Cumnor Berkshire Family History Guide

Cumnor is an Ancient Parish in the county of Berkshire.

Other places in the parish include: Hillend, Henwood, Hill End, Chilswell, Chawley, Whitley, Swinford, Stroud, Botley, and Bradley.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin: 1559

Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Cumnor

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

CUMNOR, a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Abingdon district, Berks. The village stands on the brow of a hill, 2 miles E of the river Isis, and 3¾ WSW of Oxford; and has a post-office under Oxford, and an inn. The township includes the village.

The parish includes also the liberty of Chilswell, and the tythings of Bradley, Chawley, Henwood, Hill-End, Stroud, Swinford, Whitley, and part of Botley. Acres, 7, 730. Real property, £7, 096. Pop., 1, 021. Houses, 212. The property is divided among a few.

The manor belonged to Abingdon abbey; was given, at the dissolution, to the last abbot; and passed, in 1560, to Anthony Forster. The mansion on it was the scene of the murder of Amy Robsart, as related in Mickle’s ballad of “Cumnor,” and Sir Walter Scott’s novel of “Kenilworth;” but was really a low quadrangular edifice surrounding a small court, and not the spacious and towered structure depicted in these works; and it has entirely disappeared. The surface of the parish is hilly; and there is a mineral spring.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, not reported. Patron, the Earl of Abingdon. The church is partly Norman; consists of nave, north aisle, south chapel, and chancel, with a western tower; and contains an altar-tomb of Anthony Forster, and brasses. Charities, £81. John Drope, physician and poet, and Francis Drope, author of a work on fruit trees, were natives.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Bradley

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Bradley in Cumnor, nr. Oxford. P. 7.

Source:  Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.

A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833

Bradley, co. Berks.

P. T. Abingdon (56) 5 m. NNW. Pop. 5. A tything in the parish of Cumnor in the hundred of Hormer.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. I; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.

Chawley

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870

Chawley, a tything in Cumnor parish, Berks; 2 ¼ miles SW of Oxford. Real property, £870.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

Chawley, a tything in the parish of Cumnor, Berks; 3 miles south-west of Oxford. Pop., in 1801, 72; in 1831, 69. Houses 17. Other returns with the parish.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.

Chilswell

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870

Chilswell, a liberty in Cumnor parish, Berks; 3 ¼ miles WSW of Oxford. Pop., 12.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Whitley

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

Whitley, a tything in the parish of Cumnor, hund. of Hormer, union of Abingdon, county of Berks; 5 miles west by south of Oxford, east of the Isis. Acreage with the parish. Houses 6. Pop., in 1831, 38.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.

Parish Records

FamilySearch

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – Cemeteries ( 1 )
A survey of Cumnor graveyard : a survey of the old churchyard area of St. Michael’s parish church, Cumnor, undertaken by members of Cumnor history Society in April, 1986
Author: Brown, D., Mrs.; Oxfordshire Family History Society

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – Census ( 1 )
Census returns for Cumnor, 1841-1891
Author: Great Britain. Census Office

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – Church records ( 7 )
Bishop’s transcripts for Cumnor, 1607-1835
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire)

Cumnor, Berks., parish registers, 1559-1970
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire); Oxfordshire Family History Society

Frilford & Longworth Mission Chapel baptisms, 1845-1955
Author: Frilford and Longworth Mission Chapel (Berkshire); Oxfordshire Family History Society

Oxfordshire parish register transcripts : Abingdon Registration District
Author: Oxfordshire Family History Society

Parish registers, parish chest and poor law records for Cumnor, 1538-1907
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire)

South Hinksey parish registers, 1607-1924
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of South Hinksey (Berkshire); Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire); Harris, Colin G.; Greenaway, Gwen; Hutt, Janice

Wootton, Berks., parish registers : [transcripts], 1607-1952
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Wootton (Berkshire); Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire); Palmer, Judith; Brooks, John; Oxfordshire Family History Society

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – History ( 2 )
An historical and descriptive account of Cumnor Place, Berks : with biographical notices of the Lady Amy Dudley and of Anthony Forster, followed by some remarks on the statements in Sir Walter Scott’s Kenilworth; and a brief history of the parish of Cumnor and its antiquities
Author: Bartlett, Alfred Durling

Studies in the history of Cumnor
Author: Oxley, J. E.

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – Poorhouses, poor law, etc. ( 1 )
Parish registers, parish chest and poor law records for Cumnor, 1538-1907
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Cumnor (Berkshire)

England, Berkshire, Cumnor – Schools ( 1 )
Cumnor School records, 1863-1900
Author: Cumnor School (Oxfordshire)

Maps

Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time

Administration

  • County: Berkshire
  • Civil Registration District: Abingdon
  • Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire
  • Diocese: Pre-1836 – Salisbury, Post-1835 – Oxford
  • Rural Deanery: Abingdon
  • Poor Law Union: Abingdon
  • Hundred: Hormer
  • Province: Canterbury