Place:Bix, Oxfordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bix is a village in the present civil parish of Bix and Assendon in South Oxfordshire, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Henley on Thames. The village is about 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills.

The present civil parish has only existed since the formation of the South Oxfordshire District in 1974. Prior to that Bix was a separate civil parish and was also an ecclesiastical parish.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The remains of a Roman farmhouse were found during an excavation of the Common in 1955, as well as later Saxon remains. These were not considered to be worth retaining in an exposed condition and so the area was re-covered. There were originally two villages: Bix Brand and Bix Gibwyn. The toponym has at various times been Byxe and Bixa. The Domesday Book of 1086 records Bixa as part of the Hundred of Binfield.

Bix Brand's original parish church of Saint James is a small Norman building in Bix Bottom, about north of the village. It has a nave, chancel and several Norman lancet windows. Later additions include the Perpendicular Gothic east window and another Perpendicular window in the south wall. In 1874 the architect John Gibson completed the village's new Church of England parish church, closer to the centre of the village, also dedicated to Saint James. The new church has a north aisle and transept as well as a nave and chancel. Two of the north aisle windows contain sections of late 15th century Flemish stained glass. The old church was abandoned in 1875 and became ruined and overgrown.

Scenes from the 1971 Tigon British Film Productions film The Blood on Satan's Claw were filmed there. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2015 has stabilised and preserved the ruin. Bix Manor has a 17th-century barn. The main road between Henley and Wallingford passes through the parish. It was made into a turnpike in 1736 and ceased to be a turnpike in 1873. The hill between Fair Mile, on the edge of Henley, and Bix was made a dual carriageway in 1937, one of the earliest dual carriageways in the country. It is now the A4130 road.

Research Tips

Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, volume 16, chapter on Bix.

• A map illustrating the parishes of southeast Oxfordshire as of 1900 will be found under Binfield Hundred
• Oxfordshire History Centre, St Luke's Church, Temple Road, Oxford, OX4 2HT
• Oxfordshire FHS covers the whole county. The Family History Society provides an interactive map to assist in locating individual parishes and also relates the society's progress in transcribing parish registers and gravestone information for that particular parish. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Oxfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Oxfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.