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29th April 2008
THE HISTORY AND PERSONALITIES OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE
DAVID BUXTON
David Buxton said he had worked at Brasenose College for nine years as the accountant. His tour of the College was to be by postcards. In 2009 it will be the 550th anniversary of the founding of the College. The correct title of the College is the Principal and Scholars of the King’s Hall of Brasenose in Oxford”. The original buildings of the College were built on the site of St. Mary’s Entry, one of the many academic halls in that area of Oxford around what is now the Radcliffe Camera, and most of the stonework of St. Mary’s Entry was used to build the new College. Brasenose in the Morse films was Lonsdale College, and out of the thirty-three Morse films six were filmed mainly in Brasenose. From the front quad can be seen the Radcliffe Camera and the spire of St. Mary the Virgin. In the 1930s the Great Western Railway used this image on a poster advertising a day trip to Oxford.
Brasenose College was founded in 1509 by William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln and Sir Richard Sutton, a lawyer and the first lay founder of any College. The foundation stone was laid on 1st June 1509. Sir Richard gave the majority of the funds needed for the building of the college, and the coat of arms that of the Bishop of Lincoln, William Smyth and Richard Sutton. The College was named after the “brass nose” is the brass door knocker which dates from the fifteenth century and was on one of the doors of Brasenose Hall. There are three quadrangles in Brasenose, called the Old Quad, New Quad and the Deer Park. Mr Burton is not sure why the last is so named. The Chapel is long and narrow, and was built like this so the old roof of St. Mary’s Hall could be re-used. The College used to brew its own beer. The lamp post in St. Mary’s Passage just outside the Bursary inspired C. S. Lewis to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”.
One of the “personalities” of the College was Alexander Nowell. He matriculated at Brasenose in 1521 and was Dean of St. Paul’s for forty-four years. He was Principal of the College for one year in 1595 and was one of the chief benefactor’s of the College. Nowell was the first person to put beer into a bottle. He was also mentioned in Isaac Walton’s The Compleat Angler first printed in 1791. Another member of the College was Henry Addington, Lord Sidmouth, who matriculated in 1774. He was Prime Minster from 1802-4. When Home Secretary he introduced income tax and created the National Debt. He was also responsible for sending in the troops which resulted in the Peterloo Massacre. David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party is a Brasenose man as was Robert Runcie (1921 – 2000) the former Archbishop of Canterbury. An earlier student at Brasenose was Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Commander of the British army in World War I and founder of the Poppy Appeal.
Alexander Obolensky (1916- 1940), a Russian student, was a member of Brasenose College and a famous rugby player. He would buy a new pair of boots before each match, and he was one of the fastest wingers in the English game. He is remembered for the two tries he scored for England against New Zealand in the 1936 match at Twickenham. The final score was 13 – 0 and the first time England had beaten New Zealand. He joined the air force in 1938 and tragically was killed in 1940 when his plane crashed in Suffolk. He was the first international in any sport to be killed in the war.
Bishop Reginald Heber (1783 – 1826) was a student at the College. And Elias Ashmole was President of the College during the Civil War. Lawrence Washington an ancestor of George Washington, attended Brasenose. Edward VII while Prince of Wales studied at Oxford, he had tutorials at Christ Church, ate at Magdalen College and slept at Brasenose.
The cricketer Colin Cowdrey (1932 – 2000) was a student at the College, and played for England while still a student. His memorial service was held in the Chapel. Other famous members have been: William Golding (novelist); John Buchan (diplomat and novelist); John Mortimer (lawyer and writer); Jeffrey Archer (MP and writer) and Michael Palin (writer and TV personality).
And finally: a famous ex-Brasenose man is our Secretary (our Chairman is a Worcester College man!).
27th May 2008
HAUNTED OXFORD

ROB WALTERS

Mr Walters was not our advertised speaker and had agreed to talk to us at very short notice. Thank you to Nigel for once again finding a replacement speaker at quite literally the last moment!

