Sibford Scene Archive

In the early 1990s Oxfordshire Social Services recognised that the rising number of elderly people living in the rural villages of North Oxfordshire had little or no support compared to their contemporaries living in the major towns where Day Centres provided support serving meals and social contact. At the same time some of the senior pupils at Sibford School were studying vocational courses preparing for careers in vocational work. These courses included catering, business, horticulture and health and care. Each of these courses had a practical requirement and the Health and Care course was led by the then Head of Sixth Form, Gill Manthorpe who lived with her family in the Fielding Boarding House. Judith Weeks, who lived in the Gower and worked for Social Services, was also a parent with a child at Sibford School who was taking the Health and Care Course. A connection was made. Sibford School could provide a safe environment for elderly people who lived in the rural villages around Sibford and who would benefit from the much-needed social contact. Fielding Day Centre was born in April 1992.

Each Wednesday the school minibus, driven by Gill, provided transport, Sibford School provided meals and the pupils prepared the friendly dining room. With the additional help of village volunteers, the elderly of our community soon enjoyed a full day programme of games, quizzes, coffee, lunch and tea plus the chance to meet up and chat together. The Sixth form pupils had a first-hand opportunity to understand and observe the needs of the elderly villagers.

The Day Centre in Sibford was one of the first set up in the rural communities of north Oxfordshire and was later funded by Oxfordshire County Council with a full-time organiser. Members had to be recommended by Social Services, the local surgery and the health Service.

In 2017 OCC ceased funding for transport and staff and what was a full day changed into a lunch club, meeting in the Sibford village hall with the continued support of Sibford School. With no OCC restrictions, membership was now open to villagers over 65 and members continue to value the opportunity to meet and enjoy a chat and lunch together every Wednesday.

New members are welcome – if you are interested, please contact Keith Hicks on 01295 780 259 or keith@hicks-sibford.co.uk for further information.

After the Norman invasion in 1066 and following his coronation, King William divided vast areas of land between the Knights of Normandy who had brought about the defeat of the English at the Battle of Hastings.  King William proclaimed all England to be his and his rewards to his knights were grants, in the form of Lordships to Manorial estates.  The land and the powers of the Lords of each of the Manors were held on condition that all services, including military service, were rendered to the King. 

Hugh de Grantmesnil, who came from Lisieux in Normandy was one of King William’s most trusted knights and had master minded the invasion in 1066.  He was well rewarded, made Earl of Leicester and granted 100 English Manors in a number of counties including Oxfordshire.  His Manor in Sibford Gower comprised 10 hides.  The definition of a hide has been disputed by many medieval historians but most now agree that it was not a unit of area but one of value.  The lands under Grantmesnil’s grant were managed by a demesne tenant called Aba.  The grant comprised “Land for 8 ploughs.”  The income from land under two of those ploughs was in demesne and payable in tithes to the Crown via the Lord of the Manor. There were a further ‘four acres of meadow and a mill.’

A second Domesday Manor in Sibford Gower and Burdrop, also assessed at 10 hides, was granted to William Fitz Corbucion and held as one knight’s fee. In 1086 the demesne tenant was Ralph and the income from one of the 7 ploughs was due to the Lord of the Manor. There was also ‘a mill and four acres of meadow plus pasture 7 furlongs in length and breadth.’  In the 12^th century the fee was held by the Norman family of Goher, from which it is thought the Gower took its name. During the 13^th century the manor descended in the line of the Earls of Warwick. 

The actual areas of these two Manors remains unknown although the dovecote which remains in a garden in Main Street may have been part of the Grantmesnil Manor.

David Soden has shown me a piece of wood six foot long, with a painted inscription, gold lettering on grey-blue. He believes it came from the yard of the Poulton family business who were long active in the building trade in the Sibfords. The lettering is in rough seventeenth century script, upper and lower case, and reads:

Qui rebellaverit ori tuo morietur ANN…
(in capitals, for ‘anno’, presumably it continues with a year date)

[Whosoever rebels against your words, shall be killed ANN]

This is taken from the Latin Vulgate version of Joshua 1.18, a famous passage in the Bible, where after the death of Moses Joshua tells the Israelites to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land and seize it from the poor Palestinians (very topical given Netanyahu’s policy in Gaza). The first four words are quoted from an early Vulgate version by Trebellius (1569): the word ‘rebellaverit’ instead of the later ‘contradixerit’ proves that the inscription is genuinely seventeenth century. I have consulted the two most eminent historians on 16th-17th century religious history in Oxford and Cambridge but they know of no parallels for this use of such a rather bloodthirsty biblical text.

The secret Catholic church in Brailes was repanelled in the eighteenth century: Is this inscription what remains of the earlier decoration, preserved because it was inscribed and dated? Is the lost date related to the battle of Edgehill, fought in 1642 just down the road? The survival of the wooden text can plausibly be explained if the Poulton family business were employed in the eighteenth century renovation; they would have transported the old panelling to their Sibford base, and perhaps this section survived because it was lettered.

Maybe someone can come up with a better explanation!

Oswyn Murray