Watlington is a market town and also civil parish regarding 7 miles (11 kilometres) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the region's eastern edge and less than 2 miles (3 kilometres) from its boundary with Buckinghamshire. The church consists of the hamlets of Xmas Common, Greenfield and Howe Hill, every one of which remain in the Chiltern Hills. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,727. The Watlington location is likely to have actually been worked out at an early date, encouraged by the closeness of the Icknield Way. The toponym suggests "settlement of Waecel's individuals" as well as shows profession from around the 6th century. A 9th-century charter by Æthelred of Mercia documents eight 'manses' or significant houses in Watlington. The Domesday Book of 1086 determined the location as an agricultural community valued at £ 610. Medieval papers indicate that the modern street plan was in presence in the 14th century, as Cochynes-lane (Couching Street), as well as Brook Street are recorded. There are records of inns in Watlington considering that the 15th century. In 1722 the town's market was detailed as being held on a Saturday. By the end of the 18th century the community had 6 inns, every one of which were bought up in the following few years by a regional brewing household, the Haywards. The number of qualified properties raised until late in the 19th century when George Wilkinson, a Methodist purchased 6 of them and shut them down. Today Watlington has three public houses: the Carriers Arms, The Chequers and also The Fat Fox Inn. Parliamentarian troops were billeted at Watlington throughout the English Civil War. It is thought that John Hampden stayed in the town the evening before the Battle of Chalgrove Field. In 1664-- 65 the Town Hall was built at the expense of Thomas Stonor. Its top space was enhanced by Stonor as a grade school for young boys, and in 1731 Dame Alice Tipping of Ewelme gave a more endowment to increase the variety of students. In 1842 the community Vestry established a National School, which shared the very same spaces in the City center. In 1843 a National College for girls was constructed alongside St Leonard's church. In 1872 the boys' and girls' schools were taken in into a brand-new Board college, which like its precursors was connected to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. In 1927 the institution was divided into different junior and also elderly schools. In 1956 a new secondary school-- the Icknield College-- opened for elderly students and the primary school took control of the old premises. The Icknield School is currently Icknield Community College. By 1895 the City center, no more used as a school, remained in disrepair. In 1907 it was recovered by public registration. It is a landmark at the meeting point of three roads in the centre of the town. Given that 1990 Watlington has been twinned with the town of Mansle in the Poitou-Charentes area of France. The Watlington Hoard, a collection of silver things dating back to the time of Alfred the Great in the 9th century, was found in Watlington by James Mather, an amateur metal-detectorist, in 2015. The hoard was consequently excavated, as well as at some point acquired by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for £ 1.35 m.
