Location and general description
A small village lying on the northern side of the flood plain of the River Windrush. A few miles downstream Witney, Oxon, Stanton Harcourt is just downstream of Hardwick, Oxon (not to be confused with Hardwick House, which is on the thames near Pangbourne) and just upstream of Standlake, Oxon.
Buildings
The Manor of Stanton Harcourt
Seat of the HARCOURT family during at least the 18th C. At the time of our visit it was no longer open to the public.
St Michael's Church
This pleasently situated church, its graveyard awash with plantains at the time of our visit, contains the chapel of the HARCOURT family.
On the south side of the church is situated a plaque to John HEWET and Sarah DREW, a young couple struck by lightning, with verse by Alexander POPE.
People
The POPE family
The family of the Poet Alexander POPE, were based in Binfield, Berks but the poet was close to the HARCOURT family of Stanton and a regular visitor there. He gave his name to Pope's Tower within the manor grounds. On the outside of the church is a memorial to two villagers struck by lightning [Crossley, et. al., 1990]
The HATTON family
From the reign of James 1 (1566-1625) there is a chancery proceeding, undated in the index, in which the plaintiffs, Charles Chute and Thomas HATTON, bring a case against Alice WILLSON, widow, concerning Pinckley Grounds, parcel of the Manor of Stanton Harcourt [Chancery Proceedings, 1922, 1:n.p., Ref. C14.58]
A HATTON marriage at Stanton Harcourt may relate to Thomas HATTON of Widford, Oxon. (Marriage 1736, Thomas HATTON & Hannah LORD). During this period there is no other mention of HATTONs in the Stanton registers, however Thomas & Hannah may have moved to nearby Eynsham as Hannah is buried there, amongst a number of other LORD graves (see the Eynsham page for further details)..
One of the granddaughters of Thomas HATTON of Widford, Oxon (formerly Gloucs), spent some time with her husband Henry William BULL in Binfield, Berks (see POPE connection above).
In the Parish Registers of Northmoor, Oxon. there is an entry for the marriage on the 5 May 1793 of John TRINDER of Stanton Harcourt, Oxon. and Hannah HATTON (presumably of Northmoor). In the early eighteenth century the HATTON family of Widford, Gloucs. (later Oxon.), married into the Jordan family of Upton, Oxon., who were probably linked to the JORDAN family of Burford, Oxon., and Bourton on the Water, Gloucs., who in turn married into a catholic TRINDER family. A year earlier, on 16 Sep 1792 there is an entry for the marriage of James WEAKE and Hannah HATTON, presumably both of Northmoor. There is also a John TRINDER who married Elizabeth JUSTER on 1 Oct 1739 at St Mary's, Broughton, Oxon., whose daughter Eleanor TRINDER married John BASTON on 22 Nov 1774 at St Denys, Northmoor, Oxon. Their son John BASTON married Hannah ROOKE, a surname to which the JORDANs of Boughton on the Water, Gloucs., were linked. There were JUSTERs at Upton, Widford and Swinbrook, Oxon. and Broughton was another centre of papermaking.
Related links
A selection of links to other sites with information about this place
- None at present
Bibliography
- Index of Chancery Proceedings (Series 1) Preserved in the Public Record Office; James I. 2 Vols. No 47 in Public Records Office; Lists and Indexes. London:Public Records Office, 1922.
- Alexander Pope, 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica ,Volume V22, Page 87, online at http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/POL_PRE/POPE_ALEXANDER_16881744_.html (accessed 6 Jan 2008)
- CROSSLEY, Alan, C R Elrington (Editors), A P Baggs, W J Blair, Eleanor Chance, Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, Nesta Selwyn, S C Townley, 'Stanton Harcourt: Church', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock (1990), pp. 289-293. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=8480 Date accessed: 20 December 2008.