Location and general description
A market town, located to the west of Oxford, on the river Windrush and downstream of Burford. Nearby villages are Minster Lovell, Oxon, Eynsham, Oxon and Stanton Harcourt, Oxon.
Buildings
The Town Hall and Butter Cross
Batt House (No 16 Market Square, Witney)
The JORDAN family owned a substantial
property
in Witney. The VCH (pg 36) suggests that this was Batt House
and
that it was built by one of their family in the 1720s or 1730s. From
about 1800 it was occupied by the BATT family until
1926. There
are BATT family memorials in St Mary's Church.
St Mary's Church
Several of the JORDAN family held posts within the church. The WENMAN family have strong connections with the church which contains a number of memorials to them
People
The JORDAN family (aka JORDEN)
The JORDANs were wealthy clothiers, related to the JORDANS of Burford, Oxon. They became Lords of the Manor of Eynsham, Oxon. They appear to be mentioned on a number of occasions in the diarys of Henry HYDE, Earl of Clarendon, sometimes specifically as 'of Witney', but sometimes identifiable by their association with one Mr TRUMBULL, who was likely to be Ralph TRUMBULL, rector of Witney and son of William TRUMBULL (1602-1677/78) of Easthampstead Park, Berks. HYDE owned Swallowfield Park in Swallowfield, Berks, he was also Lord Cornbury, the family seat at Cornbury Park being just outside Charlbury, Oxon., to the north west of the Witney. Easthampstead Park was about 2 miles S of Binfield, Berks. and 6 miles ENE of Swallowfield Park. So the TRUMBULLs and the HYDEs were fairly close neighbours in Berkshire.
In 1653 Thomas JORDAN, a wealthy clothier from Witney, began to aquire property in Eynsham. Thereafter the Lordship of the Manor of Eynsham resided for a time with his descendants. The pattern of Baptisms in Witney appears to reflect this, with discrete eras associated with individual JORDANs, the boundaries between some of which coincide with the passing on of Eynsham. Between 1661 and 1666 the baptisms of John JORDAN's children gave way to those of Richard JORDEN as Thomas JORDAN died in 1665 and left Eynsham to his son John JORDAN. Similarly, after 1689 a string of baptisms for the children of a later Mr Thomas JORDEN ceased abruptly. John JORDAN of Witney died in 1692 after which his son Thomas JORDAN inherited Eynsham.
Thomas JORDAN (-1666), in his Will dated 8 Aug 1666 bequeathed
substantial properties in Burford, Oxon.,
which he had purchased from Robert VEYSEY, to his youngest son Richard
JORDAN. This Richard JORDAN also recieved Thomas' dwelling house in
Witney, Oxon., and appears to have taken up residence, for the children
of one Richard JORDAN are baptised in Witney between 1666, when
he baptised a son called Thomas, and 1672 when he baptised his last
child. By 16 Mar 1674 a Mr Thomas JORDAN had taken his position as
the JORDAN requiring entries in the baptismal registers. When
Richard died in 1721, his son John JORDAN stood to inherit the Witney
dwelling house under the terms of a Will dated 4 Apr 1719. John died in
1735. A posting on RootsWeb from 2001, mentions an indenture being
offered to the Oxford Records Office without details. This is dated in
1721 and was made between James
SHAYLOR
of Witney and John JORDAN of Burford concerning a property in High
Street, Witney [which may prove to be Batt House above] and also
mentioning the names POPE, TYDY, COLLYER.
Related links
A selection of links to other sites with information about this place
- Witney.net, a town web-site.
- Witneypedia.org, a town web site
Bibliography
- None at present