England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Somerton St James

The Parish

The parish of Somerton lies in northeastern Oxfordshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Northamptonshire. Somerton is located roughly 7 miles northwest of the market town of Bicester and sits juts over 2 miles east of the A4260 road which links Oxford with Banbury. Somerton  is a small and compact crossroads village built upon a rising site on the eastern slopes above the River Cherwell, most properties line the rising lane from the Cherwell's crossing to the plateau above. Somerton  position gave it a wide range of land types from rich pastures along the river, full of grazing cattle, to drier land on the plateau ideally suited to arable farming. Modern developments have come aplenty to Somerton, first to arrive was the Oxford Canal which strategically follows the river valley avoiding locks, secondly twin railway line connecting Banbury with Oxford and with Banbury enclose Somerton within their twin arms. More modern still is the M40 motorway which skirts the northeastern edges of the parish. The southeastern portions of the parish are dominated by Upper Heyford Airfield, formerly an RAF base and nowadays an industrial and commercial estate. Despite its proximity to the Cherwell, Somerton sits upon a profound watershed, water to the west follows the Cherwell to the Thames and to the North Sea through the capital, water to the east joins the Padbourne Brook and eventually the Great Ouse and thus reaches the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and the Wash. Somerton's rising site climbs from 80 metres to 120 metres above the sea, on the plateau land only rises gently northeastwards to around 140 metres at nearby Souldern. At just under 1,800 acres Somerton parish was fairly typically sized for its area, within that acreage it would have supported a population of around 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Somerton  was largely held by the ubiquitous Bishop Odo of Bayeux with a smaller share with Miles Crispin, its assets amounted to 10 ploughs, meadows & pastures and there was also a mill.

The Church

St James' church sits towards the west of the village's main street on the south side of the dead-end lane of Church Street. To the untrained eye the church appears to be a typical 14th century church but with extremes of ornamental battlements, however Pevsner reveals a more complex history dating back to the 12th century. Little remains of those early times except the southern doorway, now blocked, of the nave. Also from earlier times but in the Early English Gothic styling of the 13th century is the northern arcade. Much of the rest is indeed of the 14th century and shows the earlier styling of the Decorated period rather well, nave, chancel and western tower all date from the first half of that century as does the northern porch. The southern aisle is, at its core, 14th century but was altered substantially in the 16th to convert to a private chapel for the local Fermor family. The aforementioned battlements, perhaps the church's key feature, is also a slightly later embellishment being 15th century and Perpendicular in style. In this case Victorian intervention was fairly minimal, a restoration being noted as of 1854 from whence the chancel arch dates as its principal change. Whilst Church Street is rather narrow it is widely used by locals for on-street parking allowing a relaxed visit. A sloping pathway in front of cottages rises to the churchyard which is above road height and banked by local stonework, a few trees are scattered around the southern aspects making for a limited choice of angles for the photographer.