Chacombe

Manor

In the reign of Edward the Confessor in the middle of the 11th century, one Bardi held the manor of Chacombe "freely" (i.e. without a feudal overlord). However, the Domesday Book of 1086 records that after the Norman Conquest of England one Godfrey held the manor of "Cewecumbe" of Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop of Lincoln. The manor had four hides of arable land, nine acres of meadow and three watermills. In the 12th century the manor was still assessed as four hides and was still held of the Bishop of Lincoln.

The manor house has been demolished. It was on the north-west side of the village, just east of the parish church in what is now Berry Field.

Priory

Hugh of Chacombe, lord of the manor of Chacombe, founded the Augustinian Chacombe Priory in the reign of Henry II (1154–89). It was just west of the present village.

In 1536 the priory was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and surrendered all its properties to the Crown. Today the only visible remains of the priory are a small chapel apparently built in the 13th century and a set of mediaeval fishponds. However, at least three medieval stone coffin slabs, including one from the 13th century, have been found in the priory grounds.

Part of the priory site is now occupied by a house, also called Chacombe Priory. The house has a large Elizabethan porch and a late 17th-century staircase, and was remodelled in the Georgian era.

Parish church

The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of Saints Peter and Paul is the Norman font. The current building is essentially Decorated Gothic from the early part of the 14th century, including the three-bay arcades either side of the nave. The north aisle has a 14th-century wall painting of Saint Peter being crucified upside-down. It is one of only two wall paintings of Saint Peter's crucifixion known in England, the other being in the parish church at Ickleton in Cambridgeshire. The church is a Grade I listed building.

The bell tower has a ring of six bells. William Bagley of Chacombe cast four of them including the treble bell in 1694. John Briant of Hertford cast the present fifth bell in 1790 and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present tenor bell in 2009.

The paris of St Peter and St Paul is a member of the Chenderit Benefice, which includes the parishes of Greatworth, Marston St. Lawrence, Middleton Cheney, Thenford and Warkworth.

Social and economic history

Ridge and furrow patterns of Chacombe's former open field system can be traced in much of the parish, particularly from the air. The common fields were enclosed long before the 18th century and without a parliamentary Inclosure Act. In about 1720 John Bridges wrote that the whole lordship [of Chacombe] was then enclosed and had been so "for near a 100 years".

From 1605 until 1785 the Bagley family of Chacombe were bellfounders, casting more than 440 bells for churches in England including the four 1694 bells in Chacombe parish church. Master-founders at Chacombe included Henry I Bagley (active 1630–84), Matthew I Bagley (active 1679–90), Henry II Bagley (active 1679–1703), William Bagley (active 1687–1712), Henry III Bagley (active 1706–46) and Matthew III Bagley (active 1740–82). Henry II Bagley also ran another foundry at Ecton and Henry III Bagley also ran one at Witney.

Chacombe's parish school was founded in 1868. It is now Chacombe Church of England (Aided) Primary School.

The Conservative politician and government minister Norman St. John-Stevas, Lord St. John, died at Chacombe House care home on 2 March 2012, at the age of 82.

In 1900 the Great Central Railway's branch line between Culworth and Banbury was built through the northern edge of Chacombe parish. In 1911 the railway opened Chalcombe Road Halt just north of the village on Wardington Road. British Railways closed the halt in 1956 and the line in 1966.

Amenities

The village has a public house, the George and Dragon, linked to Everards Brewery. It also has a village hall.

Cherwell Edge Golf Club is in the parish, south-east of the village.