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Bicester in Oxford County England History and GeographyBICESTER, a market town and parish in the hundred of PLOUGHLEY, county of OXFORD, 12½ miles (N. E. by N.) from Oxford, and 55 (N. W. by W.) from London, containing 2544 inhabitants. This place, by the Saxons called Burenceaster and Bernaceaster, both implying a fortified place, is supposed to derive name either from its founder, Birinus, a canonized Saxon prelate, or from Bernwood, a forest in Buckinghamshire, on the verge of which it is situated. A priory for canons of the Benedictine order was founded in 1182, and dedicated to St. Eadburg, by Gilbert Bassct, Baron of Haddington, and his wife, Oglean Courtney, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £167. 2. 10. In 1355, a royal licence was granted to Nicholas Jurdan, warden of the chapel of St. John the Baptist, for the establishment of an hospital for poor and infirm people, but the design does not appear to have been carried into execution. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I., the inhabitants suffered by repeated exactions levied on them by both parties, and in 1643, a skirmish took place, in which the royalists were defeated and driven through the town. Bicester, which is divided into the townships of King's End, and Market-End, part of the latter being in the parish of Caversfield, is situated in a valley, on the banks of a tributary stream which falls into the river Cherwell at Islip; it is handsomely built, and amply supplied with water. Two book clubs have been established, one by the clergy resident in the town and neighbourhood, the other by the inhabitants. The manufacture of leather slippers is extensively carried on, and the female inhabitants are employed in making bone lace: the town is noted for excellent malt liquor. The market is on Friday, and the fairs are on the Friday in Easter week, the first Friday in June, August 5th, and the third Friday in December; there are also statute fairs on the first three Fridays after Michaelmas. The county magistrates hold their petty sessions here for the district: constables and other officers are appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Oxford, rated in the king's books at £16. Sir G. P. Turner, Bart. was patron in 1800. The church, dedicated to St. Eadburg, was rebuilt in 1400, on the site of the former edifice: it is a spacious structure with a lofty square tower; the interior contains many interesting monuments and some antique sculptures. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A school for the instruction and clothing of thirty boys, is supported partly by subscription, and partly by the dividends on £1000 stock, given in 1811, by Mr. Walker, in fulfilment of the intention of his deceased father, out of which, £14 per annum is given in moieties to a Sunday school in connexion with the established church, and to a similar institution for the children of dissenters. Lands producing £200 per annum, and a few minor charitable bequests, are appropriated to the relief of the poor. In making some excavations in 1819, the foundations of the conventual buildings belonging to the priory, a vast mass sculptured fragments, pieces of painted glass, and other relics were discovered. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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