Mr Walters explained that he was an Oxford guide specialising in ghost tours, pub tours and rogue tours. He started his presentation by asking how many members had seen a ghost, two acknowledged they had. Mr Walters then told us that in 1889 the Society for Psychical Research conducted a survey led by Henry Sidgewick, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in which 17,000 people were asked if they had seen a ghost. Of the 17,000 at least 10 per cent admitted that they had, thus one in ten people. He then went on to tell us about a number of Oxford ghosts. One was of the Castle Mould and Mary Blandy, daughter of the town clerk of Henley, Francis Blandy. Francis had been very critical of Mary’s suitors, she then became engaged to William Cranstown, fifth son of a lord. He was a member of a Scottish Regiment and both Mary and her mother were fond of him. After the engagement a letter arrived saying that Cranstown had a wife and child in Scotland. This he denied but relations between him and Francis deteriorated, a situation that worsened after Mary’s mother died. Cranstown gave Mary a “love potion” for her to put in her father’s tea “to soften the attitude of the old man towards himself”. Needless to say the father died and Mary was arrested for murder. Cranstown meanwhile had disappeared. Mary lived in Oxford goal in the Governor’s house, where her own maid was allowed to wait on her and she played cards to while away the time. Mary was found guilty and sentenced to hang. The execution was carried out on the Castle Mould. Mary’s ghostly form has been seen wandering around the mould. Cranstown fled abroad and died soon after in great pain.

Trinity College claims twin ghosts. On the night of 28/29 May 1948 Miles Hudson, a student of Trinity who had rooms overlooking Broad Street had attended a dinner in Trinity
and by his own admission had drunk rather a lot of alcohol. He went to bed after 3am but couldn’t sleep, suddenly he saw two men coming through the closed door into his room. They were aged about 60 and wore clerical collars. The next day he asked around college and found they had been seen before, and were Noel and Christopher Chavasse. One had been killed in the First World War and the other (in 1948) was still alive and was then the Bishop of Rochester.
Another haunting concerns the Civil War, as is well known, Oxford was the headquarters of Charles I, and this story concerns Colonel Windebank and Deadman’s Walk. One evening a man was seen in the area, he was wearing knee-length leather boots, a tunic and a hat with feathers. It has been said that this was Francis Windebank, who was ordered by the King to guard Bletchington House with two hundred men. In a battle between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians at Islip the Royalists were routed and many fled to Bletchington House followed by Cromwell and his men. Despite having more men than Cromwell and being in a better position, Windebank surrendered the house and fled to Oxford. There he was tried and court martialled and was shot in Deadman’s Walk.
The next story relates to Thomas Wood (born 1892) and Exeter College. In 1916 while a student of music in Exeter College he was about to leave his room when he came face to face with “something” about to knock on his door. It had no head, was dressed in a buff coat with yellow slashings and a black gown. The next day the Bursar of the College told Wood that in the rubble in a cellar under his room had been found a headless statue of a man in seventeenth-century dress. Exactly as Wood had seen the night before. On investigation this turned out to be John Crocker, a gentleman commoner of Exeter College, who died 29th April 1629. Little is known of Crocker but the headless statue is now on display in the Chapel.
Rob Walters then told us about the ghost seen in Jesus College. In 1947 the Principal was Sir Frederick Ogilvie who lived in the lodgings with his wife Mary. Mary tells the story of a dog belonging to one of the college servants barking late at night, on looking out of the window she saw someone digging holes in the lawn. The next morning there was no sign of any holes. Mary consulted the college archives and found the story of Lord Grandison in August 1643. He had been wounded at the battle for Bristol, on returning to Oxford he found his wife with another man. He and the lover fought and Lord Grandison was killed. It is said the lover and Lady Grandison buried the body in the garden, later it was re-buried in Christ Church by his friends,.
Rob Walters, last story was of the Bell Tower, New College. During the reign of Henry VIII and at the time of the break with Rome one of the Fellows of New College refused to abandon the old religion. He was locked in the Bell Tower to re-consider, after a week he was asked if he had changed his mind but on hearing the answer “no” the door was re-locked and he was starved to death. Sometimes at night a candle can be seen flickering in the window of the room where he died.
These and many more stories can be read in Rob Walters publication: Haunted Oxford. 2006. ISBN 978-07524-39259.
ANNUAL DINNER, 30th May 2008
Forty-four members attended the Annual Dinner held at Kirtlington Golf Club, the Guest Speaker was your Recorder who spoke about her visit to Australia and the two papers she gave there, one on T.E.Lawrence and All Souls College (Canberra) and the other on William Blackstone, Benjamin Buckler and All Souls in the eighteeenth century (Adelaide). In response to the toast to the Society the Chairman thanked those who had contributed to the success of the Dinner (particularly the Social Secretary and Kirtlington Golf Club) and expressed the Society’s gratitude to the many others whose work during the year had helped the Society to flourish. He drew attention to the changing circumstances in which our and other similar Societies have to operate and the need to adapt. In particular, he expected that it would be increasingly necessary for the Society’s records and perhaps publications to be available in digital form so as to be more accessible, particularly to schools, those researching family history and perhaps also via the computers at local libraries. We also need to keep up the good work John Brucker is doing with the recorded interviews which themselves are being made available in digital form. Everyone needs to be aware that each day is history, and the Chairman quoted Fosters as a current example.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 24th June 2008
The Chairman welcomed members to the 37th AGM of the Society. The following were re-elected/elected to the Committee:
Chairman: Peter Webber
Vice-Chairman: John Amor
Treasurer: Ann Thomas
Secretary: Henry Brougham
Programme Secretary: Nigel Simpson
Social Secretary; Norma Aubertin-Potter
Committee Members: Carole Puleston, Melanie Williams, Olive Williams, Don Lobb

