Place:Bicester Market End, Oxfordshire, England

Bicester Market End was a civil parish covering the eastern part of Bicester until 1932. The two townships of Bicester Kings End and Bicester Market End were separated by the River Bure. Bicester Market End covered an area of 2,282 acres. In 1932 approximately 45% of the area was absorbed into Bicester civil parish, 42% was transferred to Ambrosden civil parish and the remaining 7% became part of Bucknell parish. The changes are best illustrated by comparing the Ordnance Survey maps of 1900 and 1944 (links below).

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

The Lord of the Manor of Market End was the Earl of Derby who in 1597 sold a 9,999-year lease to 31 principal tenants. This in effect gave the manorial rights to the leaseholders, 'purchased for the benefit of those inhabitants or others who might hereafter obtain parts of the demesne'. The leaseholders elected a bailiff to receive the profits from the bailiwick, mainly from the administration of the market and distribute them to the shareholders. From the bailiff's title the arrangement became known as the Bailiwick of Bicester Market End. By 1752 all of the original leases were in the hands of ten men, who leased the bailiwick control of the market to two local tradesmen.

A fire in 1724 had destroyed the buildings on the eastern side of Water Lane. A Nonconformist congregation was able to acquire a site that had formerly been the tail of a long plot occupied at the other end by the King's Arms. Their chapel built in 1728 was 'surrounded by a burying ground and ornamented with trees. At the southern and downstream end of Water Lane, there were problems of pollution from animal dung from livery stables on the edge of town associated with the London traffic. Commercial activity was increasingly concentrated in Market End.

Edward Hemins was running a bell-foundry in Bicester by 1728 and remained in business until at least 1743. At least 19 of his church bells are known to survive, including some of those in the parishes of Ambrosden, Bletchingdon, Piddington and Wootton in Oxfordshire and Culworth in Northamptonshire.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bicester.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, volume 6, chapter on Bicester.
• 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.