Henley; topographical drawings (e.g. Add. MS 36373, ff. 80b–100); and papers of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke (e.g. Egerton MS 997) and Caroline Powys. The National Monuments Record in Swindon holds buildings and photographic collections for Henley and elsewhere.

Private Repositories

The most important private archive is that belonging to Lord Camoys of Stonor Park, whose family owned estates in the area (including property in Henley) from the Middle Ages. The archive is not open to the public, but permission was given to view selected items including court rolls, accounts, wood sales, and 18th- and 19th-century rentals and surveys.

Maps

Several early estate maps survive for parts of the rural parishes. One of Harpsden manor in 1586 (ORO, C17:49 (129)) shows the parish's northern part, and includes a birds' eye view of Harpsden Court. A map of the Redpits estate in Bix in 1694–9 was in private ownership at Redpits in 2006. A map of 1725 shows Stonor properties in Bix and the Rotherfields, and includes a schedule; the Bodleian Library holds a photocopy of the original (at Stonor Park). A Fawley estate map of 1788 in Henley River & Rowing Museum shows property in Bix and Henley, including the earliest detailed outline of the town. A map of the Badgemore estate in 1788 is in the Bodleian Library (MS Top. Oxon. a 3). An early 19th-century map of Rotherfield Peppard is held by Jesus College, Oxford, and a collection of maps of individual farms in Greys is preserved in a field book of 1815 (ORO, MS dd Par. Rotherfield Greys e 7). Some 18th-century plans of Henley waterfront and Middle Row survive amongst the borough muniments (e.g. ORO, BOR3/B/IV/BR22a; ibid. Acc. 5905, 4/4/1).

Oxfordshire Record Office holds 19th-century tithe maps (with schedules) for Bix, Harpsden, Rotherfield Greys and Rotherfield Peppard, and an inclosure map of South field in Greys (1860). The tithe map of Henley (1843) includes all of the rural parish, but contains few details for the town. Later maps in ORO include those accompanying valuations under the Finance Act of 1910 (reference DV).

The earliest reliable printed maps are J. Rocque, Map of the County of Berkshire (1761); T. Jefferys, The County of Oxford (1767); R. Davis, A New Map of the County of Oxford (1797); and the 1st edition 1:63360 Ordnance Survey maps. In 1878–9 the Ordnance Survey mapped Henley borough at the very large scale of 1:500 (Oxon. LIV.9). Most printed sale catalogues (see below) include useful maps with schedules.

PRINTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

The most important printed primary sources, including calendars of major classes in The National Archives and publications of the Oxfordshire Record Society, are noted in the List of Abbreviations. Those especially relevant include Briers, Boro. Recs; Climenson, Guide; Midgley, Ministers' Accts; Powys Diaries; Stonor Letters; Whitelocke Diary. Medieval references to Henley occur in the Southampton brokage books published by Southampton Record Society and Record Series. Other printed sources, besides trades directories and local newspapers, include:

Act for Building a Bridge at Henley-on-Thames (1781), 21 Geo. III, c. 33; with amendments 35 Geo. III, c.79; 48 Geo. III, c. 111 (Local and Personal); 6 Wm IV, c.40 (Local and Personal)

E. Bartlett and A. Hillier, The People of Rotherfield Greys (3 vols, Aylesbury, 2003–4) [transcripts of parish records in ORO]

First Report of Commissioners into Municipal Corporations, Appendix Part 1 (Parl. Papers 1835 [116], xxiii), 69–74

Guide to Henley-upon-Thames and its Vicinity (1826 and later edns)

P. Harvey (ed.), Manorial Records of Cuxham c.1200–1359 (ORS 50, 1976 for 1974)

Oxfordshire County Council, Informal Town Map, Borough of Henley-on-Thames: Report of Survey 1963, adjusted 1966 (planning report 1966: copy in OxS)

Royal Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws: 3rd Report, Minutes of Evidence (Parl. Papers 1898 [C.8693–4], xxxvi), 74–80

