A brief history of Shutford
Tucked away unobtrusively in a fold of the north-eastern Cotswolds and lying between the main roads from Banbury to Stratford-upon-Avon and Shipston -on-Stour, it is not surprising that Shutford should receive scant mention in guidebooks. In fact, despite its small size (it has less than 450 inhabitants and only about 150 houses) and comparative obscurity, it is worthy of greater attention.
The village is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. Its early name in the twelfth century – Schiteford – underwent a wide variety of changes before reaching its present form, and according to the Oxford Dictionary of Place Names, meant ‘the archer’s ford’ (from the Old English scytta = archer), or Scytta’s Ford (from the name of a person). Whichever of these derivations is preferred, it is certain that the site of Shutford must have been well known to both Romans and Saxons as well as to their predecessors. The whole of the surrounding area was settled from an early period. There are Iron Age barrows in the neighbouring villages of Sibford Gower and Swalcliffe, and in the latter, only a stone’s throw from the Shutford boundary, the remains of a camp and an extensive Romano-British settlement – Madmarston. Part of the southern boundary of the parish of Shutford is a Roman road. This is the Salt Street (12th century), or Salt Way (current usage), which ran from Droitwich through Stratford-upon-Avon and Ettington, past the settlement at Madmarston and thence to Broughton, Bodicote and Twyford. A lengthy section of the road, now used solely for agricultural purposes survives, still clearly defined and provides a pleasant walk from Shutford.
The most striking feature of the village, and one which is probably unique in England, is the juxtaposition of public house, church, and manor house, ascending in that order from the central crossroads up the hillside and forming a remarkable group of buildings with a roof pattern almost continental in its complexity.
St Martin’s church, which is a modest, pleasant building, dates from the latter half of the 12th century. It has a late Norman nave arcade with round pillars and scalloped capitals and a good 15th century oak screen. One of its most interesting features is the presence on the south doorway of several incised crosses which almost certainly were made by pilgrims in the Middle Ages on their way to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain.
The manor house with its tall staircase tower stands above the village, dwarfs the church and is a landmark for miles around. It was built between 1580 and 1600 by Sir Richard Fiennes, Member of Parliament for Banbury in 1585, but never occupied by the Fiennes family, although just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the then Lord Saye and Sele, a Parliamentarian, is reputed to have secretly drilled soldiers in the upper storey which at that time was a room 80 feet (24 metres) long. In July 1980 the house celebrated its 400th anniversary. On this occasion, the then owners, two Americans, who had furnished it with discrimination, invited the whole village to a birthday party with Elizabethan songs and dancing and a supper of roast pig washed down with copious draughts of ale.
There are many houses in the village which are well over 200 years old, all of them of Hornton stone, but reputedly the oldest of these is the former Quaker Meeting House in Ivy Lane, which was licensed as such in 1690. This part of North Oxfordshire was at that time a strong Quaker area and Shutford must have been one of its strongholds, for the Meeting House catered not only for the village itself, but also for the neighbouring communities of Horley, Shenington and Tadmarton. However, in the last quarter of the 18th century numbers declined and in 1804 it was decided to terminate the Shutford meeting, though the land surrounding the house continued to be used for Quaker burials until 1851. Finally in 1880 the building was sold and, small though it is a s single dwelling today, converted into two cottages.
While the influence here of the Society of Friends was declining, a new activity – weaving, and in particular the weaving of plush (a rich fabric of silk, cotton, wool, or a combination of these, with a long, soft nap) - came into being. The exact date on which it started is not known, but plush was being made in Shutford in 1747 and one Shutford family, the Wrench’s, continued to be engaged in it for the next 200 years. Indeed, from the beginning of the 19th century onwards, Shutford plush was synonymous with the firm of Wrench’s.
The importance of Shutford in the plush trade must be judged by comparison with the figures for the whole of England. In 1841 two thirds of all the plush weavers in the country lived in the Banbury area, and of these about a quarter were in Shutford. Thereafter, as the plush trade declined, the relative importance of Shutford increased and from 1909 onwards the firm of Wrench’s was the only one surviving locally.
