… from the Wychwoods Albums Archive
Called variously over the centuries Parsonage Farm, The Rectory and The Prebendal, parts of the house are medieval, built on land taken out of the churchyard.
The building, the main entrance to which used to be at the bottom of Church Street, has had many structural changes over the centuries. From the twelfth century the prebend, or income, from the house, tithes, and land, went to a canon of Salisbury cathedral.
In 1614, James I transferred the prebend to the Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University. One of the more notable prebendaries was John Foxe, the martyrologist, whose family retained an interest in and used part of the house until the mid-eighteenth century. In the late nineteenth century, a large wing was demolished and in 1912, when it was bought by Dr and Mrs F. R. B. Hinde, more alterations took place with a southeast wing added.
The occupiers of the Prebendal House were usually local tenant farmers. In 1726, the Brookes family became tenants and continued there until 1908. The Thomas Brookes in the photograph was born in 1797 and was tenant until his death in 1869, aged 72. Like many of his family he was much involved in parish affairs, as churchwarden, constable, overseer of the poor and trustee of the Crown Inn Charity. His tombstone is in Shipton churchyard.
Millicent, a spinster daughter, lived with her bachelor brother, Thomas, who ultimately bought the farm in 1892 for £2500 and died there in 1908.
This is one of series of snapshots taken from the Society’s publications “The Wychwoods Albums”. These publications from the mid to late 1980s feature a variety of images of the Wychwoods, all of which deserve a place in our expanding online archive.
Select from:
WW1 Wychwoods Military | WW1 Wychwoods Memorabilia | Shipton WW1 Miscellany | St Michael’s Shipton Early 1900s | Early Prebendal Scenes| Shipton Court 1930s | Milton Scenes Early 1900s | Milton Social Activities | Farming Activities and People | Ascott Early 1900s | Leafield 1900s – 1930s | Fifield Residents Early 1900s | Idbury Early 1900s | Lyneham Miscellany| WW2 Evacuees | WW2 Wychwoods Home Front| WW2 Victory Celebrations|The First Wychwood Album