Sale Catalogue, Bolney Court (1901): copy in Bodl. GA Oxon. b 91 (3)

Sale Catalogue, Crowsley Park Estate (1844): copy in Bodl. GA Oxon. b 92*

Sale Catalogue, Fawley Court Estates (1853): copy in ORO, SC 231

Sale Catalogue, Gillott's Estate (1906): copy in Bodl. GA Oxon. b 90

Sale Catalogue, Harpsden Court Estate (1851): copy in ORO, P/309/D/1

Sale Catalogue, Highmoor Hall (1909): copy in NMR

Sale Catalogue, Minett Estate (1896): copy in OxS

Sale Catalogue, Outlying Portions of Fleming Estate (1913): copy in OxS

Sale Catalogue, Outlying Portions of Greys Court Estate (1922): copy in ORO, MS dd Par. Bix b 4

Sale Catalogue, Remaining Portions of Bolney Court Estate (1923): copy in ORO, Will I/i/1

Sale Catalogue, Stonor Estate (1894): copy in Bodl. GA Oxon. b 92

R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Wills proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting, London (2 vols, 1888–90)

South Oxfordshire District Council, Local Plan No. 4: District Plan for Henley-on-Thames, Draft Report (planning report Jan. 1979: copy in OxS)

South Oxfordshire District Council, South Oxon. Local Plan (planning report Dec. 1993: copy in OxS)

South Oxfordshire District Council, Local Plan 2011, adopted Jan. 2006 (planning report: available online)

A. H. Thomas (ed.), Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls ... of the Corporation of the City of London at the Guildhall, 1323–64 (1926)

Capt. Samuel Turner, A True Relation of a Late Skirmish at Henley-upon-Thames (London, 1643)

Books and Articles

Significant secondary works in the List of Abbreviations include Burn, Henley; Butler, Peppard; Cottingham, Hostelries; Cottingham and Fisher, Henley; Hepple and Doggett, Chilterns; Macleod, Rother Beast; Sheppard, Brakspear's; Ulyanov, 'Stonor Manor'. Other secondary works cited include:

G. Allen, The Story of Henley College (2004)

J. H. Baker, School on the Ground Floor (3rd edn, 1969) [Highmoor]

J. Blair (ed.), Waterways and Canal-Building in Medieval England (2007)

R. Bradley, 'The South Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch and its Significance', Oxoniensia 33 (1968), 1–13

R. Burnell, Henley Royal Regatta: a Celebration of 150 Years (1989)

R. Burnell and H. R. N. Rickett, A Short History of Leander Club, 1818 to 1968 (1968)

S. Butler, Memories of Rotherfield Peppard before the First World War (priv. printed 1970)

B. M. S. Campbell, J. A. Galloway, D. Keene, M. Murphy, A Medieval Capital and its Grain Supply: Agrarian Production and Distribution in the London Region c. 1300 (Hist. Geog. Research Ser. 30, 1993)

G. Campbell, 'Excavations at Lower Bolney, Harpsden, South Oxfordshire, 1991', Oxoniensia 57 (1992), pp. 29–42

E. and H. Carling, Peppard Hospital: A Short History (1970)

J. A. Dils, 'Henley and the River Trade in the Pre- Industrial Period', Oxon. Local Hist. 2.6 (Spring 1987), 182–92

J. Dils, 'The Lady Periam School, Henley-on-Thames, 1610–60', Oxon. Local Hist. 5.1 (Autumn 1996), 3–12

B. Durham, 'Henley, St Anne's Bridge', South Midlands Archaeol. 19 (1989), 52; 16 (1986), 101

J. A. Galloway et al., 'Fuelling the City: Production and Distribution of Firewood and Fuel in London's Region, 1290–1400', Econ. Hist. Rev. 49 (1996), 447–72

