The Oxhill News

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History comes to life

We all know some of Oxhill's history, for example the Battle of Edgehill in 1642, the Church of St Lawrence which has been here since the 1200s, and the turbulent times that have occurred over the centuries.

For me, it is rare to be confronted by the past, but it happened recently when an email arrived at the Oxhill News from Jim Walton. Jim lives in Philadelphia and has been busy tracing his ancestry, and had reached the stage where he wanted to visit Oxhill, the village of his forebears.

We met with Ann Hale who told us that three Waltons were christened at St Lawrence's in 1662.  They were Nathaniel, Daniel and a sister, Hester as shown in the baptism register.

It turns out that Jim's great great great great great great great grandfather left Oxhill in the 1680s , heading for the New World. The four Waltons who left for America were Nathaniel, Daniel and two other brothers, Thomas and William.

Jim thinks his present house in Philadelphia is situated on the site of the first Walton house built in the 1680s.

Ann gave us information about the Waltons, their graves and likely site of their home in Oxhill.  She also told us that the font was ousted from the church in 1817 and used for a time as a flower pot (at Ettington Park: the Shirley family being then the patrons of the church), until Mr Evelyn Shirley kindly restored it to the church in 1879.

Jim, pictured here was delighted to reconnect with his past and to find they came from such a lovely village.

This site is maintained by villagers of Oxhill for the benefit of the community and those interested in the history, news and activities that make the village such a pleasant place to live.

Last modified: July 01, 2015