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Welcome to Finstock History From Prehistoric to Today The History of Finstock The Finstock Trail The Wychwood Forest The Finstock Countryside Finstock History Society 2003 Programme

Building Akeman Street The name Finstock is said to mean 'the place frequented by woodpeckers ... THE EARLIEST KNOWN RECORD of the history of Finstock was written in 1135 where the village is referred to as Fynstoke. In this period, the village formed part of the manor and parish of Charlbury. Roman coins and Romano-British potsherds have been found in the village and it is thought that there was certainly a settlement of some kind here at the time of the Domesday survey of 1086 when it formed part of the 'hundred of Banbury' belonging to the Bishop of Lincoln. Finstock, together with its neighbours Charlbury, Fawler and Leafield, lay in a clearing of Wychwood Forest that used to stretch from Woodstock to Burford. Much of the forest land was cleared for growing arable crops and during the Middle Ages barley was the main crop in Finstock. Other land was used for sheep grazing and many of the people of Finstock were involved in the woollen industry - the carding being done by men and boys and the spinning by women. In the early 1500s the manor of Charlbury and its land, including Finstock, was owned by SirThomas White, a London merchant tailor who founded St John's College in Oxford in 1555. The manor was then included in the college's endowment. As the college lands were owned by an absentee landlord, the land was leased to many people including the Lee family of Ditchley Park (from 1592 to 1776). The college then resumed direct possession until 1857 when the manor passed to Francis Spencer, Baron Churchill ofWychwood, the owner of Cornbury Park. It still remains in the possession of Cornbury Park today although most of the manorial rights have lapsed and much of the village of Finstock is now freehold. Glove-making at the village hall site by the women, and agricultural labouring on nearby land by the men and boys, used to be the principal occupations of the people of Finstock during the earlier part of the 20th century - although now many inhabitants of Finstock commute by car and bus to Witney, Chipping Norton and Oxford. Finstock is now a separate civil and ecclesiastical parish, its population mostly lying along the sides of a large triangle formed by the main Witney-Charlbury road (west to north), School Road (east) and Finstock High Street (south). Much in-filling with new buildings has further completed the triangle and four new estates were built during the 20th century. The farming now is mainly arable - barley, wheat and oilseed rape, although some mixed farming is still found. Visit Finstock Local History Society The History of Finstock The Finstock Trail The Wychwood Forest The Finstock Countryside Channel 4 - Time Team http://www.webpie.co.uk/combemill/ T.S.ELIOT Some readers of the Finstock News may wonder why T.S.Eliot came to Finstock to be received into the Church of England. William Force Stead was a fellow American and came to England as an American consul but soon found that his real bent in life were literature and religion. He was ordained, served as chaplain of Worcester College in Oxford and after meeting T.S.Eliot in 1923 (with whom he shared a love of cats!) steadily drew him towards Anglicanism and agreed to baptise him. He was then living in "a fine seventeenth-century gabled house at Finstock" (Finstock Manor) and invited TS Eliot to stay there and meet his godfathers, BH Streeter and Vere Somerset, before his baptism at Finstock on June 29, 1927. From TS Eliot: a Memoir by Robert Sencourt WHO WERE TOM, DICK AND HARRY? See the recently published Discovering Wychwood An illustrated history and guide edited by Charles Keighley. Also, Charlbury and its Nine Hamlets pp.71 and 72 by John Kibble. Finstock Local History Society Programme for Winter / Spring 2004 Meetings are held in Finstock Village Hall at 7.45 pm (note new time)   Friday February 13 Sporting Guns 1650­1870 A talk by Hugh Hinde of the Muzzle Loaders Association. The talk covers the history of the sporting gun from the matchlock, via the flintlock and Œpercussion¹ systems, to early breach loading shotguns. Friday March 12 Finstock Families 1600­1750 A talk by David Sturdy, based on evidence from wills and other legal documents. Did your relations live in the village 300 years ago? Friday April 23 To be confirmed. Friday May 14 AGM Members free Non-members are welcome to all meetings for an admission charge of £1.50 Further information about meetings: 01993 868965 Membership costs £6.50 (joint membership £12). Unless otherwise stated, members get free admission to all meetings, walks etc. Cheques should be made payable to Finstock Local History Society and sent to The Treasurer, 6 Hill Crescent, Finstock OX7 3BS (enquiries 01993 868743). ‹‹ Additional meetings may be arranged in the course of the year ‹‹ Further information is available from : Further information: 01993 868965 Membership: 01993 868743 mailto:jon@joncarpenter.co.uk Back to top Copyright © Finstock.org.uk. All Rights Reserved.