Welcome to my Crowell Village webpage. Crowell is a
tiny village in Oxfordshire, located on the B4009 between Chinnor and Kingston
Blount near to Thame, the main part of the village is at the foot of the Chiltern
Hills with part of the parish extending up onto Crowell Hill. This is just a
‘personal webpage’ and is not an official website for the village.
My interest in Crowell village stems from researching
my family tree and in particular my ‘Bowler’ family line. My branch of the
Bowler family lived in Crowell from the beginning of the 1820’s to around the
end of the 19th century. From November
1863 until April 1883 the Bowler family were running the only pub in the
village, The Catherine Wheel. The Catherine Wheel still survives as the local
pub but has been renamed The Shepherds Crook (sometime in the 1990’s)
The Shepherds Crook, previously The Catherine
Wheel (photos 2005)
The Shepherds Crook (photo 2014)
The above photos show the pub as it was in 2005 and
as it is today following the refurbishment in 2013. The present building dates
from around 1859/60 when the previous building was destroyed by fire, the pub
was rebuilt in time to be recorded on the 1861 census. It is not clear who rebuilt
the pub but the landlord at the time, Jesse Stevens, is also recorded in the
census as a bricklayer so may well have been involved its rebuilding. Local
resident James Harding may also have played a significant part in the
rebuilding; in an 1863 trade directory he is listed as ‘Carpenter and
Builder’, the only carpenter or builder listed in the village at that
time. His stepson Frederick Bowler also
took over as landlord of the pub in 1863. It is of course equally possible
outside craftsmen / labour was used to rebuild the Catherine wheel. A list of
landlords of the Catherine Wheel that I have found in various sources can be
viewed here.
Note:-
January 2023 , the Shepherds Crook is currently closed and up for sale
Close to the
pub stands the parish church, The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
St
Mary’s Crowell (photos - left 2008 and right 2005)
St
Mary’s is still in regular use and is linked with the nearby parishes of
Chinnor, Sydenham and Aston Rowant. The original registers are held at
Oxfordshire Record Office, a note at the beginning of the register records:-
“The Revd, Tho. Phelps planted a Yew tree in the Church yard at
Crowell March 12th 1830” There is
still a Yew tree close to the church entrance, possibly the one planted by
Reverend Phelps?
The
current building dates mostly from 1878 when a major restoration took place
although a lot of the original materials were used in the reconstruction. An
1852 directory describes the earlier church as ‘a
small ancient building having a nave and spire, with a low wooden tower, in,
which are three bells’. Kelly’s 1915 directory describes the new
church ‘The Church of St Mary is a small building
of flint, chiefly in the Decorated style, and lined inside with chalk, and
consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a modern stone bell-cote containing
one bell: the chancel which is decorated and appears to have been shortened at
an early period, retains two sedilia and a blocked low-side window: the
doorways are Norman and the font Transitional: there is a brass to Sir John
Payne, parson, 1469 with a demi-effigy and eight English verses: the church was
partially rebuilt in 1878 at a cost of £1,300 and affords 102 sittings’.
St
Mary’s is also home to Crowell’s World War 1 memorial, which lists the names of
2 soldiers from Crowell who were killed in World War 1. Herbert George WIXON
killed 1915 and Corp. Harry WITNEY killed 1918, both were in the Ox and Bucks
Light Infantry.
WW1
memorial in St Mary’s church (photo 2009)
A
second brass plaque in St Mary’s commemorates Henry Hamp HILL also killed in
World War 1, who I think came from nearby Kingston Blount, which may explain
why he is not mentioned on the main plaque, Henry is also shown on the Aston
Rowant war memorial.
Parish website:- https://www.chinnorunitedchurches.co.uk/
A list of
men from Crowell who served in WW1 produced by Rev V Collier is held at the Oxfordshire
Record Office, a transcript of the names is available here.
A transcription of various trade directory entries
for Crowell can be found here.
A major
event in Crowell’s history was a fire in July 1859. The Times 1st August 1859
edition carried an article on the fire, it reported
‘as many as 13 houses and cottages, including the Wheel public house, were
burnt to the ground.’ ‘About 70
persons, including men, women and children are thrown into distress by this
fire’. A transcript of some reports of the fire can be found here.
While
the fire must have had a dramatic effect of the village and its residents it
does not appear to have had much effect on the number of people living in the
village, the figures below are take from census data.
Year
|
Population
|
1841 |
169 |
1851 |
167 |
1861 |
162 |
1871 |
203 |
1881 |
121 |
1891 |
102 |
1901 |
104 |
1911 |
83 |
1921 |
92 |
1931 |
78 |
Figures taken from Online Historical Population
Reports at www.histpop.org
The
population actually rises between 1861 and 1871 while the biggest decline
occurs between 1871 and 1881 with a slow but steady decline continuing into the
20th century.
Thomas
Ellwood (1639 to 1713), religious controversialist and Quaker was born in
Crowell and baptised there 15th October 1639 the son of Walter Ellwood and
Elizabeth Portman. Ellwood House where Thomas was born still stands in the
village (see photo below).
Crowell
as a surname:- the 1881 census of England recorded 49 people with the surname
Crowell, none of them in the Village or even in Oxfordshire. A search of the
Electoral Roll in May 2007 listed 35 instances of the name. The 1901 census
index produced 70 individuals with the name. The book Surnames of the United
Kingdom by Henry Harrison published 1912 has this to say ‘CROWELL (Eng.) Bel. To Crowell (Oxon) = the Crow-Well, ie
the well or spring frequented by crows [O.E. crawe + wielle]’
This
also suggests an origin for the name in a Well or Spring where Crows gather. I would
be interested to hear if you have any other suggestions as to the origin of the
name?
Elwood
House (photo 2007) and a Red Kite, a frequent sight in the area (photo 2008)
A
plaque in the church and the entrance gate to the churchyard (photos 2009)
2
more plaques inside St Mary’s (photos 2009)
Photos, old. These old photos of Crowell were kindly sent to me by a current resident of the village, thought to date from the 1940’s / 50’ they give a nice glimpse of the village in times gone by:-
Transcripts
of a few newspaper articles relating to Crowell can be found here.
Contact Bob:-
webmaster<no-spam>@bowler.me.uk
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More
information on my Bowler family research
Thank You for visiting my website, I hope you have found the information of interest, I would be pleased to hear have any additions or corrections to the information listed here or just to pass on your comments…..Bob
Site last updated October 2020
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