Place:Culham, Oxfordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Culham is a village and civil parish in a bend of the River Thames, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.

The parish includes Culham Science Centre and the European School, Culham. The parish is bounded by the Thames to the north, west and south, and by present and former field boundaries to the east. It is low-lying and fairly flat, rising from the Thames floodplain in the south to a north-facing escarpment in the north up to 260 feet (80 m) above sea level. The 2011 UK census recorded its population as 453.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Culham from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"CULHAM, a parish in the [registration] district of Abingdon, and counties of Oxford and Berks; on the river Thames, adjacent to the Oxford railway, 1½ mile S by E of Abingdon. It has a station on the railway; and its post town is Abingdon. Acres: 1,680; of which about 40 are in Berks. Real property: £3,656. Population: 474. Houses: 93. The property is all in one estate. The manor belonged to Abingdon abbey; and an old seat on it, converted into a farm-house, was a residence of the abbots. Culham College, built in 1853, at a cost of nearly £20,000, is a training school for schoolmasters of the dioceses of Oxford and Gloucester, and contains accommodation for 130 students. A bridge on the Thames here was built in 1416 by Geoffrey Barbour. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value: £100. Patron: the Bishop of Oxford. The church was mainly rebuilt in 1852, in the early English style; but retains a chancel and tower of 1712. Charities: £41."

Culham was part of the Ock Hundred of Berkshire as well as part of Dorchester Hundred in Oxfordshire. It was considered part of Abingdon Municipal Borough from 1890 until 1894, Culham Rural District 1894-1932, and Bullingdon Rural District from 1932 until 1974. In 1974 it became part of the non-metropolitan District of South Oxfordshire. Also in 1974, the area south of the river at this point was moved from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, so Culham is all in Oxfordshire now.

The writer has found some references to Culham being in Berkshire in past times in Wikipedia pages on nearby places. It appears to have been part in Berkshire with the larger part in Oxfordshire.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, volume 7, chapter on Culham.
• A map illustrating the parishes of southeast Oxfordshire as of 1900 will be found under Dorchester 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.