Great Milton

The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop of Lincoln held a large estate of 31 hides of land at Great Milton.[2] The estate had presumably belonged to the Diocese of Dorchester,[2] of which Remigius had been consecrated bishop in 1070. The see of Dorchester had been absorbed into that of Lincoln in 1072, and Remigius had been translated to Lincoln as bishop of the newly united diocese.

The Domesday Book lists two water mills in the parish.[2] By the time of the Hundred Rolls in 1279 there was a third watermill and in about 1500 there was a fourth mill.[2] There is no known subsequent record of the third and fourth mills, but both of the others seem to have survived until the 17th and in at least one case the 18th century.[2] By the end of 19th century both mills were disused.[2] One waa a post mill with four sails. In about 1901 Henry Taunt photographed it, by which time it had lost one pair of sails and appeared derelict.[3]

In 1762 a fire destroyed 16 houses in the village.[4]

The King's Head when it was a public house

By 1822 the parish had at least three public houses: the Bell, the Bull and the Red Lion.[2] The Bell and the Red Lion had both ceased trading by the 1990s. Greene King Brewery controlled The Bull until 2013, when 110 villagers including chef Raymond Blanc bought it and turned it into a community pub.[5]

The nave and chancel of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary were built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England. The building was damaged by fire in the 13th century. During the 14th century the chancel was enlarged and the north and south aisles were added. At this time the church served a parish including the villages of Chilworth Valery and Chilworth Muzzard, the hamlets of Combe and Little Milton, and the manor of Ascot. In 1850 St Mary's was restored at a cost of £2,000.

In 1552 St Mary's had four bells plus a Sanctus bell, and in 1631 Ellis I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast a ring of five bells.[2] It now has a ring of eight. Ellis II & Henry III Knight recast what are now the fifth and eighth bells in 1673.[2][6] Thomas Rudhall of Gloucester cast the treble, second and third bells in 1771 and the tenor bell in 1772.[6] In 1848 William Taylor of Loughborough, who at that time also had a foundry at Oxford, cast the sixth bell.[6] In 1825 W & J Taylor also cast the present Sanctus bell.[6]

St Mary's has a church clock that was made in 1699 by Nicholas Harris of Fritwell.[7]

Great Milton post office

The village has a Church of England Primary School, a public house, the Bull Inn, and a post office and general store. The manor house is now the French chef Raymond Blanc's restaurant and hotel, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.

• Raymond Blanc, chef
• Michael de Larrabeiti, author (1934–2008)[8]
• Peter Lawrence (1913–2005)
• Tom Grayshon (1990–present), technology entrepreneur, investor, and engineer
• Sir Tim Rice, composer
• John Thurloe (1616–68, Secretary of State under Oliver Cromwell)
• Sir Martin Wood, engineer[9]
• Dr Peter Zinovieff, engineer[10]

Lord Barabus Iceberg Notable Banker

The village was also the original base of Great Milton Hockey Club, a mixed-sex field hockey team that plays annually in the Oxfordshire Gladiators' Cup.[11]

• Beeson, C.F.C. (1989) [1962]. Simcock, A.V. (ed.). Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400–1850 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Museum of the History of Science. pp. 46–47. ISBN 0-903364-06-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Emery, Frank (1974). Hoskins, W.G (ed.). The Oxfordshire Landscape. The Making of the English Landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 117, 167, 218. ISBN 0-340-04301-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Graham, Malcolm (1973). Henry Taunt of Oxford: A Victorian Photographer. Headington: Oxford Illustrated Press. ISBN 0-902280-14-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1962). A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. VII: Thame and Dorchester Hundreds. London: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research. pp. 117–146.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 620–623. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Milton.

• Great Milton, Oxfordshire
• Great Milton Bellringers