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Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire

Hampton Poyle  lies to the north of Oxford - Bicester road on the R. Cherwell, 1½ north of Kidlington.

A description in the PO Directory of 1854 gives:-

Hampton Poyle is a parish and village, 6 miles north of Oxford, and 4 ½ from Woodstock, situated on the Charwell, in the Hundred of Ploughley, and in Woodstock union, contained in 1851 a population of 138 and about 700 acres of land.  The church is dedicated to St.Mary, is an ancient structure, and has been partly repaired by the instrumentality of the present rector, the Rev. Joseph Dodd.  It is in the early English style of architecture, with the nave and the south aisle in the decorated style; in the interior are two recesses, and two monumental effigies of the Poyle family, from whom the village derives its distinctive name. The living is a rectory, in the gift of Queen’s College, Oxford of the yearly value of £250, with a glebe house attached. There are two free schools, one for youth of both sexes, the other for infants, supported chiefly by the rector.

Listed among the tradesmen was GILES Thomas, ‘Bell’.  Thomas was the eldest son of Martin and Jane.

From the Hampton Gay and Poyle scrapbook of 1954-5

“The Bell Inn is the official bus stop in Hampton Poyle. This inn is believed to be a 17th century ale house. It was thatched until 1949. In 1952 the building was extended and modernised”.. An old photograph shows it had a thatched  thatched roof  there was a  pole on which the sign swung in front of the pub. “...All these features are gone and only a small triangular shaped piece of garden remains. Oddly enough the front garden of the inn laps over part of the Bell Cottage.”

Our Family Connection.

Martin GILES [1056] was born in Hampton Gay in 1767 and married Jane HADLAND [1080] in Bletchingdon in 1790. Later in 1790 they had an order removing them from Hampton Gay to Hampton Poyle where they had 5 children. Martin was buried in Hampton Poyle in 1831.


Thomas GILES [1072] kept the Inn and lived here with his family from about 1847 until about 1868 when his daughter Mary Giles took it over.


Photo: Bell Inn in April 1990
Eric McMullin.

Photographs  by Eric McMullin  in April 1990


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