Cowley Books of Oxford
Cowley
Oxford, Oxon, United Kingdom
The Cowley area has been inhabited since
early times. The line of a Roman road runs north-south along the eastern
edge of Cowley.
It linked a Roman town at Dorchester-on-Thames
with a Roman military camp at Alchester near Bicester. A road called Roman
Way
follows part of its route. It is behind
the Mini car factory, starting opposite the Stagecoach in Oxfordshire bus
garage.
Cowley coalesced from the former villages
of Cowley, Temple Cowley and Cowley St John (also occasionally referred
to as "Church Cowley").
Cowley was a manor from Mediaeval times,
and a 16th-century manor house stood on Oxford Road near the corner with
Hollow Way. In 1139, Matilda of
Boulogne founded Temple Cowley here for
the Knights Templar.[1]
The house became part of the Oxford Military
College which was built on its grounds in the 19th century. In 1864, the
Wycombe Railway
between High Wycombe and Oxford was built
through Cowley, but at this time the village was so small that the railway
company did not provide it with a station.
Entry in Domesday Book
Taxable units: Taxable
value 4.5 geld units. Payments of 0.4 fisheries.
Value: Value to lord
in 1066 £5. Value to lord in 1086 £5.
Households: 20 villagers.
5 smallholders. 2 slaves.
Ploughland: 10 ploughlands
(land for). 1 lord's plough teams. 8 men's plough teams.
Other resources: 1.0
lord's lands. Meadow 10 acres. Woodland 4 * 2 furlongs. 1 mill, value 2.0.
2 fisheries.
Lord in 1066: Leofwin
of Nuneham.
Lord in 1086: Leofwin
of Nuneham.
Tenant-in-chief in 1086:
Leofwin of Nuneham.