Eynsham

Extract from Discovering Wychwood by Charles Keighley

The village of Eynsham sits on a gravel terrace just north of the River Thames at the south-eastern edge of of Norman Forest of Wychwood, at a place where crossing the river was possible.  There is a long history of settlement with direct evidence as far back as the Bronze age.  Documentary evidence for the existence of Eynsham is first found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 571.  Eynsham Abbey, founded in 1005, was a significant and powerful institution and one of the most important abbeys in the country.  The first Abbot was the famous scholar Aelfric.  In the 1200s Abbot Adam began a process of expansion that saw the creation of the abbey fish ponds to the south and a new borough - the New Land - to the north.  The abbey was dissolved under Henry VIII after which it gradually fell into disrepair.  

Eynsham has, for centuries, been a thriving trading community.  The first market licence was granted in 1150.  Today some 2000 people are estimated to work in the village.  The Thames has played an important part in the business life of the town and a wharf for loading goods for transport to Oxford and London was in existence from 1302.  The Wharf Stream still exists to the south of the village and remnants of the wharf structures can still be seen along the bank side.  The difficulty of crossing the Thames made places such as Eynsham particularly important.  Even so, the crossing itself remained hazardous until the construction of a toll bridge in 1769.  The toll is still active, a charge of 5p being made for each car.  Eynsham has a population of approximately 4500 people.  Much more information can be found at Eynsham Online.

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