Watlington is a market community and civil parish concerning 7 miles (11 kilometres) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the region's eastern side as well as less than 2 miles (3 km) from its border with Buckinghamshire. The church consists of the districts of Christmas 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 likely to have actually been cleared up at an early day, motivated by the closeness of the Icknield Way. The toponym indicates "negotiation of Waecel's people" as well as indicates line of work from around the 6th century. A 9th-century charter by Æthelred of Mercia documents eight 'manses' or significant dwellings in Watlington. The Domesday Book of 1086 determined the area as an agricultural neighborhood valued at £ 610. Medieval records indicate that the modern-day road plan was in existence in the 14th century, as Cochynes-lane (Couching Street), and also Brook Street are recorded. There are documents of inns in Watlington because the 15th century. In 1722 the town's market was listed as being held on a Saturday. By the end of the 18th century the community had six inns, every one of which were bought up in the next couple of years by a local brewing family, the Haywards. The number of licensed facilities raised till late in the 19th century when George Wilkinson, a Methodist purchased 6 of them and also closed them down. Today Watlington has 3 pubs: the Carriers Arms, The Chequers and also The Fat Fox Inn. Parliamentarian soldiers were billeted at Watlington during the English Civil War. It is assumed that John Hampden remained in the town the evening before the Battle of Chalgrove Field. In 1664-- 65 the City center was constructed at the expense of Thomas Stonor. Its upper room was granted by Stonor as a grammar school for boys, and in 1731 Dame Alice Tipping of Ewelme gave a more endowment to raise the variety of pupils. In 1842 the community Vestry established a National School, which shared the same areas in the City center. In 1843 a National School for ladies was built alongside St Leonard's church. In 1872 the boys' and girls' institutions were taken in right into a new Board institution, which like its predecessors was associated to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. In 1927 the college was separated right into separate junior and also elderly schools. In 1956 a brand-new senior high school-- the Icknield College-- opened up for senior students and also the primary school took over the old properties. The Icknield School is now Icknield Community College. By 1895 the Town Hall, no more made use of as an institution, was in disrepair. In 1907 it was recovered by public membership. It is a landmark at the meeting point of three roads in the centre of the town. Because 1990 Watlington has been twinned with the town of Mansle in the Poitou-Charentes area of France. The Watlington Hoard, a collection of silver items going back to the moment of Alfred the Great in the 9th century, was discovered in Watlington by James Mather, an amateur metal-detectorist, in 2015. The stockpile was subsequently excavated, and also ultimately bought by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for £ 1.35 m.