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Thame in Oxford County England History and GeographyTHAME, a market town and parish in the hundred of THAME, county of OXFORD, 13 miles (E.) from Oxford, and 44½ (N.W. by W.) from London, comprising the townships of Old Thame, New Thame, and Priestend (which constitute the town), and North Weston, Moreton, and Thame Park, containing 2479 inhabitants. This town is evidently of Roman origin, and is first mentioned, as a place of some importance, at the commencement of the tenth century, when Wulf-here, King of Merica, granted a charter, dated 'in the vill called Thames:' in the year 970, Osketyl, Archbishop of York, died here. It suffered much from the Danish invasions, particularly in 1010, during which period a fortification was erected. At the Conquest it belonged to the Bishop of Lincoln, and formed part of the extensive possessions of the succeeding prelates, in this county, till the reign of Edward VI.: among the many benefits conferred on the town by them was the diverting through it the road which passed on its side. In 1138, a monastery for Cistercian monks was founded at Thame Park, in honour of the Virgin Mary, the revenue of which at the dissolution was valued at £256. 13. 7.: the site is occupied by a modern mansion. About the reign of Edward IV., an hospital for destitute persons was founded and endowed with lands by Richard Quatermaine, a member of an ancient family of high repute. In the civil war of the sixteenth century, Thame was the centre of military operations, and experienced much consequent distress: during the late contest with France, it became one of the dep?ts for prisoners of war. The town is situated on a gentle declivity on the bank of the river Tame, whence its name is derived, and which empties itself into the Thames at Dorchester, in this county: it consists principally of one long and spacious street, with a commodious market-place in the centre, over which is the town hall, an indifferent building. A little lace is made, but the poor are chiefly employed in husbandry. The market, which is of great antiquity, is on Tuesday, and is well supplied with corn and cattle. Fairs are held on Easter-Tuesday, the Tuesday before Whit-Sunday, the first Tuesday in August, and a statute fair on the 11th of October. The living, anciently a prebend in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, valued in the king's books at £82. 12. 3½., but impropriated and dissolved in 1547, is now a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacies of Sydenham, Tetsworth, and Towersey annexed, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £18, and in the patronage of Walter Long, Esq. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large and handsome cruciform structure, in the early English style of architecture, with an embattled tower rising from the intersection, and supported on four massive pillars: the interior is divided by columns and pointed arches, and is entered by a stone porch with an elegant canopied niche, in which was formerly a statue of the tutelar saint: in the chancel is a tomb of white marble, with an effigy, to the memory of Lord Williams, who, in 1558, bequeathed estates for the foundation of a free grammar school, erected by his executors, in 1574, near the church, and the maintenance of a master and an usher: the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford, are trustees, and are empowered to nominate the master, who must be a clergyman and a graduate of one of the Universities, subject to the approbation of the Earl of Abingdon, as heir of the founder: the school is open to all boys of the parish. Dr. Fell; Justice Sir George Crook; Pocock, the learned orientalist; King, Bishop of Chichester; and Anthony ? Wood, the antiquary, were educated in this school. A free school was established by bequests from the second Earl of Abingdon and others, the income amounting to £35 annually, in which twenty-five boys are instructed. There are several small annuities for apprenticing poor boys, and other benefactions, amounting to £100 per annum for the poor. An almshouse for five poor men and one woman was also founded and endowed by Lord Williams, upon the dissolved foundation of Richard Quartermaine. A little to the north of the church are the remains of the prebendal house, consisting of nearly three sides of a quadrangle: the refectory is still visible, among other rooms, and the chapel is also preserved; but, though evidently of considerable grandeur formerly, the whole now only serves as farm-buildings. George Hetheridge, an eminent Hebraist and Grecian in the reign of Elizabeth, and Regius Professor of Greek at Corpus Christi College, Oxford; and Lord Chief Justice Holt; were natives of this town. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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