In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Mapledurham like this:
MAPLE-DURHAM, a Village and a parish in the district of Bradfield and county of Oxford. The village stands on the river Thames at the boundary with Berks, under a sheltering ridge of hills, 2½ miles E of Pangbourne r. station, and 3½ NW by W of Reading; and has a pos tal letter-box under Reading. ...
The parish includes the tythings of Chawsey and Gurney, and comprises 2,87 8 acres. Real property, £4,906; of which £20 are in fish eries. Pop., 486. Houses, 102. Maple-Durham House is a Tudor mansion, the seat of M. H. Blount, Esq.; was built in 1523, by Sir Michael Blount; was fortified for Charles I., in the time of the civil war, by Sir Charles Blount; has a fine oak staircase, with carved vases of flowers on the landings; contains many interesting pictures, chiefly family portraits; and is sung by Pope as the place to which his "Parthenia ''retired from London, when
She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashioned balls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks.A beautiful elm-tree avenue, nearly a mile long, leads from the front of the mansion; and a row of shady pines stands along nearly all the road from the village to Caversham. Maple-Durham lock, on the Thames navigation, has a fall of 5 feet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford-Valne, £878. Patron, Eton College. The. church stands embowered in trees near the river; is an ancient edifice, restored in 1863; comprises nave, S aisle and chancel, with new stone porch, and with a tower recently raised 24 feet above its previous height; has, in the tower, a clock presented by King William IV., and bearing the royal initials; and contains a handsome monument to Sir Richard Blount, and some fine brasses. There is an alms house for six aged men and women.
Mapledurham through time
Mapledurham is now part of South Oxfordshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Oxfordshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Mapledurham itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Mapledurham in South Oxfordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9963
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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