In the early days of the 19th century the industry was still essentially a cottage one, most of the weavers working at home and having their material finished in the factory. Until 1885, when there were 40 hand looms working in the village, all the plush made in Shutford was handwoven and even after the introduction of steam power in that year, hand looms were retained since certain types of plush for liveries, upholstery and furnishings could only be made on these; attempts to produce the material on power looms having met with no success. It is noteworthy that by 1910, Wrench’s were the only makers of handwoven livery plush in the world. In this year too, the firm won two gold and one silver medal at the Brussels International Exhibition. An earlier honour had been won in London in 1862 for the production of fine black plush.
The uses to which the Shutford plush was put were many. Some went to Queen Victoria for decorations at Windsor, other material was specially made for the state liveries of royal courts all over Europe and more again for the embassies of China, Japan, Persia and the United States. The Heythrop Hunt, the Carlton Club, the Lord Mayor of London and Tsar Nicholas II at his coronation, all used silk plush from Shutford. Silk plush was also made for the far eastern marker and was very popular among African tribesmen for making colourful coats and dresses. It is indeed a matter for wonder that such fin material, used and prized all over the world, should have come from this tiny north Oxfordshire village.
In 1913 disaster struck the factory and practically everything in it was destroyed by fire. However, the business was again built up and enjoyed a considerable measure of prosperity during the period between the wars. After the Second World War the difficulty of obtaining yarn, labour problems and the lack of any prospect of any improvement in these conditions, combined with the ill health of the proprietor, caused him in 1948 to decide, reluctantly to sell up.
The effect of this on the village, though not as great as it would have been in the factory’s heyday, was nevertheless serious. Twenty years later the consequences were still visible. There was a dozen ruined and unoccupied houses in the village; the school had been closed; the former plush factory and its immediate surroundings had been converted, drearily, for th e making of concrete blocks; there was no permanent vicar; for a time, there was not even a public house; press and radio referred to Shutford as a neglected and desolate village.
Since then, fortunately, there has been a slow but steady improvement. All the derelict houses have been restored or rebuilt and many new houses built, including some 40 properties on the Dairyground (where once had been allotments) and another smaller group at the Rickyard (on what was previously part of a farmyard). The concrete works has been converted into six units devoted to light industry. There is a flourishing public house, a permanent though heavily shared vicar, and an increasing number of school-age children. The newcomers to the village include many young people who have integrated well into village life and who are deeply concerned to make that life as attractive as possible. This concern has been given practical expression through various projects, which include the regular production of a newsletter distributed to every household – The Shutford News.
In 1995 Shutford celebrated the Centenary of the Parish Council with a major exhibition of Parish records, crafts, hobbies, and an historical section (including a large plush display), as well as a special church service and social evening. Later in hat year, the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II in Europe, VE Day was marked by another exhibition in the village hall (on this occasion with a wartime flavour), a large picnic on the Dairyground, the lighting of a bonfire on Jesters Hill, followed by a church service, attended by members of the Royal British Legion who then paraded from Church to village hall where they laid a wreath at the War Memorial. The Parish Council voted fund to erect a commemorative beacon on Jesters Hill and from 1996 this has become a distinctive local landmark used for many community celebrations. Indeed, in 2022 we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with similar celebrations – a beacon lighting on Jesters Hill and village picnic on the Dairyground.
From being a run down, neglected village in the 1970s, Shutford has become a truly vital, lively and friendly village, with a new Village Hall opened in 2017, thanks to National Lottery Funding and local business donations. The George & Dragon Public house continues to thrive, and there are regular activities and social clubs to suit all ages.
The Romans and Saxons may be long gone, but there will always be challenges to rural communities such as Shutford, not least the need for extensive new housing provision across the country. If the village continues to be as flexible and adaptable as it has been over the last decades, it need have few fears of its ability to remain a lively and thriving community for many years to come.