J. A. Galloway, 'London's Grain Supply: Changes in Production, Distribution and Consumption during the Fourteenth Century', Franco-British Studies, 20 (1996), 23–34

D. Gerhold, Carriers and Coachmasters: Trade and Travel before the Turnpikes (2005)

N. S. B. Gras, The Evolution of the English Corn Market from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century (1915)

T. Hadland, Thames Valley Papists: from Reformation to Emancipation (n.p., 1992)

P. D. A. Harvey, A Medieval Oxfordshire Village: Cuxham 1240 to 1400 (1965)

W. O. Hassall, 'Papists in Early 18th-Century Oxfordshire', Oxoniensia 13 (1948), 76–82

Henley Archaeological & Historical Group Journal (1984–): passim

L. W. Hepple and A. M. Doggett, 'Stonor: A Chilterns Landscape', in J. Thirsk (ed.), Rural England (2000), 265–76

R. T. Hermon-Hodge (Lord Wyfold), The Upper Thames Valley (1923)

P. Karau, An Illustrated History of the Henley-on- Thames Branch (1982)

R. Kendal, J. Bowen, and L. Wortley, Genius and Gentility: Henley in the Age of Enlightenment (Henley River & Rowing Museum, 2002)

C. Moloney, 'Excavations and Building Survey at Bell Street, Henley-on-Thames, 1993–4', Oxoniensia 62 (1997), 109–33

HIH Prince Naruhito, The Thames as Highway (1989)

E. Noble, The World of The Stonors: A Gentry Society (2009)

A. E. Peake, 'An Account of a Flint Factory, With Some New Types of Flint, Excavated at Peppard Common, Oxon.', Archaeological Jnl 70 (1913), 33–68

R. B. Peberdy, 'Navigation on the River Thames between London and Oxford in the Late Middle Ages: A Reconsideration', Oxoniensia 61 (1996), 311–40

A. Perkins, The Phyllis Court Story: 14th Century Manor to 20th Century Club (1983)

G. H. Peters, This Glorious Henley (1950)

J. Pilling and L. Ward, Henley-on-Thames Past and Present (2000)

J. Pine, 'Excavation of Medieval and Post-Medieval Features at the Rear of 42c Bell Street, Henley, Oxfordshire', Oxoniensia 64 (1999), 255–73

A. Pitt, Henley Quakers: A Short History (Henley Preparative Meeting, 1994)

B. Port, The Well Trod Stage of the Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames (2005)

P. G. Preece, 'Medieval Woods in the Oxfordshire Chilterns', Oxoniensia 55 (1990), 55–72

M. Prior, 'The Accounts of Thomas West of Wallingford, a Sixteenth-Century Trader on the Thames', Oxoniensia 46 (1981), 73–93

M. Prior, Fisher Row: Fishermen, Bargemen, and Canal Boatmen in Oxford, 1500–1900 (1982)

J., D. and C. Pullein-Thompson, Fair Girls and Grey Horses: Memories of a Country Childhood (1996) [Rotherfield Peppard]

B. Read, Henley Rural: A History of Henley Rural District Council 1894–1932 (2003)

E. W. Rendell, A History of Blount's Court, Oxfordshire (priv. printed 1976)

C. N. Rivers-Moore, 'Further Excavations in the Roman House at Harpsden Wood, Henley-on- Thames', Oxoniensia 16 (1951), 23–7

D. Roden, 'Changing Settlement in the Chiltern Hills before 1850', Folk Life 8 (1970), 57–71

D. Roden, 'Demesne Farming in the Chiltern Hills', Agric. Hist. Rev. 17 (1969), 9–23

D. Roden, 'Enclosure in the Chiltern Hills', Geografiska Annaler 51.2 (1969), 115–26

D. Roden, 'Field Systems of the Chiltern Hills and their Environs', in A.R.H. Baker and R.A. Butlin (eds), Studies of Field Systems in the British Isles (1973), 325–76

