History of People Living in Little Wittenham
History of People Living in Little Wittenham
The history of families, particularly the manorial families such as the Dunches, in the Wittenhams can be explored through the parish records and wills.
How Do We Know Who Has Lived In Little Wittenham?
Historical records have been used to collect information about people who have previously lived in Little Wittenham.
Historical records include:
- tax lists (Lay subsidies and Health Tax)
- population estimates worked out in 1550
- child birth rates from 1540-1820
Some insight into social life comes from historical documents including:
- Poor accounts (18th-century)
- bastardy certificates
- census of village literacy in 1815,
- census and of households receiving a bread dole in 1813
Little Wittenham Manor
The manor had been originally acquired by the Cherry family in 1838. Apsley Cherry-Garrard inherited Little Wittenham Manor in 1907 together with the Denford estate in Berkshire.
Cherry-Garrard (1885-1959)
Cherry-Garrard participated in Scotts ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1911 and survived to write an account of the epic in 'The Worst Journey in the World'.
This brought him fame and the friendship of people like George Bernard Shaw and T.E.Lawrence.
Cherry-Garrard lived in Hertfordshire and London but after WWI contemplated a move to Little Wittenham, intending to build a house at the top of a slope called Trotman's Stairs in Little Wittenham Wood. This never materialised and around 1923 he sold the remainder of the estate.
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