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I Location

II General Description

Appleton is in the NE of the traditional county, less than a mile from the River Thames, which formed the Oxfordshire border. As it is now considered part of Oxfordshire it may be more helpful to say that it is 4 miles NW of Abingdon and 7 miles SE of Witney. The village clusters around the junction of three minor roads W of the A420, with the church near its centre and the manor immediately to the S. Appleton Manor is surrounded on three sides by a dry moat, and dates from c.1200, although it was altered in the late 16th century and refaced in the 20th. The main 12thc feature remaining is the hall, which survives astonishingly intact, although partitioned into two rooms. It runs more or less from E (the low end) to W with its main entrance doorway in the N front of the manor, now protected by a two-storey Elizabethan porch. This gives access to the hall at the E end of the N wall. In the E wall is a pair of doorways leading to the service passage. The S wall, opposite the entrance, contains a large window. The W wall is a later insertion, the hall originally continuing into the room beyond, which now cotains panelling of c.1700. The outer SW angle of this room is decorated with a 12thc shaft. The manor was enlarged in later periods, especially the 16thc, and sensitively restored and enlarged by Detmar Blow in the 1920s.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) Hall, N doorway

Round headed, of three orders. This is the main entrance to the hall, positioned at the E end of the N wall and covered by a two-storey Tudor porch with a timber-framed gable that forms a striking feature of the N front of the house. The hall floor has been lowered, so that the doorway is raised by two courses. The doorway is of a local limestone.

First order

Coursed detached nook-shafts on bulbous bases, of which the E is better preserved. Bases are on chamfered plinths and these on two courses of exposed foundations. Capitals are stiff-leaf with tangled leaves that extend to the flat jambs within the doorway. Neckings are plain rolls and imposts have rounded angles, a thin lower roll and a deep hollow below the face. The arch has a heavy nook-roll on the angle.

Second order

Supports, capitals and imposts are as first order except that the nook-shafts are lost. The arch has an angle roll and soffit hollow, with a second, thinner roll on the face towards the extrados.

Third order

As first order except that there is a second shaft with capital and impost outside the nook-shaft on each jamb, corresponding in position to the thin roll on the arch face.

Dimensions

(ii) Hall E wall, N service doorway.

Round-headed, of one order. The jambs and arch are deeply chamfered with imposts (as on the main N doorway) but no capitals. There is a single-roll label with returns to L and R.

Dimensions

(iii) Hall E wall, S service doorway.

Round-headed, of one order. As (ii) above.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

5. Interior decoration

c. Miscellaneous

(i) Human head corbel

Reset in wall between the two service doorways, the corbel shows a human head crudely carved in the round and generally worn. There are traces of curly hair, eyes with marked brow ridges and drilled pupils, a thin nose and a straight mouth with, apparently, a projecting tongue.

Dimensions

VII History

The Domesday Survey records two holdings in Appleton. The first was held by Robert from Miles Crispin in 1086, and had been held by Healfdene before the Conquest. This was assessed at 5 hides before the Conquest and 2½ in 1086, and included a fishery. The second holding was held by Berner and was part of Odo of Bayeux’s fief. It was similarly assessed at 5 hides before the Conquest and 2½ in 1086, and had been held by Alwine under Edward the Confessor. In neither holding was mention made of a church. The manor containing the vill and the manor house was Miles Crispin’s, which eventually joined other manors of his in the Honour of Wallingford. The mesne tenants under the Lords of Wallingford were the family of Visdelou, certainly throughout the 12thc and 13thc, although there were sub-tenants too, including the Rycote family of Ryecote, Oxfordshire.

VIII Comments/Opinions

There is nothing unusual in the sculpture here, which must be dated c.1190-1200, except for the wholly astonishing fact of its survival in a secular context. The two illustrated Country Life articles are of interest, as one dates from before Detmar Blow’s restoration and the other immediately after it.

IX Bibliography