Abbey, parish church and prebendal Thame Abbey was founded in 1138 for the
Cistercian Order; the abbey church was consecrated in 1145. In the 16th century
Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey was suppressed and the church demolished. Thame Park (the house) was built on the site, incorporating parts of the abbey including the early-16th century
abbot's house. Its interior is one of the earliest examples of the
Italian Renaissance in England. A
Georgian west wing was added in the 18th century. In about 1840, parts of the foundations of the abbey church were excavated; it was long and wide, with a
Lady Chapel extending a further at the east end. The earliest feature of the
Church of England parish church of
Mary the Virgin is the 12th century base of the
font. The font's octagonal bowl was recut in the 13th century. The present church is a
cruciform building that was built in the 13th century. The
chancel is
Early English Gothic and was built in about 1220, with six
lancet windows in its north wall and presumably a similar arrangement in the south wall. It was altered twice in the next few decades; a three-light
plate tracery window was inserted in its north wall in the mid-13th century and the five-light east window with geometrical tracery was inserted in about 1280. Whatever lancet windows may have been in the
chancel south wall were replaced with three two-light
Decorated Gothic windows with reticulated tracery, and a double
piscina was added at the same time. The
transepts and tower arches are also early 13th century. The
nave has five-
bay north and south
aisles, whose
arcades were built in about 1260. The aisles were widened in the 14th century, when they acquired their Decorated Gothic windows and doors. The Decorated Gothic south porch has two storeys and a two-bay
quadripartite vault. The
Perpendicular Gothic clerestory is 14th or early 15th century; during the latter, the tower piers were strengthened and the two upper stages of the tower were built. In 1442, the north transept was rebuilt with five-light Perpendicular Gothic north and east windows with panel tracery. At about the same time, the south transept acquired similar windows and was extended eastwards to form a chapel with a 15th-century piscina. The Perpendicular Gothic nave west window was inserted in 1672–73, making it an example of
Gothic survival. In 1838 the north aisle north wall was rebuilt under the direction of
George Wilkinson. The
tower has a
ring of eight bells, all cast by Mears and Stainbank of the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1876. The
Prebendal House is known to have existed by 1234 and the Early English Gothic chapel was built in about 1250. The
solar is also 13th century but was enlarged in the 14th, when the present
crown-post roof was added. The rest of the Prebendal House is dated from the 15th century. The hall is 14th century in plan, but was later divided and one part now has a fine 15th century roof. In 1661, the
antiquary Anthony Wood reported that the house was ruinous and, early in the 19th century, the remains were in use as a farmhouse and barns. It was restored in 1836. The prebendal houses and the Church of St. Mary were both attacked repeatedly in the early 1290s, during a violent conflict between the bishop of Lincoln, Oliver Sutton, and a knight of King Edward I, Sir John St. John. The Prebendal House was the home of singer/songwriter and member of the
Bee Gees,
Robin Gibb, and his wife Dwina from 1984; Gibb is buried in St Mary's parish churchyard.
Social and economic history In 1550, the
courtier John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thame built the
almshouses in Church Lane. He died in 1559 and his will established the local
grammar school. Its original building, completed in 1569, stands next to the almshouses. In 1880 the school moved to its current premises in Oxford Road. In 1971, it became a
comprehensive school under the name
Lord Williams's School. The
Civil War in the 1640s saw Thame occupied in turn by
Royalists and by
Parliamentarians. After the
Battle of Chalgrove Field in 1643, Colonel
John Hampden, who had been educated at the grammar school, died of his wounds at the house of Ezekiel Browne, later to become the Greyhound Inn. The champion
bare-knuckle boxer James Figg was born in Thame in the late 17th century and had his early prize-fights at the Greyhound Inn. In the 21st century the Greyhound Inn was renamed the James Figg and in April 2011 the
Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board unveiled a
blue plaque there to commemorate him. In the 18th century, many of the buildings in the boat-shaped High Street were refaced with modern facades, built of locally produced
salt glazed bricks. Late in the 18th century,
John Wesley preached in Thame. The congregation on that occasion was so large that the floor of the building gave way and the crowd fell to the lower floor. By 1813, Thame had a
workhouse in Wellington Street. In 1826, John Boddington, a miller who had been the proprietor of Thame Mill, became master of the workhouse. In 1831, his son, also John Boddington, became a clerk at
Strangeways Brewery in Manchester. A younger son, Henry Boddington, who had been born at Thame Mill in 1813, followed his brother and joined the same brewery in 1832. Henry became a partner in the business in 1847 and sole proprietor in 1853, after which its beers were called
Boddingtons. In April 2011, the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board unveiled a blue plaque at the address of the former workhouse commemorating its association with Henry Boddington. Thame
Poor Law Union was established in 1835 and the following year a new workhouse designed by George Wilkinson was built on Oxford Road. In the 20th century, the building became the premises of Rycotewood College of
further education. In 2003, it merged with two other colleges of further education to form Oxford and Cherwell College, now
City of Oxford College.
Thame railway station was opened in 1862 as the temporary terminus of an extension of the
Wycombe Railway from . The extension was completed in 1864 when it reached . In 1963,
British Railways (BR) withdrew passenger services between and Oxford; it also closed Thame station, leaving Princes Risborough ( away) as the nearest passenger station until 1987. BR dismantled the track between Thame and , but kept the line between Thame and Princes Risborough open for goods traffic to and from an oil depot in Thame.
Thame Town Hall was designed by the architect
HJ Tollit in
Jacobethan style and built in 1888. In 1940, Willocks McKenzie, a local lorry driver, found a small hoard of late
Medieval coins and rings beside the River Thame. The coins were ten
groats and the rings were five ornate examples ranging from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The county
Coroner declared them to be
treasure trove and therefore
Crown property. The Crown placed the hoard on permanent loan to the
Ashmolean Museum. The most ornate ring was an ecclesiastical one incorporating a small
reliquary. Its lid is decorated with a distinctive cross with two horizontal sections, similar to the
Cross of Lorraine. Thame Town Council incorporated this cross into its town emblem. In 1991, Thame oil depot closed and BR dismantled the railway between Thame and Princes Risborough.
Sustrans was allowed to re-use the former trackbed to create the
Phoenix Trail which is part of
National Cycle Network route 57. Reopening the rail line through Thame was an option considered by
Chiltern Railways in their plan to open a direct rail route from to Oxford via Princes Risborough in 2015. The cost of reinstating bridges was considered prohibitive.
Administrative history Thame was an
ancient parish. The parish historically included the
chapelries of
Sydenham,
Tetsworth, and
Towersey, each of which had become separate parishes by the early nineteenth century. In 1871, the parish of Thame was made a
local government district, administered by an elected local board. Thame Town Hall was completed in 1888, to serve as the meeting place and offices of the local board, as well as providing a public hall for the town. It was funded by public subscriptions to commemorate the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. Local government districts were reconstituted as
urban districts under the
Local Government Act 1894. Thame Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972. District-level functions passed to the new South Oxfordshire District Council. A
successor parish called Thame was created covering the area of the abolished urban district, with its parish council taking the name Thame Town Council. ==Governance==