Hello and Welcome!
Welcome to our Library! We are a small independent community library in the village of Steeple Claydon, founded in 1901....
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 ...