D. Roden, 'Woodland and its Management in the Medieval Chilterns', Forestry 41 (1968), 59–71

F. Sheppard, 'Henley Bridge and its Architect', Architectural History 27 (1984), 320–9

F. Sheppard, Henley in Old Picture Postcards (1983)

R. Spalding, Contemporaries of Bulstrode Whitelocke, 1605–75 (Recs of Social and Econ. Hist. n.s. 13, 1990)

R. Spalding, The Improbable Puritan: a Life of Bulstrode Whitelocke 1605–75 (1975)

A. Spencer-Harper, Dipping into the Wells (1999)

M. Spufford (ed.), The World of Rural Dissenters, 1520–1725 (1995)

J. Steane and J. Andrews, 'Henley-on-Thames Bridge', South Midlands Archaeol. 15 (1985), 77–9

R. J. Stonor, Stonor (1951)

F. S. Thacker, The Thames Highway (1968 edn, 2 vols)

K. Tiller (ed.), Benson: A Village Through its History (1999)

S. Townley et al., Henley-on-Thames: Town, Trade and River (2009)

G. Tyack, 'The Freemans of Fawley and their Buildings', Recs of Bucks. 24 (1982), 130–43

G. Tyack, 'The Rebuilding of Henley-on-Thames, 1780–1914', Oxon. Local History 3.2 (Spring 1989), 67–89

D. Tyler, 'Humphrey Gainsborough (1718–1776): Cleric, Engineer and Inventor', Transacs of the Newcomen Soc. 76.1 (2006), 51–86

Y. R. Ulyanov, 'The Economic Development of Stonor Manor in the 14th and 15th Centuries, I & II', Srednie Veka 49–50 (1986–7), pp. 197–200 [in Russian]

J. H. Umfreville, 'The Comings and Goings of Charles Clements', Oxon. Local Hist. 5.5 (1998–9), 3–25

J. H. Umfreville, 'The Emergence of the Malting Trade in Henley-on-Thames, 1493–1697', Oxon. Local Hist. 5.2 (Winter 1997–8), 12–17

J. W. R. Whitehand, 'Traditional Building Materials in the Chilterns: A Survey Based on Random Sampling', Oxoniensia 32 (1967), 1–9

D. C. Whitehead, Henley-on-Thames: a History (2007)

L. Williamson, 'The Lost Tent-peggers who Made Millions', The Countryman 90 (1985), 33–8 [Highmoor]

D. G. Wilson, The Thames: Record of a Working Waterway (1987)

L. Wortley, 'City Merchants' Landownership around Henley-on-Thames and the Paintings of Jan Siberechts', in M. Galinou (ed.), City Merchants and The Arts 1670–1720 (2004), 95–102

L. Wortley, 'Jan Siberechts in Henley-on-Thames', Burlington Mag. 149 (Mar. 2007), 148–57

THESES AND UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL

P. M. Briers, 'The Medieval Borough of Henley' (Oxford Univ. BLitt thesis, 1935)

R. E. Gibson, 'Continuity and Change in a Chiltern Parish: Harpsden 1586–1879' (Reading Univ. BA dissertation, 1989)

L. Hewitt, 'A Study of Gillott's House and Wood' (1972): copy in Henley Library

B. V. Jones, 'Greys Court, Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire: Historic Buildings Report for the National Trust' (unpubl. report in 4 vols, 2005): copy in NMR

A. Mansfield, 'The Historical Geography of the Woodlands of the Southern Chilterns, 1600–1947' (London Univ. MSc thesis, 1952)

B. W. Peace, 'A Study of Current Farming Contrasts and their Relation to Human Settlement in the Parish of Bix in Oxon.' (London Univ. dissertation for diploma in geography, 1965): copy in Henley Library

R. B. Peberdy, 'The Economy, Society, and Government of a Small Town in Late Medieval England: A Study of Henley-on-Thames from c.1300 to c.1540' (Leicester Univ. PhD thesis, 1994)