Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire Family History Guide
Nuneham Courtenay is an Ancient Parish in the county of Oxfordshire.
Alternative names:
- Newman
- Nuneham
- Nuneham Courtney
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1715
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1721
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
NUNEHAM-COURTNEY, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district of Abingdon and county of Oxford. The village stands near the river Thames at the boundary with Berks, 2¼ miles ENE of Culham r. station, and 5¼ SSE of Oxford; was transferred to its present site, from the neighbourhood of Nuneham House, by the first Lord Harcourt; consists mostly of neatly-arranged and pretty thatched cottages; and has a post-office under Oxford, and an inn. The parish comprises 2,079 acres. Real property, £2, 731. Pop., 314. Houses, 65.
The manor, with Nuneham Park and most of the property, belonged to successively the De Courcis, the Courtenays, the Pollards, and others; passed to the Harcourt family; was bequeathed by the last Lord Harcourt to his kinsman the Archbishop of York; and belongs now to the Rev. W. Harcourt. The mansion stands on a wooded height, above the Thames; contains a rich collection of paintings; and has a pane of glass, brought from Pope’s study at Stanton-Harcourt, and bearing an inscription written by himself with a diamond, and recording that he there completed the fifth book of his “Homer.”
The grounds comprise about 1, 200 acres; were laid out by Brown; include an eminence commanding a good view of the winding Thames up to Oxford; contain beautiful gardens, partly planned by the poet Mason; contain also the beautiful conduit of Otho Nicholson, long a chief ornament of Oxford, and removed hither by reconstruction in 1787; and are a favourite resort of picnic parties. Walpole says, “Nuneham is not superb, but so calm, riant, and comfortable, so live-at-able, one wakes in a morning on such a whole picture of beauty.”
The parish is a meet for the old Berkshire hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £456. Patron, the Rev. W. Harcourt. The church was rebuilt in 1764, by Earl Harcourt; is a small structure, in the Grecian style, with a dome; and contains an altar-piece by the poet Mason. There are a parochial school, and charities £30.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Maps
Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time
Administration
- County: Oxfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Abingdon
- Probate Court: Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and the Archdeaconry of Oxford
- Diocese: Oxford
- Rural Deanery: Cuddesdon
- Poor Law Union: Abingdon
- Hundred: Bullingdon
- Province: Canterbury