Oakley, United Kingdom

The earliest parts, the nave and some pillars, of the present church date from around 1100. In 1142 Empress Matilda granted Oakley parish church, with its chapels of Brill, Boarstall and Addingrove to the monks of St Frideswide's Priory, in Oxford. St Frideswide's Monastery much later became Christ Church, Oxford. In 1208 William Basset was confirmed by King John, the knight's fee of Oakley (i.e. the Manor of Oakley), which his grandfather Osmund had held by charter of Brian FitzCount. In 1222 Ralphe de Norwich became first Rector of Oakley, appointed by the Henry III who had recovered the right of advowson by judgement of his Court at Westminster. Ralphe later founded the priory at Chetwode in 1226. A transaction in 1224 mentions selions (cultivated strips of land) in Oakley, suggesting an open field system, i.e. no fences or hedges. The Oakley area would have been a populated landscape of mixed farming and woodland, with roadways, drovers' roads, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle and pigs, small areas of meadow, and open fields of barley and oats (and possibly some wheat).

1327 John de Abingdon became the first vicar of Oakley (as opposed to rector). 1349 William de Grauntpont died in office as vicar of Oakley, probably of the Black Death. The first estimate of Oakley's population was, made by Lysons, of 257 in 1377.

In 1522 Oakley's population of men eligible for military service (ages 16–60) was estimated at 140. The oldest existing houses in the village date from around this time. In 1570 coppicing enclosures drew complaints from Richard Leigh of Oakley (lord of Oakley). In 1586 Oakley had about 248 inhabitants in 56 households (22 landholders and 58 with small cottages within the Forest). These figures were drawn up by Hugh Cope of Oakley in his Court of the Exchequer return.

In 1589 Roman Catholic layman Thomas Belson escaped capture in Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire and fled to Ixhill Lodge in Oakley, where he hid in a priest hole. After some time he went to Oxford but was captured, tried and convicted in London and was hanged, drawn and quartered in Oxford.

In 1603 the Return of Communicants gave Oakley's population as 238. In the period 1622 to 1635 the Crown decided to remove Royal Forest status from Bernwood Forest, along with the severe laws protecting its contents (wood, animals and people). This was a most significant event for Oakley (and Brill and Boarstall), and transformed the economic balance of society. It modernised the farming structures of the communities in ways that left problems of poverty and rural under-employment for the smallholders and the landless.

The process of disafforestation – analogous in modern terms to privatisation – should not be confused with deforestation, meaning to strip a forest of its trees. Nevertheless, disafforestation of Bernwood Forest led to a gradual deforestation over subsequent centuries.

The Cottrell-Dormer enumeration of cottages recorded Oakley's population as 122 in 1622. In 1626 nine men were summoned to Aylesbury to resolve disafforestation issues. Two, Sir Timothy Tyrrell and John Dynham, were from Oakley.

The effect of the English Civil War of 1642–46 on Oakley is unrecorded. It was near the front line between the Parliamentarian and Royalist sides. It was at this time the church font was smashed, according to local tradition, by Parliamentarian troops. Foraging by soldiers from both sides would have made caused even more problems to local villagers exacerbating problems due to disafforestation. In 1662, according to Hearth tax returns the population was 238. The Compton Census returned a population of 258 for Oakley in 1676.

Bishop Wake's visitation returns recorded Oakley as having 216 inhabitants. In 1713 a lace school is recorded as being in the village. On 8 May 1718 George I made William Cadogan the 1st Baron Cadogan of Oakley. Oakley's surviving parish records start in 1726, later than many English parishes. Most local parishes have registers dating from the 16th century, Worminghall going back to 1538.

The index of the Poll for Knights of the Shire for the County of Bucks in April 1784, listed 11 knights in Oakley: Edward Batt, Thomas Dorrington, Isaac Fennimore, Thomas Hawes, Francis Kirby, Leonard Paulin, Robert Piers, Thomas Needham Rees, John Stevens, Reverend Robert Twicross and Thomas Wyatt.

In 1790 Mark Ing was recorded as being a member of the Oakley Morris Men. In 1798 Buckinghamshire was the only county to have kept a complete record of an early census called Posse Commitatus. Oakley at this time had 21 farmers, a cordwainer, a carpenter, a pedlar and a schoolmaster (although Oakley's school was not established until the 1850s). 24 labourers and 12 other men were listed.