Also re-elected to non-Committee posts were:

Librarians: Clare and Don Lobb
Reporter: Norma Aubertin-Potter

The Chairman thanked those who had agreed to serve for a further term and welcomed Olive Williams and Don Lobb onto the Committee and thanked them for volunteering to stand. He also thanked the Librarians for their excellent work on behalf of the Society.


HISTORICAL RESOURCES OF KDHS
JOHN AMOR
John started by saying that he had bravely left the old technology (the slide projector) at home and was relying on the new technology of Power Point.
John explained that the KDHS archives are increasing by the month and are in the form of documents, photographs, videos, CDs and slides. All the archives are stored in seventeen box files in his study at home. These box files are divided into:
Kidlington people
Kidlington records
Enclosure Awards
There are 1578 photographs and 1312 slides. The three videos are of: Songs of Praise (October 1977); Kidlington on the move (1974); Kidlington scouts (2002).
Recently Mrs Freeborn’s papers have been transcribed onto CDs. The Society owns a large number of photographs of Hampton Poyle, these were found in the railway shop that used to be at the Green Road roundabout, Headington. There are seven files of newspaper cuttings relating to Kidlington, these date from the 1940s. Since the 1990s Dorothy Hughes has been collecting Oxford Mail items relating to Kidlington, and Irene Mort has been pasting them into files.
File Box 14 in the archives contains material relating to “Kidlington on the Green” – this was a large area of common land stretching from High Street to Stratfield Brake. Arthur Young in his “General view of the agriculture of Oxfordshire” printed in 1813 described Kidlington as having two large commons, one in the centre of the village, the second at Campsfield, which was a sheep common. On the edge of the Common near High Street was the Old Dog or the House of Jesus which was hospitable to travellers. There was a Town Green on each side of Mill Street. It is noticeable that the older houses in High Street and Crown Road overlook the Common.
In 1810 a Private Act was passed to enclose land in Kidlington, the acreage affected was 2624 acres 3 roods and 3 perches. Of the twenty-four landowners who applied to Parliament for the enclosure of the land only seven came from Kidlington. The land was finally enclosed in 1818. The ordinary cottagers did not benefit from the relocation of the land, but among those who did benefit were the Duke of Marlborough, William Bulley, Exeter College, Brasenose College, Merton College, Adam Bellenger, Ann Morrow, Blacknall Carter, Thomas Wren and William Hutt.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal, founded in 1753, has many news items relating to Kidlngton Green. Many refer to horses that had been stolen or were missing. Thomas Hearne in his diaries tells the story of the eighteenth-century drunken Rector of Begbroke, John Martin who fell in a ditch while riding across Kidlington Green. Anthony Wood called Martin “a common drunkard”. Revd Martin was a friend of the Spencer family of Yarnton.
Kidlington church, St. Mary’s, was built in 1220, the spire was added in 1450. The earliest bell bears the date of 1610. By 1830 six bells were rung from the floor of the church and by 1835 a gallery was added to make life easier for the ringers. In 1897 two Whitechapel bells were installed. In the 1970s the bells were taken down and sent to the Whitechapel Foundary for repair.
Thornbury House is built on land which was called Thornbury Close in the 1600s. In the 1700’s two cottages were built on the site. In 1760 the cottages and land were sold to Richard Hanwell, son of an Oxford brewer. Hanwell built the current house. In 1801 it was sold to Vincent Shortland, and then in 1843 to Joseph Rowland. In 1926 the owner was Sydney Kitson, architect and art historian. In 1940 it was let to East Ham Grammer School. In 1948 it was sold to Oxfordshire County Council. In 1963 a new remand home was built on the site, and in the 1990s Homewell House was built on another part of the site.