[adapted from a 1996 account by W D J Wadley and Colin Rodda – former chairs of Shutford Parish Council]
The village is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. Its early name in the twelfth century – Schiteford – underwent a wide variety of changes before reaching its present form, and according to the Oxford Dictionary of Place Names, meant ‘the archer’s ford’ (from the Old English scytta = archer), or Scytta’s Ford (from the name of a person). Whichever of these derivations is preferred, it is certain that the site of Shutford must have been well known to both Romans and Saxons as well as to their predecessors. The whole of the surrounding area was settled from an early period. There are Iron Age barrows in the neighbouring villages of Sibford Gower and Swalcliffe, and in the latter, only a stone’s throw from the Shutford boundary, the remains of a camp and an extensive Romano-British settlement – Madmarston. Part of the southern boundary of the parish of Shutford is a Roman road. This is the Salt Street (12th century), or Salt Way (current usage), which ran from Droitwich through Stratford-upon-Avon and Ettington, past the settlement at Madmarston and thence to Broughton, Bodicote and Twyford. A lengthy section of the road, now used solely for agricultural purposes survives, still clearly defined and provides a pleasant walk from Shutford.
The most striking feature of the village, and one which is probably unique in England, is the juxtaposition of public house, church, and manor house, ascending in that order from the central crossroads up the hillside and forming a remarkable group of buildings with a roof pattern almost continental in its complexity.
St Martin’s church, which is a modest, pleasant building, dates from the latter half of the 12th century. It has a late Norman nave arcade with round pillars and scalloped capitals and a good 15th century oak screen. One of its most interesting features is the presence on the south doorway of several incised crosses which almost certainly were made by pilgrims in the Middle Ages on their way to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain.
The manor house with its tall staircase tower stands above the village, dwarfs the church and is a landmark for miles around. It was built between 1580 and 1600 by Sir Richard Fiennes, Member of Parliament for Banbury in 1585, but never occupied by the Fiennes family, although just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the then Lord Saye and Sele, a Parliamentarian, is reputed to have secretly drilled soldiers in the upper storey which at that time was a room 80 feet (24 metres) long. In July 1980 the house celebrated its 400th anniversary. On this occasion, the then owners, two Americans, who had furnished it with discrimination, invited the whole village to a birthday party with Elizabethan songs and dancing and a supper of roast pig washed down with copious draughts of ale.
There are many houses in the village which are well over 200 years old, all of them of Hornton stone, but reputedly the oldest of these is the former Quaker Meeting House in Ivy Lane, which was licensed as such in 1690. This part of North Oxfordshire was at that time a strong Quaker area and Shutford must have been one of its strongholds, for the Meeting House catered not only for the village itself, but also for the neighbouring communities of Horley, Shenington and Tadmarton. However, in the last quarter of the 18th century numbers declined and in 1804 it was decided to terminate the Shutford meeting, though the land surrounding the house continued to be used for Quaker burials until 1851. Finally in 1880 the building was sold and, small though it is a s single dwelling today, converted into two cottages.
While the influence here of the Society of Friends was declining, a new activity – weaving, and in particular the weaving of plush (a rich fabric of silk, cotton, wool, or a combination of these, with a long, soft nap) - came into being. The exact date on which it started is not known, but plush was being made in Shutford in 1747 and one Shutford family, the Wrench’s, continued to be engaged in it for the next 200 years. Indeed, from the beginning of the 19th century onwards, Shutford plush was synonymous with the firm of Wrench’s.
The importance of Shutford in the plush trade must be judged by comparison with the figures for the whole of England. In 1841 two thirds of all the plush weavers in the country lived in the Banbury area, and of these about a quarter were in Shutford. Thereafter, as the plush trade declined, the relative importance of Shutford increased and from 1909 onwards the firm of Wrench’s was the only one surviving locally.
