Wytham Woods
| Wytham | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' parish church |
|
 Wytham
|
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| Wytham shown within Oxfordshire | |
| Population | 131 (2001 census) |
| OS grid reference | SP4708 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Oxford |
| Postcode district | OX2 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | www |
Wytham /ˈwaɪtəm/ is a village and civil parish on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road (A34). The nearest village is Godstow.
Wytham was the northernmost part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The toponym is first recorded as Wihtham around AD 957, and comes from the Old English for a homestead or village in a river-bend.
The manor of Wytham, along with Wytham Abbey (not a religious foundation but the manor house) and much of the village, was formerly owned by the Earls of Abingdon. The Church of England parish church of All Saints was originally a medieval building but it was extensively rebuilt between 1811 and 1812 by Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon.
During World War II, in about 1941, the owners of Wytham Abbey agreed to take in six East End children, as part of the evacuee programme. This was in preference to a number of Canadian infantry, whom they were also asked to accommodate. As the war progressed they got the Canadian infantry anyway. The evacuees were educated by a governess, and returned to the East End with impeccable accents. Outings were in a big car to the local chip shop. When the infantry arrived, the young soldiers took the evacuees on their tanks as they trained in the woods, crashing into trees. The owners of the Abbey were Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (cousin of the Queen Mother) and her husband, a diamond millionaire. When he died suddenly, the evacuees were moved to less comfortable accommodation. The Infantry went off to war. A photo of the evacuees standing on the grand staircase of the Abbey, below a bronze statue of a horse, appeared in a national newspaper, the News Chronicle. The Abbey was sold by the University of Oxford in 1992 and is now in private hands. The secret room in which the diamond millionaire was said to keep his diamonds is still there, but with no diamonds.
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Wikipedia