In 1662 Thomas Haines was the village constable, the stocks remain and are now in the grounds of Richard Branson’s house at Mill End. Until the 1800s Mill End House was known as Haines Corner. On 23 May 1554 Princess Elizabeth was being taken to Woodstock via Kidlington Green. The Kidlington bellringers thinking she had been set free by Queen Mary rang the bells in celebration. Her escort Sir Henry Bedingfield ordered the ringers to be put into the stocks, then in Cow Lane now known as Church Street.
The bacon factory was built in the 1920s by the Oxfordshire Farmers Union; 560 farmers pledged £25,000 to produce bacon to the same quality as Denmark. There was a shop in Headington and Kidlington High Street. During the war many Kidlington families kept a pig at the end of the garden, would be sent to the factory for slaughter. The factory opened 10 December 1923, with fifteen employees who could deal with five hundred pigs a year. The factory was demolished in 1985. The Duke of York visited the factory on 7 February 1924 and ordered a side of bacon.
The original Forester’s Hall was opened by Consuelo, the Duchess of Marlborough on 2 June 1903. The young Winston Churchill gave one of the speeches. The Hall was built on land belonging to the Duke of Marlborough and the cost divided between the village and the Ancient Order of Foresters. In 1908 there was a women’s suffragette meeting chaired by the Rev’d Freeborn. A man from Australia gathered together a crowd of men to disrupt the meeting with rotten eggs, live rats and other missiles. Police were called in from Oxford to restore order.
In the archives there is the story of the Kidlington ghost, occupants of a house in The Moors have seen the ghostly figure of a child go through closed doors, lights go on and off. A lady dressed in black, aged under 40, hair in a bun, appears at night time. A woman leading two children followed by a man have been seen disappearing in the back garden. It is believed that this relates to the train crash at Hampton Gay and is a mother searching for her son.
John’s talk whetted our appetite for more stories from the archives!

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It was felt at the last Committee meeting that members would like to be told of future publications and work undertaken by the Committee to further local history within Kidlington and the surrounding district. It is hoped that members will be able to volunteer to help with such projects and to take part in some of the activities.
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
1. Memories. Vol. 3 (John Amor)
2. St.Mary’s Fields (John Amor, chapter on natural history by John Brucker)
3. History of the Names of Kidlington Roads (John Amor)
4. Shipton on Cherwell train crash (John Amor, technical chapter by Peter Webber)
5. Kidlington Zoo (John Amor)
6. Lyne Road and the Rookery (Norma Aubertin-Potter)
7. Crown Road (Norma Aubertin-Potter)
8. Kidlington Vestry Minutes to 1866 (Gerald Gracey-Cox, edited by Norma)

PLANNED SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
1. Themed walk along Lyne Road and the Rookery (Norma)
2. Maps of Kidlington – walking along the route (to be announced)
3. Transcribing Kidlington Wills 1550-1650 (Norma)
4. Talks to West Kidlington School on WWII and the Fifties (Carole Puleston). Carole has already organised two of these and they have been a great success.
NOTE: Other Kidlington schools are aware that we are happy to assist them if required.
THE COMMITTEE IS ALWAYS WELCOME TO RECEIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE BOOKS AND GROUP SESSIONS.