Watlington is a market town and also civil parish concerning 7 miles (11 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the region's eastern edge and also less than 2 miles (3 km) from its border with Buckinghamshire. The church includes the hamlets of Xmas Common, Greenfield and Howe Hillside, all of which are in the Chiltern Hills. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,727. The Watlington area is most likely to have actually been settled at an early day, motivated by the proximity of the Icknield Way. The toponym suggests "settlement of Waecel's individuals" and suggests line of work from around the 6th century. A 9th-century charter by Æthelred of Mercia documents 8 'manses' or significant houses in Watlington. The Domesday Book of 1086 determined the area as a farming community valued at £ 610. Medieval files indicate that the modern street plan remained in presence in the 14th century, as Cochynes-lane (Couching Street), and also Brook Street are recorded. There are records of inns in Watlington considering that the 15th century. In 1722 the community's market was provided as being hung on a Saturday. By the end of the 18th century the community had 6 inns, every one of which were bought up in the next couple of years by a local brewing family, the Haywards. The number of accredited premises increased until late in the 19th century when George Wilkinson, a Methodist acquired six of them and closed them down. Today Watlington has 3 public houses: the Carriers Arms, The Chequers as well as The Fat Fox Inn. Parliamentarian soldiers were billeted at Watlington throughout the English Civil Battle. It is believed that John Hampden remained in the town the evening before the Battle of Chalgrove Field. In 1664-- 65 the City center was developed at the expenditure of Thomas Stonor. Its top room was granted by Stonor as a grammar school for kids, and also in 1731 Dame Alice Tipping of Ewelme provided a more endowment to raise the number of pupils. In 1842 the town Vestry developed a National School, which shared the exact same areas in the City center. In 1843 a National Institution for girls was constructed next to St Leonard's church. In 1872 the boys' and also girls' schools were absorbed right into a new Board college, which like its precursors was associated to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. In 1927 the institution was separated right into different junior and also senior schools. In 1956 a brand-new high school-- the Icknield School-- opened up for senior students and the primary school took control of the old facilities. The Icknield School is currently Icknield Community College. By 1895 the City center, no more made use of as a college, was in disrepair. In 1907 it was brought back by public subscription. It is a spots at the meeting point of 3 roadways in the centre of the town. Because 1990 Watlington has been twinned with the community of Mansle in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. The Watlington Hoard, a collection of silver products going back to the time of Alfred the Great in the 9th century, was uncovered in Watlington by James Mather, an amateur metal-detectorist, in 2015. The stockpile was subsequently dug deep into, and eventually bought by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for £ 1.35 m.