Islip

"ISLIP, a parish in the hundred of Ploughley, county Oxford, 16.5 miles S.E. of Woodstock, and 7 N.E. of Oxford, its post town. It has a station on the Oxford and Bletchley branch of the London and North-Western railway. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Wray and Cherwell. The village is of ancient date, and was formerly a market town; and was the birth-place of Edward the Confessor, whose father, Ethelred II., had a palace here, the chapel of which was standing in the latter part of the last century. The soil is fertile, and the population chiefly agricultural. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford, value £398, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. It was once held by Bishop Ravis, Aglionby, one of the translators of the Bible; Heylin, the author of the "Cosmographie", and Dean Vincent. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is an ancient edifice with a square tower. It has recently been restored, and the ancient font used at the baptism of Edward the Confessor, which was removed during the Great Rebellion, is now in the garden of the rectory. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge. The charities produce £120 per annum, chiefly the endowment of South's and Auger's school, which was founded in 1710, and provides for the education, clothing, and apprenticing of 25 boys and 16 girls. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are lords of the manor." [The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]