In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Ewelme like this:
EWELME, a village, a parish, and a hundred in Oxford. The village and the parish are in the district of Wallingford; and the village stands near Icknield-street, under the Chiltern hills, 3¼ miles NE by E of Wallingford r. station, and 3½ miles SW of Watlington. It was known at Domesday as Lawelme; and it is surrounded by fine scenery. ...
The parish includes a detached tract, called Hollops, surrounded by the parishes of Nettlebed, Bix, and Swyncombe. Post town, Brightwell, under Wallingford. Acres, 2, 376. Real property, £4, 435. Pop., 684. Houses, 152. The manor belonged, at Domesday, to the Gands; passed to the Chaucers and the De la Poles; and belongs now to the Earl of Macclesfield, and gives him the title of Viscount Parker of Ewelme. A palace was built on it, in 1424, by the De la Poles; was the place of Margaret of Anjou's confinement for several years; was also the place where Henry VIII. spent his honeymoon with Jane Seymour; was likewise the residence of Prince Rupert, during the time he spent in Oxfordshire; and is now represented by only slight remains. The parish was a meet for the Wormsley harriers. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; and was annexed to the Regins professorship of Divinity in Oxford university. Value, £556.* The church was built by William De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and by his duchess; is a very fine and curious edifice, chiefly in perpendicular English; has an interesting wood screen, a curious roof, and a rich font-tabernacle; contains a surpassingly beautiful altar-tomb of the Duchess of Suffolk, the grand-daughter of Geoffrey Chaucer; and contains also an altar-tomb with brasses of her father Thomas Chaucer and his lady. The churchyard has the remains of the son and grand-children of Sir Matthew Hale. . There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. An alms-house or hospital, called God's House, founded by the Duchess of Suffolk, adjoins the church; and is an interesting brick structure, with a cloister round a square court. Endowed funds for this alms-house and a grammar school yield £472 a year. Roman coins have been found at Ewelme-Warren. Bishops Prideaux and Hampden were rectors.-The hundred contains thirteen parishes and parts of two others. Acres, 24, 837. Pop., 6, 418. Houses, 1, 385.
Ewelme through time
Ewelme is now part of South Oxfordshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Oxfordshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Ewelme itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Ewelme in South Oxfordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9651
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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