Christmas Common
| Christmas Common | |
|---|---|
 Former Chapel of the Nativity, now a private house |
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 Christmas Common
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| Christmas Common shown within Oxfordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SU713932 |
| • London | 43 miles (69 km) |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Watlington |
| Postcode district | OX49 |
| Dialling code | 01491 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Watlington Parish Council |
Christmas Common is a hamlet in Watlington civil parish, Oxfordshire about 7 1⁄2 miles (12 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, close to the boundary with Buckinghamshire. The hamlet is 812 feet (247 m) above sea level on an escarpment of the Chiltern Hills. Because of its elevation, Christmas Common has two radio masts that are prominent local landmarks.
The hamlet's unusual toponym is of uncertain origin. It is variously ascribed to a 1643 Christmas Day truce between combatants in the English Civil War, local holly tree coppices, or the Christmas family, which had local connections.
Watlington Park is a private park and country house about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) southwest of Christmas Common. In 1675 Thomas Stonor of Stonor Park had a large house built here on an H-shaped plan. The Stonor family were recusants, and the house included a Roman Catholic chapel at which local Roman Catholics attended Mass. Between 1716 and 1756 John Talbot Stonor, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was a frequent visitor.
In the 1750s the Stonors sold the house to John Tilson, who had a new house built to a compact Palladian design and re-used at least part of the older house as servants' quarters. Late in the 19th and early in the 20th century, subsequent owners altered and enlarged the Tilson house. Oliver Brett, later Viscount Esher, bought Watlington Park in 1921 and continued enlarging and modernising it. In 1954 his successor Major Lionel Brett, an architect, demolished all the extensions and the remains of the 17th century Stonor house and added pedimented pavilions of his own design. In 1967 Lionel Brett, by now 4th Viscount Esher, built the modernist Tower House for himself in a wood away from the hamlet.
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Wikipedia