Tackley
Encyclopedia
Tackley is a village and civil parish beside the River Cherwell
in Oxfordshire
, England
. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Bicester
and 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Kidlington
. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercott.
Roman road
passes through the parish just south of the village.
times. After the Norman Conquest of England
William the Conqueror
granted the manor of Tackley to Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester
.
The Manor House
was built in 1657 and Tackley Park, also known as Hill Court, was built late in the 17th century, later becoming the English seat of the baronet and Barbados
sugar planter Sir Philip Gibbes (1731–1815). Both houses have been demolished but their outbuildings, including a thatched
barn and two dovecotes
, remain.
Another 17th century house, Court Farm (or Base Court), still survives but its interior was completely remodelled in the 1950s. Court Farm is near the site of a 12th century moat
ed house, and has a set of 17th century fish ponds,
constructed by John Harborne (1582–1651), a wealthy merchant from the Middle Temple
who purchased the manor of Tackley in 1612, and had embarked on creating there a new mansion with an elaborate water garden. The remains of one square and two triangular ponds, no doubt originally containing fish, are visible today. The manor lay on a tributary of the River Cherwell, and Harborne may well have been a fisherman. He was a friend of the publisher John Jackson, who published in 1623 a plan of Harborne's water garden in its completed state, by Gervase Markham
in the third edition of his Cheape and good husbandry for the well-ordering of all beasts, and fowles, and for the generall cure of their diseases.
parish church
of Saint Nicholas
is cruciform. It dates from the 11th century and has several remnants of its original Saxon
stonework. The south aisle, east windows and lower part of the tower are 13th century. In the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic style clerestorey and upper part of the tower were built and both transept
s were rebuilt. The north transept was rebuilt again in 1616. In 1864 the Gothic Revival architect
G.E. Street
restored St. Nicholas' - rather insensitively in Nikolaus Pevsner
's opinion. The church tower
has a ring
of six bells.
In the 12th century both Osney Abbey
and Eynsham Abbey
acquired lands in the parish. Eynsham Abbey's holdings in Tackley included the watermill
at Catsham (see below). However, by the time Thomas Cromwell made the Valor Ecclesiasticus
for King Henry VIII
in 1535, both abbeys had ceased to hold any property in the parish.
From 1725 every Rector of Tackley was also a fellow of St John's College, Oxford
. Several were distinguished scholars but most had several other parishes and were absentee rectors of Tackley. Since 1976 St. Nicholas' has belonged to a united Church of England Benefice with the neighbouring parishes of North Aston
and Steeple Aston
.
Tackley Methodist church
was converted from a barn built of local limestone
and dedicated in 1808. A brick extension was edded in the 1840s. Tackley's Anglicans and Methodists hold monthly ecumenical
services together.
records that in 1086 there was a watermill
, Catsham Mill, on the River Cherwell between Tackley and Northbrook 1 miles (1.6 km) to the north. A second mill had been built at Catsham by 1176. A stream between Tackley and Nethercott was being used to power an overshot mill by 1622. In 1767 it was still in use and was called Pullback Mill, but it was disused by the 1840s.
There was a bridge over the Cherwell at Catsham Mill. It was first recorded in 1338, needed repair by 1444 and had been replaced by a ford
by 1617. A wooden bridge replaced it around 1637 and a stone bridge had been built again by 1750. Today neither the bridge nor Catsham Mill survive.
but later these were divided into two separate open field systems, one for each Tackley and Nethercott. Tackley's fields were enclosed
in the 16th and 17th centuries but open-field farming survived in Nethercott until 1873. The landowners rejected enclosure proposals in 1849, 1853 and 1861. A scheme was finally agreed in 1873 and a Parliamentary
Enclosure Act was passed for the parish.
Balliol College, Oxford
owned land at Nethercott and was one of the landowners who objected to the earlier inclosure proposals. Soon after the act was finally passed the college sold its holdings there. St. John's College, Oxford also owned land at Nethercott and objected to the earlier inclosure proposals. It sold its land to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
in 1948 and 1953.
A map of 1608 records a hamlet
at Whitehill, 0.5 miles (804.7 m) south of Tackley village. Its lands were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1795 and the hamlet seems to have quickly disappeared thereafter.
The earliest known record of a public house
in Tackley dates from 1624. In 1774 the village had four public houses: the Ball, the Chequers, the Pole Axe
and the Wheatsheaf. The Gardiner Arms dates from at least 1788 and the King's Arms in Nethercott was in business by the 1840s. Today the King's Arms is a private house and only the Gardiner Arms remains open.
