In Memory
DEATH OF SIR HARRY VERNEY. Sir Harry Verney, the venerable Baronet, who completed his 92nd year in December, died on...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE BEGINNINGS Claydon is really claegiga11 dune, which is Anglo-Saxon for the village the clayey hill. And a better name...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE MIDDLE AGES The earliest surviving document to mention Claydon by name is Domesday Book (1086). Free translation of the...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE MIDDLE AGES We hear of a watermill in possession of the Doilys, and a windmill (which must have been ...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE OPEN FIELDS In addition to transfers of property and feudal dues the manorial court also concerned itself with the...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE CHALONERS On the death of Katherine of Arragon the principal manor reverted to the Crown, and in August 1557 ...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE MANORIAL COURTS An Oseney charter of 1281 makes it clear that by that date both Steeple Claydon manors were...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE ENCLOSURE Claydon’s soil has always been better suited for dairy-farming than for sheep or corn .It was natural therefore...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
THE AFTERMATH OF ENCLOSURE The immediate effect of the enclosure, according to an estimate made in 1812, was an increase...
A Steeple Claydons’ History
TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS Until the opening of· the Calvert brick works in 1900 Clayton’s basic industry was always agriculture, and ...