Population 131 (2001 census) Civil parish Wytham Country England Local time Thursday 6:26 PM District Vale of White Horse | OS grid reference SP4708 Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Shire county Oxfordshire Postcode district OX2 | |
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Weather 15°C, Wind W at 8 km/h, 56% Humidity | ||
Wytham /ˈwaɪtəm/ is a village and civil parish on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road (A34). The nearest village is Godstow.
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Map of Wytham, UK
Wytham was the northernmost part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The toponym is first recorded as Wihtham around AD 957, and comes from the Old English for a homestead or village in a river-bend.
The manor of Wytham, along with Wytham Abbey (not a religious foundation but the manor house) and much of the village, was formerly owned by the Earls of Abingdon. The Church of England parish church of All Saints was originally a medieval building but it was extensively rebuilt between 1811 and 1812 by Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon.
During World War II
During World War II, in about 1941, the owners of Wytham Abbey agreed to take in six East End children, as part of the evacuee programme. This was in preference to a number of Canadian infantry, whom they were also asked to accommodate. As the war progressed they got the Canadian infantry anyway. The evacuees were educated by a governess, and returned to the East End with impeccable accents. Outings were in a big car to the local chip shop. When the infantry arrived, the young soldiers took the evacuees on their tanks as they trained in the woods, crashing into trees. The owners of the Abbey were Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (cousin of the Queen Mother) and her husband, a diamond millionaire. When he died suddenly, the evacuees were moved to less comfortable accommodation. The Infantry went off to war. A photo of the evacuees standing on the grand staircase of the Abbey, below a bronze statue of a horse, appeared in a national newspaper, the News Chronicle. The Abbey was sold by the University of Oxford in 1992 and is now in private hands. The secret room in which the diamond millionaire was said to keep his diamonds is still there, but with no diamonds.
Wytham Woods
Wytham Woods is an area of long-established mixed woodland noted for their high population of badgers and long-term monitoring of great tits. It is on rising ground to the west of the village. The woods are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The University owns the woods and uses them for research in zoology and climate change. The University also has a field station north of the village.
Inspector Morse
Wytham village and Wytham Woods have frequently featured in the "Inspector Morse" detective novels by Colin Dexter, most notably in The Way Through the Woods.