Nettlebed
Encyclopedia
Nettlebed is a village in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in the Chiltern Hills
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...

 about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northwest of Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

 and 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Wallingford.

History

Archaeological finds show that the area around Nettlebed has been inhabited since Palaeolithic times.

The site was frequently travelled through since ancient times, being a pass through the Chiltern Hills used by the road between Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 and Henley. The road between Henley and Wallingford was made into a turnpike
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

 in 1736 and ceased to be a turnpike in 1873. It is now classified the A4130
A4130 road
The A4130 is a British A road which runs from a junction with the A404 at Burchetts Green, Berkshire to the A417 at Rowstock in Oxfordshire. It passes through Henley-on-Thames, and Nettlebed, and bypasses Wallingford and Didcot....

.

The Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 parish of Saint Bartholomew was originally a chapelry of the adjacent parish of Benson
Benson, Oxfordshire
Benson is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England. It is about north of Wallingford at the foot of the Chiltern Hills at the confluence of a chalk stream and the River Thames, next to Benson Lock...

. There is a record of the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

 giving the benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

 of Benson, including chapels at Nettlebed and Warborough
Warborough
Warborough is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about north of Wallingford and about south of Oxford. The parish also includes the hamlet of Shillingford, south of Warborough beside the River Thames.-History:...

, to the Augustinian
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...

 Abbey at nearby Dorchester, Oxfordshire
Dorchester, Oxfordshire
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Wallingford and southeast of Oxford. Despite its name, Dorchester is not on the River Thames, but just above the Thame's confluence with it...

 in about AD 1140. The Mediaeval church building was replaced in 1845-46 by the present building, designed by a member of the Hakewill
Henry Hakewill
Henry Hakewill was an English architect.He designed two distinguished Greek Revival buildings:*Coed Coch, Denbighshire, Wales , a country-house with a diagonally placed portico and stair...

 family of architects. The bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 has a peal
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....

 of six bells, all cast in 1846.

From the 14th century Nettlebed became important for brick making, which continued until the 1930s. One remaining pottery kiln is preserved in the village.

The sand used in the manufacture of the first flint glass
Flint glass
Flint glass is optical glass that has relatively high refractive index and low Abbe number. Flint glasses are arbitrarily defined as having an Abbe number of 50 to 55 or less. The currently known flint glasses have refractive indices ranging between 1.45 and 2.00...

 was sourced from Nettlebed by George Ravencroft in 1674.

Nettlebed Folk Song Club

The village is home to a long-established and highly regarded folk club which holds its concerts on Monday evenings from 8pm at The Village Club in Nettlebed High Street. Nettlebed Folk Song Club was started in July 1975 at the Bull Inn. The club quickly became established as one of the folk music scene's major venues. When the Bull Inn was closed by its owners, Brakspear Brewery in 1991, the club moved to its present venue, which holds 200 people. The Folk Song Club is a volunteer run, non-profit organisation which has featured many top singers
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...

 and musicians, including many well-known acts such as Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

, Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

, Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....

, Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne (band)
Lindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...

, Richard Thompson, Show of Hands
Show of Hands
Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots and folk duo comprising singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer. In recent years they have been accompanied on tour and in the studio by jazz double-bassist Miranda Sykes.-Origins:...

, Vin Garbutt
Vin Garbutt
Vin Garbutt , though second generation Irish, is an English folk singer and songwriter...

, Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...

, John Kirkpatrick, Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.-Career:...

 and Bill Jones. The Club is also famous for its unique special performances such as 'Feast of Fiddles' and 'Rocks Specials' where a mix of leading national performers and local artists provide themed evenings. Nettlebed Folk Song Club is recognised as one of the top folk venues in the U.K. and in 2002 won the prestigious BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Radio 2 Folk Club of the Year Award
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2....

.

Notable residents

  • Celia Johnson
    Celia Johnson
    Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE was an English actress.She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films, including the romantic drama Brief Encounter , for which she received a nomination for the...

    , star of the 1945 film Brief Encounter
    Brief Encounter
    Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...

    .
  • Lucy Fleming
    Lucy Fleming
    Lucy Fleming is a British actress.She is the daughter of the actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming, as well as the niece of James Bond author Ian Fleming...

    , actress
  • Peter Fleming, writer and traveller
  • Kate Grimond née Fleming, daughter of Celia Johnson, writer and actress, daughter-in-law of Jo Grimond
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