Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NUNEHAM-COURTNEY

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 E N E of Culham r.station, and 5¼ S S E of Oxford; was transferred to itspresent 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 mansionstands 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 ofhis " 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 afavourite 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 sucha 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.—The sub-district contains also seven other parishes, and parts of two others. Acres, 12,009. Pop., 3, 500. Houses, 628.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Nuneham Courtenay AP/CP       Nuneham Courtenay SubD       Oxfordshire AncC
Place: Nuneham Courtenay

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