Cogges
Coordinates: 51°47′02″N 1°28′41″W / 51.784°N 1.478°W
Cogges is an area beside the River Windrush in Witney, Oxfordshire, 0.5 miles (800 m) east of the town centre. It had been a separate village and until 1932 it was a separate civil parish.[1]
History
The former village centres upon three historic buildings: the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary, the former Vicarage and Cogges Manor Farm. There was also formerly an 11th-century fortified manor house.[2] Two moats survive south of the parish church.[2] One was called Castle Yard, and excavation within the curtilage of the other has revealed massive 12th century foundations.[2]
Parish church
St. Mary's parish church had been established by the second half of the 11th century.[3] The walls of the nave are Romanesque and may be either late Saxon[3] or early Norman.[4] The south aisle was added late in the 12th century,[3] but the two arches of the arcade between the nave and south aisle were rebuilt in the 13th century.[4] The chancel and chancel arch were enlarged and rebuilt in the middle of the 13th century.[3] In about 1340 the north chapel was added,[3] linked with the chancel by an arcade of two bays and with the 14th century effigy of a lady under one of the arches.[4] The Decorated Gothic[4] north aisle and adjoining bell tower were built in about 1350.[3] The present east window of the chancel is also Decorated Gothic.[4] The tower's upper stages are octagonal,[4] possibly in reference to a style of church towers in Normandy whence the monks from Fécamp would have originated.[3] In the 15th century a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory was added to the nave, and the roofs of the nave, aisles and chancel were all rebuilt in the shallow-pitched late-mediaeval manner.[3] Late in the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic west window[4] of the nave was inserted.[3] The windows of the north chapel were decorated with stained glass depicting the heraldry of the de Grey family.[3] During the English Civil War in the 17th century the church was damaged and the heraldic glass was destroyed.[3]
Benedictine priory
A priory of the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp was founded at Cogges in 1103.[5] The priory became closely associated with the running of the parish church.[3] In 1441 Henry VI seized the priory and its estates and gave them to Eton College,[6] which thus acquired control of the parish church as well.[3] The priory fell into disrepair[2] but the remains of a 13th-century building have survived in an altered form, with an intermediate floor inserted to make it a two-storey building.[7] Early in the 17th century[2] a wing was added to the surviving building to make it into a farmhouse.[2] In 1859 Eton College sold the priory house to the Diocese of Oxford to become St. Mary's Vicarage.[6] A high, gabled Victorian wing was added to enlarge the house, so that the 13th century core is now sandwiched between 17th and 19th century additions.[7]
The Domesday Book records that by 1086 Cogges had a water mill, presumably on the River Windrush.[8] For much of its history Cogges had two water mills: one at the southern tip of the parish and the other north of the Priory.[8] The southern mill was originally called Gold Mill, and its name evolved by 1279 to Gill Mill.[8] By 1670 Gill Mill was being used as a fulling mill and in 1702 and 1712 there were two fulling mills on the site.[8] The last known record of Gill Mill being in operation is from about 1803.[8] The northern mill existed by 1272 and was being used as a fulling mill by 1387.[8] It was still in operation in 1702 but had fallen out of use by 1704.[8]
Manor Farm
Cogges Manor Farm House (main article: Cogges Manor Farm Museum) is a 16th- and 17th-century house built around the remains of one wing of a manor house that originated in the middle of the 12th century.[7] The remains of the 13th century building were altered in the 16th century[7] and a second wing was added after 1667.[6] In 1974 Oxfordshire County Council bought the house and converted it into a Cogges Manor Farm Museum.[6]5[9]
An open field system of farming prevailed in the parish until 1787 when an Act of Parliament enabled the common land to be enclosed.
Cogges was a separate civil parish until 1932, when the former village became part of Witney and the remaining rural parts were divided between the civil parishes of Ducklington and South Leigh.[1]
References
- 1 2 Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 54–55.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 54–59.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 69–72.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 550.
- ↑ Page 1907, pp. 161–162.
- 1 2 3 4 Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 59–61.
- 1 2 3 4 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 551.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 61–67.
- ↑ Cogges Manor Farm Museum
Sources and further reading
- Blair, J; Steane, John M. (1982). "Investigations at Cogges, Oxfordshire 1978–81: The Priory and the Parish Church". Oxoniensia. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society. XLVII: 37–126.
- Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C.R. (eds.); Baggs, A.P.; Blair, W.J.; Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Day, C.J.; Selwyn, Nesta; Townley, Simon C. (1990). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock. Victoria County History. Victoria County History of the Counties of England. pp. 54–75. ISBN 0-19-722774-0.
- Page, William, ed. (1907). A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 2. Victoria County History. Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 161–162.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 550–551. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
- Steane, John M., ed. (1984). Cogges A guide to the museum and village. (sic). Cogges Agricultural Heritage Museum Association Limited. ISBN 0-901036-06-4.
External links
The Blake Primary School Cogges
Media related to Cogges at Wikimedia Commons