During the English Civil War
in the 1640s a skirmish, "The Battle of Tackley", was fought on the banks of the River Cherwell.
In 1787 the Oxford Canal
was extended from Banbury down the Cherwell valley as far south as Northbrook lock
, 1 miles (1.6 km) north of Tackley. In 1788 the canal was extended past Tackley to the outskirts of Oxford.
s. In 1840 a National School
was built on a site provided by St. John's College, Oxford. It was extended in 1861. In 1927 it was reorganised as a junior school, and senior pupils had to travel to Steeple Aston. It also became a Church of England controlled school. A new school building replaced the original one in 1965, but the school was closed in 1981.
The Oxford and Rugby Railway between and was built past the village in 1848-1849 but the nearest rail station provided was , which was actually at the hamlet
of Enslow
1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Tackley. The Great Western Railway
took over the Oxford and Rugby Railway before the line opened, but did not open a halt
for the village until 1931. It is at Nethercott but was named Tackley Halt. It is now called Tackley railway station
and is served by First Great Western
's Oxford Canal Line
services.
A stone quarry was opened at Whitehill in the latter part of the 19th century had closed by the middle of the 20th. It now contains wildlife for which it has been designated a site of special scientific interest
.
Division Two. Tackley also has a Cricket
Club.
The village, and especially the Nethercott neighbourhood, has expanded considerably since the railway station opened in 1931. It has evolved from a primarily agricultural community into one with a significant commuter
population.
Tackley's last shops closed in 2001, so in 2004 the community opened a shop and post office, which share premises with the village hall
and are partly staffed by volunteers. In 2007 the Living Britain report commended Tackley for its initiative.
Harrier GR9 aircraft flying from RAF Cottesmore
to RAF Fairford
crashed about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Tackley, near Sturdy's Castle public house. It would appear that the pilot having had a problem, and seeing Woodstock ahead, managed to turn around and eject at a very low height. The incident was apparently caused by a bird strike
that resulted in engine failure. The pilot ejected and survived uninjured. An off-duty policeman who was driving close to the scene of the crash suffered shock
when his car was hit by debris
. The Oxford - Banbury A4260 road
was closed for several days as the crash was investigated and a team from MOD St Athan removed the wreck.
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell is a river which flows through the Midlands of England. It is a major tributary of the River Thames.The general course of the River Cherwell is north to south and the 'straight-line' distance from its source to the Thames is about...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, 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...
. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Bicester
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
and 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Kidlington
Kidlington
Kidlington is a large village and civil parish between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and southwest of Bicester.-History:...
. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercott.
Archaeology
The course of Akeman StreetAkeman Street
Akeman Street was a major Roman road in England that linked Watling Street with the Fosse Way. Its junction with Watling Steet was just north of Verulamium and that with the Fosse Way was at Corinium Dobunnorum...
Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
passes through the parish just south of the village.
Manor
Tackley has existed since SaxonHistory of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
times. After the Norman Conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
granted the manor of Tackley to Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester
Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester
Hugh d'Avranches , also known as le Gros and Lupus was the first Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England.-Early career:...
.
The Manor House
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
was built in 1657 and Tackley Park, also known as Hill Court, was built late in the 17th century, later becoming the English seat of the baronet and Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
sugar planter Sir Philip Gibbes (1731–1815). Both houses have been demolished but their outbuildings, including a thatched
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
barn and two dovecotes
Dovecotes
Dovecotes is a housing estate at Barnhurst, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is situated NNW of the city centre and neighbours Pendeford which is adjacent to the border with Staffordshire, within the Oxley ward of Wolverhampton City Council....
, remain.
Another 17th century house, Court Farm (or Base Court), still survives but its interior was completely remodelled in the 1950s. Court Farm is near the site of a 12th century moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
ed house, and has a set of 17th century fish ponds,
constructed by John Harborne (1582–1651), a wealthy merchant from the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
who purchased the manor of Tackley in 1612, and had embarked on creating there a new mansion with an elaborate water garden. The remains of one square and two triangular ponds, no doubt originally containing fish, are visible today. The manor lay on a tributary of the River Cherwell, and Harborne may well have been a fisherman. He was a friend of the publisher John Jackson, who published in 1623 a plan of Harborne's water garden in its completed state, by Gervase Markham
Gervase Markham
Gervase Markham was an English poet and writer, best known for his work The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman first published in London in 1615.-Life:Markham was the third son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham, Nottinghamshire, and was...
in the third edition of his Cheape and good husbandry for the well-ordering of all beasts, and fowles, and for the generall cure of their diseases.
