Horton-cum-Studley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about northeast of the centre of Oxford and bordering Otmoor, and is one of the "Seven Towns" of Otmoor. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 455. A majority of residents in the village work in the Healthcare and Educational Sectors.
Civil parish
The hamlet of Studley was originally in two parts: one in Oxfordshire and the other in the Hundred of Ashendon in Buckinghamshire. Horton was always part of Oxfordshire. Horton and all of Studley, including the Buckinghamshire part, were originally part of the ancient parish of Beckley. The Buckinghamshire part of Studley became a separate civil parish, but was then transferred to Oxfordshire under the Reform Act 1832 and the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. Meanwhile Horton and the Oxfordshire part of Studley had been separated from Beckley to form the civil parish of Horton-cum-Studley. The two parts of Studley were reunited in 1932, when the Studley and Horton-cum-Studley civil parishes were finally merged.
Manors and priory
Horton
Horton's toponym is derived from Old English horu 'dirt' and tūn 'settlement, farm, estate', presumably meaning 'farm on muddy soil'. The oldest known record of Horton is from the reign of Æthelred the Unready: a charter of 1005-11 that records its agricultural land as five hides. However, the Domesday Book of 1086 has no separate entry for Horton as it had been part of the manor of Beckley since before the Norman Conquest of England. Until the Norman conquest of England the manor of Beckley was one of many that belonged to Saxon Wigod, thegn of Wallingford. Thereafter ownership of Horton followed the same descent as that of Beckley.
After the Norman conquest of England the Norman baron Robert D'Oyly acquired Wigod's estates by marriage and then passed a number of them to his brother-in-arms Roger d'Ivry. Beckley and Horton became part of the Honour of St Valery in the 12th century, were held by the Earls of Cornwall in the 13th century, Hugh le Despenser and then The Black Prince in the 14th century and the Crown in the 15th century. Beckley and Horton passed from Princess Elizabeth via Sir Walter Mildmay in 1550 to Sir John Williams, whose descendants were titled Baron Norreys from 1572 and Earl of Abingdon from 1682. Beckley and Horton were broken up into lots and sold by Viscount Bertie, son of Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon, in 1919.
Ash
Before the Norman Conquest a man called Azor son of Toti, who held allegiance to Edith of Wessex, consort of Edward the Confessor, held the manor of Lesa or Ash. Azor also had the manors of Iffley in Oxfordshire and Lillingstone Lovell in Buckinghamshire, and other Oxfordshire landholdings at Chastleton and Marsh Baldon. The Domesday Book in 1086 recorded that Roger d'Ivry held the manor, which was assessed at two hides. Ash followed the same descent as Beckley and Horton until 1300, when they were estates of the Honour of St Valery. By 1190 the tenants of the Honour of St Valery at Ash were the Ash and De Bosco families.
Between 1190 and 1213 the two families granted land at either Ash or Marlake (see below) to the Knights Templar. The Order may have disposed of the land before its dissolution in the 14th century, as the Hundred Rolls for the Hundred of Bullingdon for 1279 do not record any Templar landholding in Beckley parish. In 1361 John of Ash enfeoffed John and Margaret Appleby, the lord and lady of Boarstall. In 1365 the Applebys granted Ash to trustees, who in turn enfeoffed the manor to a second set of trustees. In 1389 the latter trustees were licensed to alienate Ash to the Prioress of Studley. John Appleby died in 1371 and Margaret quitclaimed her rights in 1391.
Studley
The founding date of the Benedictine Studley Priory is not known, but earliest known record of its existence is from 1176, when Bernard de St Valery granted half a hide of land at Horton to the priory. Studley's toponym is derived from Old English meaning "pasture for horses". The priory's foundation led to the abandonment of Ash in favour of a new hamlet of Studley that grew up next to the priory. At one time the priory had 50 nuns but by 1445 their number had fallen to nine. In 1520 there were still only 10 nuns and the priory to be significantly in debt. In 1530 the debt was £60 and the buildings were in disrepair. Under the Dissolution of the Monasteries Studley Priory surrendered its lands to the Crown in November 1539, which sold them off in February 1540. John Croke bought the priory's lands at Studley and Horton.