In the early days of the 19th century the industry was still essentially a cottage one, most of the weavers working at home and having their material finished in the factory. Until 1885, when there were 40 hand looms working in the village, all the plush made in Shutford was handwoven and even after the introduction of steam power in that year, hand looms were retained since certain types of plush for liveries, upholstery and furnishings could only be made on these; attempts to produce the material on power looms having met with no success. It is noteworthy that by 1910, Wrench’s were the only makers of handwoven livery plush in the world. In this year too, the firm won two gold and one silver medal at the Brussels International Exhibition. An earlier honour had been won in London in 1862 for the production of fine black plush.
The uses to which the Shutford plush was put were many. Some went to Queen Victoria for decorations at Windsor, other material was specially made for the state liveries of royal courts all over Europe and more again for the embassies of China, Japan, Persia and the United States. The Heythrop Hunt, the Carlton Club, the Lord Mayor of London and Tsar Nicholas II at his coronation, all used silk plush from Shutford. Silk plush was also made for the far eastern marker and was very popular among African tribesmen for making colourful coats and dresses. It is indeed a matter for wonder that such fin material, used and prized all over the world, should have come from this tiny north Oxfordshire village.
In 1913 disaster struck the factory and practically everything in it was destroyed by fire. However, the business was again built up and enjoyed a considerable measure of prosperity during the period between the wars. After the Second World War the difficulty of obtaining yarn, labour problems and the lack of any prospect of any improvement in these conditions, combined with the ill health of the proprietor, caused him in 1948 to decide, reluctantly to sell up.
The effect of this on the village, though not as great as it would have been in the factory’s heyday, was nevertheless serious. Twenty years later the consequences were still visible. There was a dozen ruined and unoccupied houses in the village; the school had been closed; the former plush factory and its immediate surroundings had been converted, drearily, for th e making of concrete blocks; there was no permanent vicar; for a time, there was not even a public house; press and radio referred to Shutford as a neglected and desolate village.
Since then, fortunately, there has been a slow but steady improvement. All the derelict houses have been restored or rebuilt and many new houses built, including some 40 properties on the Dairyground (where once had been allotments) and another smaller group at the Rickyard (on what was previously part of a farmyard). The concrete works has been converted into six units devoted to light industry. There is a flourishing public house, a permanent though heavily shared vicar, and an increasing number of school-age children. The newcomers to the village include many young people who have integrated well into village life and who are deeply concerned to make that life as attractive as possible. This concern has been given practical expression through various projects, which include the regular production of a newsletter distributed to every household – The Shutford News.
In 1995 Shutford celebrated the Centenary of the Parish Council with a major exhibition of Parish records, crafts, hobbies, and an historical section (including a large plush display), as well as a special church service and social evening. Later in hat year, the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II in Europe, VE Day was marked by another exhibition in the village hall (on this occasion with a wartime flavour), a large picnic on the Dairyground, the lighting of a bonfire on Jesters Hill, followed by a church service, attended by members of the Royal British Legion who then paraded from Church to village hall where they laid a wreath at the War Memorial. The Parish Council voted fund to erect a commemorative beacon on Jesters Hill and from 1996 this has become a distinctive local landmark used for many community celebrations. Indeed, in 2022 we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with similar celebrations – a beacon lighting on Jesters Hill and village picnic on the Dairyground.
From being a run down, neglected village in the 1970s, Shutford has become a truly vital, lively and friendly village, with a new Village Hall opened in 2017, thanks to National Lottery Funding and local business donations. The George & Dragon Public house continues to thrive, and there are regular activities and social clubs to suit all ages.
The Romans and Saxons may be long gone, but there will always be challenges to rural communities such as Shutford, not least the need for extensive new housing provision across the country. If the village continues to be as flexible and adaptable as it has been over the last decades, it need have few fears of its ability to remain a lively and thriving community for many years to come.
[adapted from a 1996 account by W D J Wadley and Colin Rodda – former chairs of Shutford Parish Council]
You can read more about days gone by in Shutford here, in an article written by local man Lem, circa 1960s.