Seacourt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seacourt | |
|---|---|
 Woodland entrance in the former parish | |
  Seacourt Location within Oxfordshire | |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Seacourt is a deserted medieval village (DMV) in the civil parish of Wytham, in the Vale of White Horse district, in Oxfordshire, England, near the city of Oxford.The site is now mostly beneath the Oxford Western By-pass (A34), about 0.3 miles (0.48 km) south of the Seacourt/Hinksey Stream crossing.[1]
The site is designated as a Scheduled Monument.[2] The site of Seacourt DMV was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.
The earliest known reference to Seacourt is the name Seofecanwyrthe in Eadwig's charter of c.957.[3] The name was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Seuaworde (Seua..worde).[4]
According to Eilert Ekwall, Seacourt's toponym is derived from the Old English, apparently meaning the homestead of an Anglo-Saxon man called Seofeca.[5] It evolved from Seofecanwyrthe and Seovecurt in the 10th century, through Sevacoorde and Sevecurt in the 11th century, Sewkeworth and Seuekwrth in the 12th century, Sevecheworda and Sevecowrthe in the 13th century and Sekworth and Sewecourte in the 16th century.[6]
Manor
The earliest known record of Seacourt is from 955, when King Eadwig granted 20 hides of land at Hinksey, Seacourt and Wytham to the Benedictine Abingdon Abbey.[7] By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the abbey had let the lordship of the manor of Seacourt to a lay tenant.[7]
In 1313 one Walter le Poer of Tackley, Oxfordshire granted the manor to Sir William Bereford and his son for the rest of their lives.[7] Subsequently, the reversion of the manor was granted to Isabel de Vesci and her brother Henry de Beaumont.[7] After the deaths of the younger Bereford and Isabel de Vesci, Henry de Beaumont granted Seacourt to his son John Beaumont and daughter-in-law Eleanor Plantaganet.[7] In 1409 their son Henry Beaumont, 3rd Baron Beaumont sold Seacourt to one William Wilcotes of North Leigh, Oxfordshire.[7]
The manor then passed through various hands and was broken up into shares until 1469, when Sir Richard Harcourt started buying them up.[7] By the time he died in 1486, Sir Richard owned the whole of the manors of Seacourt and Wytham.[7] Thereafter the two manors stayed together and by 1546 Seacourt was considered part of the manor of Wytham.[7]