Churches
The Church of EnglandChurch 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 church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
is cruciform. It dates from the 11th century and has several remnants of its original Saxon
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...
stonework. The south aisle, east windows and lower part of the tower are 13th century. In the 15th century the Perpendicular Gothic style clerestorey and upper part of the tower were built and both transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s were rebuilt. The north transept was rebuilt again in 1616. In 1864 the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
G.E. Street
George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex.- Life :Street was the third son of Thomas Street, solicitor, by his second wife, Mary Anne Millington. George went to school at Mitcham in about 1830, and later to the Camberwell collegiate school, which he left in 1839...
restored St. Nicholas' - rather insensitively in Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
's opinion. The church 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 ring
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.
In the 12th century both Osney Abbey
Osney Abbey
Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford station. It was founded as a priory in 1129, becoming an...
and Eynsham Abbey
Eynsham Abbey
Eynsham Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in England between 1005 and 1538. King Æthelred allowed Æthelmær the Stout to found the abbey in 1005. There is some evidence that the abbey was built on the site of an earlier minster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th...
acquired lands in the parish. Eynsham Abbey's holdings in Tackley included the watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
at Catsham (see below). However, by the time Thomas Cromwell made the Valor Ecclesiasticus
Valor Ecclesiasticus
The Valor Ecclesiasticus was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII....
for King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1535, both abbeys had ceased to hold any property in the parish.
From 1725 every Rector of Tackley was also a fellow of St John's College, Oxford
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
. Several were distinguished scholars but most had several other parishes and were absentee rectors of Tackley. Since 1976 St. Nicholas' has belonged to a united Church of England Benefice with the neighbouring parishes of North Aston
North Aston
North Aston is a village and civil parish about south of Banbury and north of Oxford.The village is mainly situated around a traditional village green, complete with hand-carved sign and drinking fountain – the latter originally installed in 1863 on the orders of the then Lord of the Manor,...
and Steeple Aston
Steeple Aston
Steeple Aston is a village and civil parish on the edge of the Cherwell Valley in Oxfordshire, England, about west of Bicester and south of Banbury...
.
Tackley Methodist church
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
was converted from a barn built of local limestone
Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as 'honey' or 'golden'....
and dedicated in 1808. A brick extension was edded in the 1840s. Tackley's Anglicans and Methodists hold monthly ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
services together.
Mill and bridge
The Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
records that in 1086 there was a watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
, Catsham Mill, on the River Cherwell between Tackley and Northbrook 1 miles (1.6 km) to the north. A second mill had been built at Catsham by 1176. A stream between Tackley and Nethercott was being used to power an overshot mill by 1622. In 1767 it was still in use and was called Pullback Mill, but it was disused by the 1840s.
There was a bridge over the Cherwell at Catsham Mill. It was first recorded in 1338, needed repair by 1444 and had been replaced by a ford
Ford (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
by 1617. A wooden bridge replaced it around 1637 and a stone bridge had been built again by 1750. Today neither the bridge nor Catsham Mill survive.
Land tenure
The parish originally shared a single open field systemOpen field system
The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...
but later these were divided into two separate open field systems, one for each Tackley and Nethercott. Tackley's fields were enclosed
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
in the 16th and 17th centuries but open-field farming survived in Nethercott until 1873. The landowners rejected enclosure proposals in 1849, 1853 and 1861. A scheme was finally agreed in 1873 and a Parliamentary
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
Enclosure Act was passed for the parish.
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
owned land at Nethercott and was one of the landowners who objected to the earlier inclosure proposals. Soon after the act was finally passed the college sold its holdings there. St. John's College, Oxford also owned land at Nethercott and objected to the earlier inclosure proposals. It sold its land to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
in 1948 and 1953.
A map of 1608 records a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
at Whitehill, 0.5 miles (804.7 m) south of Tackley village. Its lands were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1795 and the hamlet seems to have quickly disappeared thereafter.
17th and 18th centuries
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Tackley dates from 1624. In 1774 the village had four public houses: the Ball, the Chequers, the Pole Axe
Pollaxe
The pollaxe is a type of European polearm which was widely used by medieval infantry. It is also known by the names poleaxe, pole-axe, pole axe, polax, and Hache ....
and the Wheatsheaf. The Gardiner Arms dates from at least 1788 and the King's Arms in Nethercott was in business by the 1840s. Today the King's Arms is a private house and only the Gardiner Arms remains open.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in the 1640s a skirmish, "The Battle of Tackley", was fought on the banks of the River Cherwell.
