Roman Under
Roman rule between the 1st and 5th centuries AD there were several farms and a burial site in the Bloxham area. A poor farming community lived at a site west of the present village.
Saxon The
toponym is derived from the
Old English ''Blocc's Ham
(the home of Blocc) from the 6th century, when a Saxon settlement was built on the present site of the village, on the banks of a tributary of the Sor Brook. In 1086 the Domesday Book called the village Blochesham
. Its name was subsequently recorded as Blocchesham
in 1142, Blokesham
in 1216, and finally Bloxham in 1316. In the late Anglo-Saxon era Bloxham was part of a large estate, belonging to the Earl of Mercia, stretching from the boundary with Tadmarton and Wigginton in the west to the River Cherwell. As the caput'' of a
hundred it had been important since at least the time of
Edward the Elder.
Medieval Around the time of the
Norman Conquest of England, a group called the Bloxham
Feoffees formed. The name, of
Anglo-Norman origin, denotes someone invested with a
fief, which was often heritable land or property but could be rights or revenue. Comprising between 8 and 16 local yeomen, the Feoffees were responsible for the well-being of the village community. In return for helping the poor and services such as repairing the bridges, they were bequeathed money and land by the Crown. Until the 20th century they continued their village maintenance despite being replaced by a
parish council after the
Local Government Act 1894. Today they give financial help to Bloxham residents. The Feoffees own land in Grove Road (which is now rented to the Warriner School), the former allotment field in South Newington Road and the Old Court House. The
Domesday Book of 1086 recorded
Blochesham as having six mills and trading in wool and corn. In the Middle Ages it was a large parish with 403 contributors to the poll tax of 1377, of whom 78 lived in neighbouring
Milcombe. At this time, the village's north and south parts, separated by the brook, were distinct communities called in
Anglo-Norman le Crowehead Ville and
le Downe End.
The Crown held Bloxham
manor by 1067.
King Stephen granted it to
Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, but it returned to being a royal manor in the reign of
Henry II. In 1155 Bloxham was divided in two manors. In 1269 the half later called Bloxham Beauchamp was given to
Queen Eleanor, and later bestowed upon
Edward III's
chamberlain Roger de Beauchamp and sold in 1545 to Richard Fiennes, 6th
Baron Saye and Sele. The other half, called Bloxham Fiennes, was passed to Amaury de St Amand, came to be called
Saint Amand's, and was subsequently sold to Thomas Wykeham and reunited with Bloxham Beauchamp when Baron Saye and Sele inherited it. Beauchamp Manor stood roughly on the site of Park Close and the Manor of St Amand was on the area now occupied by Godswell House. Although neither manor remains, the
dovecote of St Amands is still visible next to Dovecote House. By the 15th century
St Mary's Church, Bloxham had become one of the grandest parish churches in southern England, showing Bloxham's medieval wealth. The medieval street plan survives in the narrow winding alleys where some houses retain a medieval core hidden by later exteriors and alterations. Many of the present street names derive from families living in Bloxham in the early 16th century, e.g. Humber, Job and Budd Lane; although these may remain from Middle Ages they were not documented until 1700. Bloxham has a large number of well-built
yeomen's houses dating from this time, including Bennetts, Seal Cottage and the Joiners Arms. Many have been comparatively little altered, retaining their original details and plans.
Early modern Bloxham took part in the
Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Rising of 1549 against the
Edwardine Reformation. John Wade, Bloxham's vicar, was identified as a ringleader and threatened with being hanged from his own church tower, but was later pardoned. From the 17th century Nonconformism flourished and was closely linked with the dissenting movement in Banbury. In the
English Civil War the Fiennes family of Bloxham was strongly
Parliamentarian and the area had a reputation as a
Puritan stronghold. There are suggestions that houses in Sycamore Terrace were used as barracks during this time, but this is unsubstantiated. It is believed that
Parliamentarian troops caused the damage to the lavishly decorated interior of St Mary's church as they passed through Bloxham. In the 17th century many houses such as those in Sycamore Terrace were used as weavers' cottages. From the
Middle Ages the area around Banbury was known for weaving a fabric called
plush. It is made of wool or worsted and linen, the finer types also incorporating silk or
mohair. It was used in a wide variety of ways from horse girths to furnishing fabrics.
Modern In 1770 the main road between Banbury and Chipping Norton, which passes through Bloxham, was made into a
turnpike. In 1815 the turnpike's trustees straightened the main road to follow its current course. They bought two cottages on the brook and demolished them to make the High Street bridge. The main road ceased to be a turnpike in 1871. In 1922 it was classified as the
A361 road. The agricultural depression of the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to a decline in population and some
emigration. This period saw a marked increase in poor relief, mainly as a result of successive poor laws including the
Speenhamland system, which exacerbated the effects of the
Enclosure of land and the decline in the wool market. However the industrial boom in Banbury brought prosperity back to Bloxham. The 19th century saw the demolition of institutions for the poor such as the
Almshouses next to the parish church, the
Workhouse, the
pest house, which stood near the railway line and the poor-houses on the green. All Saints' School, a
Church of England public school now known as
Bloxham School, was founded in 1853. It closed for a time, but the
Rev PR Edgerton reopened it in 1860. In 1896 All Saints joined the
Woodard Corporation. The main school building, designed in the
neo-Gothic style by
George Edmund Street, dominates the north of the village. The headmaster's house is on top of Hobb Hill, above the Pig Sty playing fields, so called after their use during the
Second World War to provide meat for the school. The late 19th century saw an expansion of residential housing to the north of the village in Strawberry Terrace and along the Banbury Road. In 1875, the
Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway opened a railway station on the south side of Bloxham. The B&CDR contracted the
Great Western Railway to operate the line and station in return for a share of the receipts. The GWR took over the smaller company in 1897.
British Railways closed
Bloxham station in 1951 and closed the railway completely in 1964. Houses in Bloxham in Hyde Grove, Orchard Grove and on the south side of Colesbourne Road are on the site of the former Bloxham railway station and trackbed. In 1919 the
Hunt class minesweeper was launched for the
Royal Navy. As the First World War had ended she was not commissioned for service and
the Admiralty sold her in 1923. In 1960 the countryside to the east and north of Bloxham was threatened by a proposal to
quarry iron ore from the
marlstone. A community campaign opposed the proposal at the Oxfordshire Ironstone Enquiry. The claim that the area was not one of natural beauty was countered by commissioning photographs of the area. The protest succeeded and the proposal was withdrawn. Production versions of the rare
Jaguar XJ220 supercar were produced at Wykham Mill in Bloxham from 1992 until 1994. The
Ford Motor Company transferred the factory to
Aston Martin for production of the
DB7 from 1994 until the factory's closure in 2004. Wykham Mill is now Vantage Business Park, named after the
DB7 V12 Vantage which was the last Aston Martin model to be built there. ==Churches==