page_title: Chesterton, Oxfordshire
section_title: Social and economic history
hierarchical_section_title: Chesterton, Oxfordshire / Social and economic history
caption_attribution_description: English: The Red Cow public house, Chesterton, Oxfordshire, seen from the west
context_page_description: Chesterton is a village and civil parish on Gagle Brook, a tributary of the Langford Brook in north Oxfordshire. The village is about 1 ¹⁄₂ miles southwest of the market town of Bicester. The village has sometimes been called Great Chesterton to distinguish it from the hamlet of Little Chesterton, about ³⁄₄ mile to the south in the same parish. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 850.
context_section_description: Chesterton had a watermill since before the Norman Conquest, and by the time of the Hundred Rolls in 1279 a second had been built. Presumably the mills were on Gagle Brook. One mill survived until early in the 19th century, and for a time had been converted into a hemp mill. Chesterton's vicar of that time complained that despite the Duke of Marlborough having spent much money trying to improve the mill it was not working well. The vicar may have been correct, for in 1822 it was closed down.
  The village has a public house, the Red Cow, that was built around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. It is now controlled by Greene King Brewery.
  An open field system prevailed in the parish until 1768, when an Act of Parliament enabled the enclosure of its common lands. 1,975 acres (799 ha) were enclosed, of which 1,173 acres (475 ha) were awarded to George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough.
  The main road between Bicester and Enstone passes through the north of the parish. In 1797 an Act of Parliament made this road into a turnpike. It was disturnpiked in the 19th century and is now the B4030.
  There was a mansion at the south-east end of Chesterton village by the early part of the 18th century. It was improved in the middle of the 18th century, and its grounds were extended for George Clarke, Sheriff of Oxfordshire by diverting part of Akeman Street. By 1823 it was the principal house in Chesterton, and Clarke's son lived there for many years. By 1887 the house was unoccupied and in 1889–90 it was replaced by a new Italianate house built for Henry Tubb, a banker of Bicester. By 1939 the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation owned the house, but by 1955 it was Audley House mixed preparatory school. It is now Bruern Abbey Preparatory School.
  Bignell on Gagle Brook was formerly a separate hamlet. Bignell House in Bignell Park was designed by the architect William Wilkinson and built in 1866 but was demolished before the end of the same century. The present Bignell House may date from 1892, which is the date on a copper ogee dome on a turret on one corner of the building.
  In 1854 Lady Jersey had a school built for the parish. In 1933 it was reorganised as a junior school, since which time secondary school pupils from Chesterton have attended school in Bicester. The school is now a Church of England primary school.
caption: The Red Cow public house
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