In 1787 the Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
was extended from Banbury down the Cherwell valley as far south as Northbrook lock
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
, 1 miles (1.6 km) north of Tackley. In 1788 the canal was extended past Tackley to the outskirts of Oxford.
19th century
Early in the 19th century Tackley had two dame schoolDame school
A Dame School was an early form of a private elementary school in English-speaking countries. They were usually taught by women and were often located in the home of the teacher.- Britain :...
s. In 1840 a National School
National school (England and Wales)
A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...
was built on a site provided by St. John's College, Oxford. It was extended in 1861. In 1927 it was reorganised as a junior school, and senior pupils had to travel to Steeple Aston. It also became a Church of England controlled school. A new school building replaced the original one in 1965, but the school was closed in 1981.
The Oxford and Rugby Railway between and was built past the village in 1848-1849 but the nearest rail station provided was , which was actually at the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Enslow
Enslow, Oxfordshire
Enslow is an hamlet on the banks of both the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal in Bletchingdon civil parish, Oxfordshire.Enslow Bridge over the River Cherwell carries what used to be the main road linking London with Chipping Norton and Worcester. In 1718 the road was made into a turnpike and in...
1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Tackley. The Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
took over the Oxford and Rugby Railway before the line opened, but did not open a halt
Halt
Halt can refer to:* Train station § Halt, a small train station, usually unstaffed, with few facilities and normally is a request stop* A sign, meaning attention* "Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired" in behavioral addiction recovery...
for the village until 1931. It is at Nethercott but was named Tackley Halt. It is now called Tackley railway station
Tackley railway station
Tackley railway station serves the village of Tackley in Oxfordshire, England. The station, and all bar one of the trains serving it, are operated by First Great Western. It is on the Cherwell Valley Line.-External links:...
and is served by First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
's Oxford Canal Line
Cherwell Valley Line
The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands...
services.
A stone quarry was opened at Whitehill in the latter part of the 19th century had closed by the middle of the 20th. It now contains wildlife for which it has been designated a site of special scientific interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
.
20th century
Tackley Football Club was founded in 1907. It plays in Witney and District Football AssociationWitney and District League
The Witney and District League is a football competition based in Oxfordshire, England. It has a total of four divisions headed by the Premier Division which sits at level 13 of the English football league system.-Champions:-Member clubs 2011–12:...
Division Two. Tackley also has a Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
Club.
The village, and especially the Nethercott neighbourhood, has expanded considerably since the railway station opened in 1931. It has evolved from a primarily agricultural community into one with a significant commuter
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
population.
Tackley's last shops closed in 2001, so in 2004 the community opened a shop and post office, which share premises with the village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
and are partly staffed by volunteers. In 2007 the Living Britain report commended Tackley for its initiative.
Air crash
On Thursday 13 July 2006 a Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Harrier GR9 aircraft flying from RAF Cottesmore
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Cottesmore was a Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. The station housed all the operational Harrier GR9 squadrons in the Royal Air Force, and No 122 Expeditionary Air Wing...
to RAF Fairford
RAF Fairford
RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England. It is a standby airfield, not in everyday use. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the first Gulf War in...
crashed about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Tackley, near Sturdy's Castle public house. It would appear that the pilot having had a problem, and seeing Woodstock ahead, managed to turn around and eject at a very low height. The incident was apparently caused by a bird strike
Bird strike
A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, avian ingestion , bird hit, or BASH —is a collision between an airborne animal and a man-made vehicle, especially aircraft...
that resulted in engine failure. The pilot ejected and survived uninjured. An off-duty policeman who was driving close to the scene of the crash suffered shock
Acute stress reaction
Acute stress reaction is a psychological condition arising in response to a terrifying or traumatic event...
when his car was hit by debris
Debris
Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
. The Oxford - Banbury A4260 road
A4260 road
The A4260 is a road that leads from the A422 Henneff Way, Banbury to Frieze Way near Oxford. It is single carriageway for a majority of the route, except for a section near Steeple Aston for and on Frieze Way where the A4260 meets the A34 at Peartree Interchange, Oxford, where it becomes a dual...
was closed for several days as the crash was investigated and a team from MOD St Athan removed the wreck.