Great Haseley / Great Hazeley

"HASELEY, (or Great Hazely), a parish in the hundred of Ewelme, county Oxford, 5 miles S.W. of Thame. It includes the township of Little Haseley, and the hamlets of Latchford, Lobb, and Rycote, this last a seat of the Earl of Abingdon. The manor was given by William the Conqueror to Milo Crispin, and afterwards came to the Pipards and Lenthalls. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £800. This place is a meet for the Wormsley harriers. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford, value £728, in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient edifice, with a lofty embattled tower at the W. end, and a fine entrance porch. On the S. side of the church are remains of a small chapel, or oratory, dedicated to St. Mary, the niche and pedestals and piscina being still discernible, and along the walls on this side are crypt tombs. In the chancel are some stone stalls and an altar tomb, on which has been placed the figure of a crusader in chain armour, .which formerly stood in the tower; also a window of fine proportions, enriched with tracery. The whole fabric has been recently repaired and decorated. The Independents have a chapel. A free school for boys, being children of parishioners, was founded in the 17th century, and endowed by Luke Taylor with lands now producing £209 per annum. A girls' school has recently been built, partly at the expense of the present rector. The other charities produce about £25 per annum. A new parsonage house has been erected, from plans by G. G. Scott. The celebrated antiquary, Leland, once held this living, and De la Field, who wrote the history of the parish, was born here. M. W. Boulton, Esq., holds the manor by lease from the Dean and Canons of Windsor. On pulling down the old parsonage house, some encaustic tiles were found of various patterns, supposed to be about the date of Henry III."[The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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