Watlington
Watlington is a market town and also civil parish concerning 7 miles (11 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the area's eastern edge and less than 2 miles (3 km) from its border with Buckinghamshire. The church consists of the districts of Xmas Common, Greenfield and Howe Hill, all of which remain 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, urged by the distance of the Icknield Way. The toponym implies "settlement 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 8 'manses' or major homes in Watlington. The Domesday Book of 1086 determined the area as a farming area valued at £ 610. Medieval documents indicate that the modern road strategy was in presence in the 14th century, as Cochynes-lane (Couching Street), and also Brook Street are recorded. There are records of inns in Watlington given that the 15th century. In 1722 the town's market was listed as being hung on a Saturday. By the end of the 18th century the community had six inns, every one of which were bought up in the following few years by a neighborhood brewing family, the Haywards. The variety of accredited properties boosted till late in the 19th century when George Wilkinson, a Methodist bought six of them and also closed them down. Today Watlington has 3 hostelries: the Carriers Arms, The Chequers and also The Fat Fox Inn. Parliamentarian troops were billeted at Watlington during the English Civil Battle. It is assumed that John Hampden stayed in the community the evening prior to the Battle of Chalgrove Field. In 1664-- 65 the Town Hall was developed at the cost of Thomas Stonor. Its upper room was granted by Stonor as a grammar school for children, and also in 1731 Dame Alice Tipping of Ewelme gave a more endowment to raise the number of pupils. In 1842 the community Vestry developed a National School, which shared the exact same rooms in the Town Hall. In 1843 a National School for girls was built beside St Leonard's church. In 1872 the boys' as well as girls' institutions were soaked up into a brand-new Board school, which like its precursors was connected to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. In 1927 the institution was split right into different junior and also senior colleges. In 1956 a new senior high school-- the Icknield School-- opened up for elderly students as well as the primary school took over the old facilities. The Icknield School is now Icknield Community College. By 1895 the City center, no longer used as an institution, remained in disrepair. In 1907 it was recovered by public subscription. It is a landmark at the meeting point of 3 roadways in the centre of the community. Given that 1990 Watlington has actually been twinned with the community of Mansle in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. The Watlington Hoard, a collection of silver items dating 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 consequently excavated, and eventually bought by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for £ 1.35 m.